In Singapore, the temperature of visitors is checked in all public places. The World Health Organization’s Special Envoy for Coronavirus Control, David Nabarro, said in an interview with the BBC that people’s lives may never be the same as they were before the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 4.3 million people worldwide have been infected with the coronavirus, and the number of deaths is approaching 300,000. About this and other news about the situation with Covid-19 around the world – in our daily selection.
As David Nabarro said, humanity will have to adapt to new realities.
“We will change our behavior to minimize the associated risks,” Nabarro believes. “We know this will be especially difficult in some places. But we will learn how to rest, work, communicate, and spend time with loved ones. In fact, it will become part of our lives. Overall, the WHO estimates that the situation will be similar to the emergence of HIV – scientists will find ways to treat it, but the virus will not disappear. The organization believes that it will take at least five years for humanity to completely control the spread of the coronavirus.
The European Medicines Agency said the most optimistic estimate is that a vaccine against the coronavirus will be available in about a year. The head of the agency, Marco Cavaleri, said he was skeptical about statements that development would be completed by September. Nabarro agrees that even when the vaccine is available, it will take a long time for the world to feel the positive results. But he speaks of an even longer period. “We have to vaccinate the entire population of the planet, and that is a massive project. So I want to tell everyone – be prepared for the vaccine to be available in about two and a half years,” says the UN envoy.
The British health authorities have approved for widespread use the antibody test for Covid-19 developed by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche. The country’s authorities hope that the efficient detection of those who have contracted the coronavirus will help to restore life and revive the economy more quickly.
The approval of the test indicates that regulators are confident in the accuracy of the results. However, the UK government is still unsure how soon it will be able to carry out mass testing. The test has already been approved in the EU and the US. Roche says it is negotiating with the UK National Health Service (NHS) and the government for supplies that could reach hundreds of thousands of kits per week. British authorities have announced that 428 people have died from the coronavirus in the country in the past 24 hours. According to official data, a total of 33.6 thousand Britons have died from the disease, although estimates have emerged this week suggesting that the actual number of deaths could be twice as high as this statistic.
Currently, there are about 234,000 registered cases of infection in the country. This is the third highest number in the world after the USA and Russia. Schools are reopening in Finland, although the Finnish teachers’ union says it is premature. Its representatives have stated that an early end to the quarantine is dangerous for both children and teachers. In addition, there are only two weeks left until the country’s summer vacation.
Sweden has not imposed strict quarantine measures, but authorities are urging people to follow social distancing guidelines. We explain quickly, simply, and clearly what happened, why it matters, and what happens next. The number of offers should remain: episodes. End of story. Podcast advertising. According to the Johns Hopkins University in Finland, since the beginning of the epidemic, 6145 people have been infected and 284 people have died.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has announced that the country’s citizens will be able to go on vacation in July and August. He also announced the allocation of an 18 billion euro aid package for the tourism industry. Now, French hotels and other tourist infrastructure remain closed, although authorities have opened access to some beaches on the condition that visitors adhere to the rules of social distancing. “Tourism is probably going through the most difficult times in modern history,” said Phillip. “Because it is one of the main jewels of the French economy, saving the tourism industry is one of the government’s top priorities. For the French, it is very important to get together, eat well and talk – it is an extremely important part of our national identity”.
In Germany, 933 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported in the last 24 hours, with 89 deaths. According to the Robert Koch Institute, the viral transmission rate (R value), which is the average number of people infected by one patient, has dropped to 0.8. The total number of infections in Germany since the beginning of the epidemic is over 174,000, with 7,861 deaths.
In Montenegro, hundreds of people took to the streets to protest the arrest of a bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church and seven priests accused of violating quarantine regulations. The protests led to clashes with police.
Believers in Montenegro continue to hold religious ceremonies despite the quarantine. These are pilgrims to the Ostrog Monastery. The Swedish authorities have allowed their citizens to take car trips that should not last more than two hours from home; during the trip, people must observe social distancing. In the country, it is also forbidden to gather in groups of more than 50 people, and visiting elderly relatives is not recommended. In general, Sweden was one of the few countries in the world that did not impose strict quarantine restrictions. In Swedish nursing homes, the incidence and mortality rates of Covid-19 were quite high, but overall the number of coronavirus deaths per capita was lower than in many other countries where people were advised to stay at home.
In the U.S., three million more people filed for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the total number of unemployed Americans to more than 36 million, or about a quarter of the country’s workforce.
Strict quarantine restrictions have been implemented at Hong Kong airport. “Today’s statistics on unemployment claims continue to rise at a phenomenal rate,” said Richard Flynn, head of the UK division of financial firm Charles Schwab. “The American labor market has not been in such a dire state since the Great Depression.” “Over the past 10 days, many American states have begun to lift quarantine restrictions, but a significant portion of the country’s economy is still at a standstill.” The President of the United States, Donald Trump, welcomed the decision of the Wisconsin Supreme Court to overturn the quarantine extended by the Democratic governor until May 26. One of the justices called the lockdown a prison regime. On Wednesday night, shortly after the court decision was announced, locals filled the bars. “People want to get back to normal life. It’s literally buzzing there!” – Trump wrote on Twitter about the Wisconsin court decision. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said the court’s decision “undoes all of the state’s efforts to contain the epidemic and renders meaningless the sacrifices made by state residents over the past two months. The U.S. leads the world in the number of people infected and killed by Covid-19 – nearly 1.4 million infected and 84.1 thousand killed.
Cafes and restaurants are opening in Sydney, Australia, but at the same time, no more than 10 people can sit in each one. Many people do not like to sit in half-empty places, and some restaurants have found a solution: they put mannequins on empty chairs. The Hong Kong authorities have introduced mandatory rules for those arriving on the peninsula. The stages of the procedure were described in detail on Twitter by photographer Laurel Chor. According to her, these are currently the strictest border measures in the world. All those arriving in Hong Kong must undergo a mandatory coronavirus test, and then wait for the results in a huge, isolated hall. The wait can sometimes be very long: it took Chor more than seven hours after landing to complete all the procedures. People with positive results are sent to the hospital, while all others must wear special bracelets and install an application on their smartphones that can track their movements and social circles. All those who come in are also required to stay at home or in a hotel for 14 days. Despite its proximity to mainland China, Hong Kong has recorded only about a thousand cases of infection and four deaths from Covid-19 since the epidemic began.