Boris Johnson receives oxygen support in ICU; China reports no new coronavirus deaths
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Live updates: Boris Johnson receives oxygen support in ICU; China reports no new coronavirus deaths
Siobhán O'Grady
19-24 minutes
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has received oxygen support in intensive care as he battles coronavirus infection, though he is not on a ventilator, a senior U.K. official said Tuesday, as the United States and many other nations continue to grapple with the devastating pandemic.
The virus has killed more than 10,500 people in the United States, nearly half of them in New York. But Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) said Monday that the daily death toll fell under 600 for two days in a row, suggesting a “possible flattening of the curve," though the hospital system remains overwhelmed. Elsewhere, China on Tuesday reported no new coronavirus deaths the previous day for the first time since January.
Here are some other significant developments:
- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday blocked a plan to extend mail-in ballot deadlines in Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned the governor’s calls for Tuesday’s vote to be postponed until June, leaving voters and poll workers scrambling hours before voting is now set to take place.
- A survey of hospitals across the country showed health-care workers are facing shortages of tests, masks, face shields, ventilators and staff. President Trump rejected the results of the report, which was compiled by the Inspector General of Health and Human Services, suggesting it was political.
- U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson remains in intensive care battling covid-19 infection. Johnson is a “man of great zest with an appetite for life,” Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said, adding that the government would make an official statement if his condition changes.
- China announced 32 new cases, all of them imported, but no new deaths for the first time since it began regularly reporting figures in January.
- Italy announced 3,599 new coronavirus cases on Monday, its lowest daily increase in around three weeks. Spain confirmed 4,273 new cases, suggesting a downward trend in two of Europe’s hardest-hit countries.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told fellow Democratic lawmakers Monday that the next coronavirus relief bill could “easily” pass $1 trillion in cost. Congressional leaders and the White House are converging on the need for a new assistance package.
France has not yet reached peak of outbreak, health minister warns
France remains in a “worsening phase of the epidemic," French Health Minister Olivier Véran warned on Tuesday, saying the country’s deadly outbreak has not yet peaked.
Speaking to French outlet BFM TV, Véran said the lockdown currently in place will be extended as long as the situation merits it. His comments echoed warnings from the day before, when France reported 833 deaths, the country’s highest daily toll since the beginning of its outbreak.
France’s official death toll originally only included deaths that occurred at hospitals, but has recently expanded to include those recorded at senior living facilities. Data from Sunday had indicated that hospital deaths were slowing down in France. More than 8,900 people have died there and nearly 100,000 have tested positive for the virus.
“Far from that,” he said. “The path is long. The figures that I have announced show this.”
By Siobhán O'Grady
Boris Johnson ‘not on a ventilator’ but has had oxygen support
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has had some oxygen support in intensive care at St. Thomas’s Hospital but is not on a ventilator, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said on Tuesday.
Speaking to national radio station LBC (Leading Britain’s conversation) Gove confirmed: “He’s not on a ventilator no,” he said. “The prime minister has received some oxygen support and he is kept under, of course, close supervision.”
The prime minister’s battle with coronavirus led the front pages of all British tabloids on Tuesday morning. “Now Stricken Boris taken to intensive care,” wrote the Daily Mail, with others describing Johnson’s “fight for life.” The Daily Telegraph reported that the queen had been informed of the situation.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is currently standing in for Johnson “where necessary,” and holds the power to run the British government during this health crisis, if required.
Johnson was one of the first world leaders to be diagnosed with covid-19, nearly two weeks ago, and was relocated to the intensive care ward as a precautionary measure, Downing Street said on Monday. His fiancee, Carrie Symonds, is pregnant and also recovering from covid-19 symptoms.
Thousands have offered Johnson well wishes, including world leaders such as France’s Emmanuel Macron and President Trump. In Britain, many have put their political differences aside and wished the prime minister a speedy recovery.
There are now more than 52,000 confirmed cases of the virus in Britain and 5,373 recorded deaths.
By Jennifer Hassan
Coronavirus? Pandemic? For many in Sweden, life goes on as usual.
STOCKHOLM — It was a crisp April day, and the Medborgarplatsen, one of the largest central squares in Stockholm, was bustling with life. People inspected daffodils at a flower stand, children swerved around on bicycles, and dozens gathered on benches and outdoor restaurants to chase away a particularly gloomy winter.
Sweden has chosen its own path in battling the coronavirus pandemic, which as of Monday had infected 1.3 million people and killed over 73,000 worldwide. While many countries, including Sweden’s neighbors, have shut down schools, restaurants, shops and borders, Sweden has maintained a relatively lax approach to combating the spread of the virus. Many still go into work. Primary schools and day cares remain open, as do recreational centers and several gyms. The elderly are urged to stay at home and unnecessary domestic travel is discouraged, but this is not enforced other than through public shaming.
By Per Liljas
Australian PM urges against Easter weekend travel, saying it would ‘undo’ progress against spread of virus
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged Australians against traveling over the upcoming Easter holiday weekend, saying the country “must hold the course” to ensure it does not experience a deadlier outbreak like those now occurring elsewhere.
“This Easter weekend will be incredibly important. Stay at home,” Morrison said in his Tuesday address. “Failure to do so this weekend would completely undo everything we have achieved so far together, and potentially worse.”
More than 5,800 people have tested positive for the virus in Australia and 46 have died. Brendan Murphy, Australia’s chief medical officer, said Tuesday that modeling of the outbreak in Australia included “horrendous” projections but that they are “highly theoretical.” The government is expected to release further details of the modeling on Tuesday.
“It’s too early to tell on the trend data we have,” Murphy said, noting that the models were based on data from abroad because Australia does not yet have enough data to properly inform projections. “In the next week to 10 days we’ll have much better trend data.”
Hundreds of cases in Australia have been linked to the Ruby Princess cruise ship, which docked in Sydney last month and is now under investigation.
By Siobhán O'Grady
India says it will allow some shipments of drug touted by Trump as key to virus fight
NEW DELHI — India will permit some exports of an anti-malarial drug hailed by President Trump to countries “particularly badly affected by the pandemic,” a government spokesman said Tuesday.
The statement came days after Trump urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to relax India’s blanket ban on exports of hydroxychloroquine, a drug that has shown potential promise in treating covid-19 but whose effectiveness remains unproven.
Trump and Modi spoke on the phone on Sunday and discussed the supply of hydroxychloroquine, which India manufactures in large quantities. Trump told reporters that he had urged Modi to allow shipments of the drug to the United States.
“If [Modi] doesn’t allow it to come out, that would be okay, but of course, there may be retaliation,” Trump said.
On Tuesday, Anurag Srivastava, the spokesman for India’s Foreign Ministry, said that India will supply hydroxychloroquine to nations hard-hit by the pandemic. India’s stocks of the drug are sufficient to allow its pharmaceutical companies to meet their export commitments, he said.
A major global supplier of generic drugs, India has grappled with how much to export as its coronavirus cases rise. India also recently relaxed export restrictions on a dozen other drugs, including several antibiotics and an anti-viral medication.
By Joanna Slater
Saudi Arabia locks down more cities amid steep increase in infections
Saudi Arabia announced late Monday that nine more cities would be added to the list of those on 24-hour lockdown, including the the capital, Riyadh, and the Red Sea port city of Jeddah.
Previously just the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, international pilgrimage destinations that had seen large numbers of cases, were subjected to these 24-hour curfews, along with some Jeddah neighborhoods. The rest of the country just had to stay inside at night.
With 781 cases, Riyadh is home to the largest number of Saudi Arabia’s 2,605 infections — the most in the Middle East after Iran. The last few days have seen increases of around 10 percent a day in the number of afflicted. Four new deaths were also reported Monday, bringing the total to 38.
During the curfews, all residents will be confined to their homes except for trips within their neighborhoods to gather medicine or groceries between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. Children are not allowed out of the house. Only those working in vital sectors will be allowed in or out of these cities.
Saudi Arabia has already closed all nonessential commercial establishments and stopped incoming and outgoing flights as well as suspended the year around pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. Officials have indicated that they will likely suspend the key hajj pilgrimage set for late July that would bring some 2 million people together.
By Paul Schemm
As coronavirus layoffs surge in richer countries, poorer ones lose vital remittance payments
CAIRO — Osigan Caseres lost her job as a maid in this city and no longer sends home $300 each month to her daughters in the Philippines to buy food for her eight grandchildren.
In Somalia, Asha Mohamed Ahmed no longer receives the $400 her daughter used to provide from working at a Minneapolis hotel to cover the family’s monthly bills.
And in Mexico, Rosy worries how she will afford to buy medicine for her diabetic mother without the money her brother used to send before being furloughed at an Idaho ranch.
They are all economic victims of the novel coronavirus. As hundreds of millions of people around the world grapple with job losses, business closures and lockdowns, many are no longer able to help poorer relatives in developing nations whose lives can hinge on these payments.
By Sudarsan Raghavan, Max Bearak and Kevin Sieff
China reports 32 new cases but no deaths for first time since January
China on Tuesday confirmed 32 new coronavirus cases the previous day but recorded no new deaths, officials there said, marking the first time since shortly before authorities locked down Wuhan, the original epicenter of the outbreak, that the country reported no deaths linked to the virus. All of the new cases confirmed in the past day were imported in people who recently entered mainland China, the National Health Commission said.
China also confirmed an additional 30 asymptomatic cases, which the government is categorizing separately from other cases. Nine of those cases were imported, officials said.
China has taken extreme measures in recent weeks to limit foreigners from entering the country, as concerns mounted that as Chinese officials started to control their outbreak, people who may have contracted the virus abroad could now reignite widespread community transmission after returning. Mainland China has reported a total of 81,740 cases and 3,331 deaths since the outbreak started late last year.
Wuhan, the original epicenter of the outbreak, is set to reopen its airport this week. Residents will be allowed to leave the city for the first time since Jan. 23.
By Lyric Li and Siobhán O'Grady
White House trade adviser reportedly warned of coronavirus in January
A top adviser to President Trump warned his White House colleagues in late January that the novel coronavirus could claim the lives of more than half a million Americans and cost the United States trillions of dollars, according to reports late on Monday in Axios and the New York Times.
In two memos that circulated around the West Wing, trade adviser Peter Navarro made grim predictions about the virus’s potential toll on the United States, raising doubts about whether Trump knew more about the outbreak than he had acknowledged publicly at the time.
“The lack of immune protection or an existing cure or vaccine would leave Americans defenseless in the case of a full-blown coronavirus outbreak on U.S. soil,” a Jan. 29 memo to the National Security Council said. “This lack of protection elevates the risk of the coronavirus evolving into a full-blown pandemic, imperiling the lives of millions of Americans.”
Trump initially played down the risk of the virus, more recently claiming that no one could have predicted such a devastating outcome on the economy and the nation’s health. But Navarro appears to have done exactly that.
The administration faced a choice about how aggressive to be in containing an outbreak, Navarro said in the memo, while pushing for immediate restrictions on travel coming from China.
Shortly after the memo was written, Trump imposed a travel ban and assembled his White House task force to handle the coronavirus outbreak. But it would be weeks before any dramatic steps were taken to curtail the spread of the virus, even as officials like Navarro believed that the outbreak could become far deadlier and far costlier than what the president acknowledged in public.
By Teo Armus
U.S. airlines begin negotiations for coronavirus aid focused on front-line workers
More than a half-dozen U.S. carriers have applied for federal relief money to help keep them running and their front-line workers on the job amid the unprecedented drop in airline traffic caused by the novel coronavirus.
American, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit and United are among the airlines that filed applications by the Friday deadline guaranteeing them fast consideration for their share of the $2 trillion economic rescue package approved by Congress last month.
By Lori Aratani and Ian Duncan
U.S. children less likely than adults to get very ill from coronavirus, CDC study suggests
The coronavirus has not hit children as hard as adults, preliminary data from the United States suggests, supporting earlier reports of what appears to be a mysterious saving grace of the deepening pandemic.
In its first report analyzing the virus’s effect on American children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that pediatric cases accounted for just under 2 percent of confirmed U.S. cases. Its research also suggested that patients younger than 18 developed fevers or coughs less often than older counterparts and were less likely to require hospitalization, although serious illness has occurred in some children.
By Brittany Shammas
New Zealand demotes health minister after he drove his family to the beach amid lockdown
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern demoted the country’s health minister on Tuesday after he admitted he violated the country’s national lockdown to bring his family to a beach.
Health Minister David Clark drove 12 miles to a beach outside of Dunedin several days after the country implemented stay-at-home measures last month to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
“At a time when we are asking New Zealanders to make historic sacrifices I’ve let the team down,” Clark said in a statement Tuesday. “I’ve been an idiot.”
Clark had already faced criticism after his van — which is emblazoned with a photo of his face on its side — was photographed near a mountain biking trail during the lockdown. Ardern responded by saying that people can go outside to exercise but should not partake in activities “where there is a higher risk of injury.”
“The minister should have followed that guidance,” she added.
Clark later acknowledged that he also drove his family to the beach last month. He said in his Tuesday statement that he offered to resign over the matter, and Ardern said in a statement that she would have sacked him “under normal conditions.” Instead, she demoted his cabinet rankings and removed him from his role as associate finance minister.
“We cannot afford massive disruption in the health sector or to our response,” Ardern’s statement said. "For that reason, and that reason alone, Dr. Clark will maintain his role.”
“I expect better," Ardern said. "And so does New Zealand.”
Clark’s resignation follows a similar situation in Scotland, where the country’s chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, stepped down late Sunday after admitting she and her family had visited their second home, more than an hour’s drive from Edinburgh, twice during the country’s lockdown.
By Siobhán O'Grady
Analysis: Bolsonaro may be the world’s coronavirus skeptic in chief
In cities across the world, we’re getting used to seeing a moving daily ritual take place. By evening, residents under lockdown take to their windows and balconies and clap, shout, and bang pots and pans to honor the medical workers on the front lines of the novel coronavirus pandemic. These scenes of solidarity have played out from tower blocks in China to the narrow lanes of Italian towns to the streets of New York City.
In Brazil, though, they’ve taken on an added dimension: Angry protests against President Jair Bolsonaro and calls for his impeachment.
That’s because Bolsonaro has essentially become the world’s leading coronavirus refusenik. The Brazilian president has insisted that the risks posed by the virus were not worth the toll that widespread shutdowns would exact on his country’s economy.
By Ishaan Tharoor
Small businesses worry $349 billion emergency lending program isn’t big enough
Days after the launch of a $349 billion emergency small-business lending program, some of the country’s biggest banks say they have already allocated more than 10 percent of the fund, raising concerns there won’t be enough money for the millions of companies expected to apply.
Bank of America, alone among the big banks to begin processing applications Friday, said Monday it received 178,000 applications from small businesses seeking $32.9 billion in loans. Wells Fargo never formally started taking applications, but by Monday morning said that so many people had expressed preliminary interest that it had already reached the $10 billion cap it had set for loans under the program.
Small businesses, which employ nearly half of the United States’ private-sector workers, say they are facing long waits, confusing rules and rejection as they scramble to secure loans through the fund, known as the Paycheck Protection Program. Many banks are accepting applications only from existing customers or businesses of a certain size. Others aren’t accepting any applications at all.
By Renae Merle
Worried that $2 trillion law wasn’t enough, Trump and congressional leaders converge on need for new coronavirus economic package
Congressional leaders and the White House are converging on the need for a new assistance package to try to contain the coronavirus pandemic’s economic devastation, fearful that a $2 trillion bailout law enacted last month will have only a limited effect.
House Democrats are eyeing a package of spending increases that would “easily” cost more than $1 trillion, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told lawmakers Monday, according to two officials on the conference call who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss it. Democrats are looking to extend unemployment aid and small-business assistance for additional months, as well as authorize another round of direct checks to taxpayers.
By Erica Werner and Mike DeBonis
Wisconsin Supreme Court blocks order by governor to stop Tuesday’s elections in state’s latest whipsaw
The Wisconsin Supreme Court blocked Gov. Tony Evers’s executive order suspending in-person voting in Tuesday’s elections, launching a final scramble for election officials to prepare polling places and protect voters and workers hours before balloting was scheduled to begin.
The decision came the same day Evers (D) issued the order, which had prompted an immediate legal challenge from Republican lawmakers who argued that postponing the election would sow confusion. In a 4-to-2 decision, the state court offered no explanation for the ruling.
By Amy Gardner, Elise Viebeck and Dan Simmons