Coronavirus cases top half a million, protective gear lacking: WHO
Stephanie Nebehay, Kate Kelland


GENEVA/LONDON (Reuters) - Coronavirus has infected more than half a million people and killed more than 20,000 globally, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, as he appealed again for protective gear for medical staff working to save lives.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, urged countries to refrain from using medicines that have not been demonstrated to be effective against COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

“The chronic global shortage of personal protective gear is now one of most urgent threats to our collective ability to save lives,” Tedros told a Geneva news conference.

“Health workers in low- and middle-income countries deserve the same protection as those in the wealthiest countries,” he said, adding that the U.N. agency was shipping more supplies.

Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO’s top emergencies expert, said the world was “moving to an uncertain future”.

“You see many countries around the world are just beginning the cycle of this epidemic. Some have been through the cycle of the epidemic like Singapore and China and are now desperately trying not to have the disease re-emerge and cause another wave of infections because of disease importations,” he said.

Elderly people and those with underlying medical conditions have been the hardest hit, but 10 to 15% of people under the age of 50 have moderate to severe infection, Ryan said.

YOUNG PEOPLE NOT IMMUNE

Asked about reports of infections in young adults, Ryan said: “For most people it is a very mild infection, most young people. But for a significant minority of people between the age of 20 and 60 this is a significant infection.”

“What is really emerging is a perception that this disease, while not fatal and not causing critical disease in a younger age group, is causing severe illness in many people,” Ryan said.

Every infection of COVID-19 presents an opportunity for onward spread, said Dr. Maria van Kerkhove.

“So even in younger populations, if you do have a mild disease and you think it’s no big deal, what the big deal is is that you may transmit to somebody else who may be part of that vulnerable population who may advance to severe disease and who may die,” she said.

The data showed that “the majority of children that are infected are experiencing mild disease,” ver Kerkhove said.

“But we do have reports, and there are some publications now that describe severe disease in children. We have reports of deaths in children. There is one in China, and I believe one in the United States as well,” she said.


Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Kate Kelland in London; writing by Stephanie Nebehay, editing by Gareth Jones

Russia calls U.S. sanctions on Venezuela a 'tool of genocide' amid epidemic

CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday U.S. “narco-terrorism” charges against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro were absurd, adding that sanctions on Caracas could become “a tool of genocide” amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The U.S. government on Thursday indicted Maduro and more than a dozen other top Venezuelan officials on charges of “narco-terrorism,” the latest escalation of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign aimed at ousting the socialist leader.


Russia, Maduro’s longtime political and financial backer, considers those accusations “absurd” and “wild” at a time when countries across the world join efforts to fight coronavirus, the Interfax news agency cited Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, as saying.

“We can not stress enough our call for an immediate lifting of unilateral unlawful sanctions that are turning in the current epidemic into an instrument of genocide,” Zakharova was quoted as saying.


Zakharova said Russia had supplied coronavirus test kits to Venezuela, which has reported 107 confirmed cases of the disease and that Moscow would continue helping Caracas to stop coronavirus spreading.

President Donald Trump denied that the charges were an attempt to take advantage of Venezuela at a vulnerable time when it is expected to be hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

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Mexican president's poll ratings hit record low in coronavirus crisis

THEY CALL AMLO A LIBERAL HE IS; A NEOLIBERAL

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Support for Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has fallen below 50% for the first time, hit by criticism of his response to the coronavirus crisis, public security concerns and a struggling economy, a daily tracking poll showed on Friday.


FILE PHOTO: Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador holds a news conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico, March 17, 2020. REUTERS/Henry Romero

The survey, by polling firm Consulta Mitofsky for newspaper El Economista, showed that Lopez Obrador’s approval rating had dropped to 49.6% from 50.1% a day earlier.

Roy Campos, the head of Mitofsky, said the coronavirus pandemic was “seriously affecting” support for Lopez Obrador, as was concern over the economic outlook.

“Just as there is fear of getting sick, there’s now fear about the economy,” Campos said.

Lopez Obrador, whose approval rating stood at 80% barely a year ago in some surveys, has suffered a steady decline in popularity since discontent over his reaction to highly publicized murders of women last month sparked protests.

The leftist, who took office in December 2018, has also come under fire for his handling of the coronavirus crisis since the first case of infection was confirmed in Mexico on Feb. 28.


While his medical experts urged people to avoid physical contact and stay at home to contain the spread of the virus, the president has continued to hold mass rallies around Mexico, shaking hands with, hugging and kissing supporters.

Over the past few days Lopez Obrador has struck a graver tone on the health crisis, encouraging people to avoid major gatherings, setting out how the government is closing down possible transmission avenues and spelling out the symptoms.

“So far the situation is controlled,” he told a regular government news conference on Friday, a day after Mexico’s tally of coronavirus cases rose to 585, with eight deaths.

Nevertheless, he has continued to blame adversaries for fanning public panic, and said he would carry on with his schedule of public events around Mexico with a tour of states in the Pacific west and northwest this weekend.

Meanwhile, Mexico tipped into recession during his first year in office, dragged down by a decline in investment spurred by concern over his unpredictable management of the economy.

Rating agency S&P downgraded Mexico’s credit rating on Thursday, flagging concern over the outlook.


Some private sector economists say the Mexican economy could contract by as much as 7% this year.

At the end of 2019, Lopez Obrador had the support of more than 59% of respondents in the Mitofsky tracking poll.

UK's Royal Mint making coronavirus protective gear for health staff


LONDON (Reuters) - The Royal Mint, the world’s largest maker and supplier of coins, said on Friday it has started manufacturing visors for Britain’s medical staff to protect them from coronavirus.


FILE PHOTO: Medical staff with a patient at the back of an ambulance outside St Thomas's hospital as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in London, Britain, March 26, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

Engineers at the Mint created the visors after finding a basic design online and developing medically approved prototypes within 48 hours at their production site in Wales.

The first visors are already in use at a hospital in Wales and mass production will start on Saturday morning, with several hundred coming on the first day and increasing numbers after that.

The Mint says it can produce thousands of visors per day if it can get enough parts and is now appealing to manufacturers across the UK to help it source enough clear plastic, which is currently in short supply.


The simple design comprises a clear plastic shield which covers the worker’s face, held in place by a piece of elastic.

Britain’s publicly funded national health service, the NHS, has received much public support during the coronavirus outbreak, with government health authorities adopting the slogan “Stay Home, Protect The NHS, Save Lives”.

People all over the country took to their balconies and doorsteps on Thursday evening to applaud health workers who are battling the spread of the coronavirus.

“My sister works for the NHS and it really focuses your mind on the challenges they are facing,” said Leighton John, director of operations at the Royal Mint.


“We set our engineers the task of developing essential medical equipment which could be easily made on site – within seven hours they’d created a medical visor, and within 48 hours it was approved for mass manufacture,” John said.

As the virus sweeps the country, the Mint is the latest in a number of companies taking on new operations as part of a nationwide effort to support the NHS.

Vacuum cleaner company Dyson was recruited to supply hospitals with 10,000 medical ventilators designed at breakneck speed ahead of an expected surge of cases, and outsourcer Capita announced on Friday it was working with the government to provide coronavirus testing sites.

EU says Britain had chance to join ventilator procurement scheme

BREXIT ISOLATIONIST NATIONALISM LIKE TRUMPISM

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain was given a chance to participate in a European Union scheme to buy ventilators to fight the coronavirus, the EU said on Friday, after London said it had not joined because it missed the invitation in an e-mail mixup.


A graphic representation of CoVent ventilator attached to a hospital bed, designed by Dyson, is seen attached to a hospital bed, in this undated handout image. DYSON/Handout via REUTERS

The EU launched a joint procurement procedure on March 17 to buy ventilators on behalf of 25 members states, in a bid to cut prices and reduce competition among EU nations seeking the machines which help coronavirus patients breathe and are in short supply.

Britain, which is entitled to participate in such schemes under an 11-month transition deal since leaving the EU in January, did not join it.

That attracted criticism at home from opponents who accused the government of prioritizing “Brexit over breathing” - so determined to act independently of the bloc that it would risk public health in the coronavirus crisis.

A British government spokesman said on Thursday London had not rejected the scheme deliberately, but had stayed out because it missed the invitation, due to an e-mail mixup. Britain would consider joining such joint procurement schemes in the future.

However, an EU spokesman said on Friday British officials had attended several meetings at which the scheme was discussed, and Britain had been given a chance to say if it wanted to be included.

Schemes to buy ventilators and other medical gear were “discussed several times in the meetings of the health security committee where the UK participated,” the spokesman said.


“Member states and the UK had the opportunity to signal their interest to participate in any joint procurement” at the meetings and via an EU communication system, he said.

The EU is analyzing offers received on Thursday on the procurement for ventilators, the EU spokesman said.

Offers were also received this week for an earlier EU procurement for face masks, gloves and visors for medical staff launched a month ago. If contracts are signed, goods could be received in coming weeks.

UK says working at pace on ventilator production plan

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said it was working fast on plans to build more ventilators to help handle the coronavirus outbreak, hoping manufacturers can build larger amounts and do so more speedily.

“The prime minister spoke to a dozen of the companies involved to thank them for all their work so far and to discuss ways that the Government could support them to build ventilators more quickly and in greater quantities for the frontline in the coming weeks,” Boris Johnson’s Downing Street office said.

Some companies are also working on new designs.

“Any new orders are all dependent on machines passing regulatory tests, but the Government, manufacturers and regulators are working at pace to drive this work forward,” the government said.

FOUR GRAMMY AWARDS WINNER 2020 BILLIE EILISH 

World's worst air adds to Serbian capital's coronavirus woes

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Belgrade’s residents on Friday isolated themselves not only from coronavirus but also from acrid smoke, which defied strong winds to transform the Serbian capital into the city with the world’s most polluted air.

The Air Visual API website, which compiles data from ground sensors worldwide, ranked the Serbian capital temporarily at the top of its global index of cities with the worst air pollution.

Belgrade’s pollution level later fell to fourth, behind Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, Zagreb in Croatia, and Chiang Mai in Thailand.

Local researchers say that domestic heating and industry, including decades-old coal-fired power plants which provide most of Serbia’s energy, emit almost three-quarters of the country’s polluting air particles.

In January hundreds of protesters took to Belgrade’s streets demanding the government tackle severe air pollution throughout the European Union candidate country.

In a statement, Ne Davimo Beograd (Let’s Not Drown Belgrade), a local rights and environment watchdog, said that the main cause of the latest pollution could be a smouldering fire at the sprawling Vinca landfill, about 20 km (12 miles) east of the city center.


Radomir Lazovic, one of the organization’s leading activists, said that air pollution could aggravate the condition of people with pulmonary diseases, which are particularly susceptible to coronavirus infection.

“According to estimates ... (by doctors), there are around 1 million of these people in Serbia,” Lazovic told Reuters.

In a statement, the ministry for environmental protection said that along with small heating plants and domestic heating, dust was the main contributor to most recent pollution.


“After melting of snow and drying of the surface (soil), a strong wind led to re-emission of the (dust) particles into ... the lower layers of atmosphere,” the ministry said.

So far, the coronavirus infection in Serbia has sickened 528 and killed eight people.

Officials from Belgrade’s waste disposal company and city hall who are responsible for the landfill could not immediately be reached for comment.

Poll finds Russians split over allowing Putin to extend rule

MARCH 27, 2020 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is sharply divided over a constitutional change that would allow President Vladimir Putin to extend his rule until 2036, an opinion poll published on Friday has found.

The poll by the Levada Centre found 6% of 1,624 people of different ages polled across Russia from March 19-25 said they were unable to answer the questions posed, while 47% opposed the measure and 48% supported it.

Putin, 67, who has dominated the Russian political landscape as president or prime minister for two decades, maintains a high approval rating, although his trust rating has been sliding and hit a six-year low in February.

The Moscow-based Levada Centre said 30% were categorically against the reform, with 17% inclined to oppose it, compared with 23% staunchly in favor and 25% inclined to support it.

The proposed change, part of a package of reforms that has already been approved by parliament and Russia’s Constitutional Court, would reset Putin’s presidential term tally to zero, allowing him to serve two more back-to-back six year terms.

Billboards urging Russians to take part in the nationwide vote have already gone up in many Russian towns and cities, but the nationwide vote scheduled for April 22 has been postponed because of the coronavirus crisis and no new date has been set.

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Spain's cabinet blocks employers using coronavirus as a pretext for layoffs
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s cabinet has approved measures to prevent employers from taking advantage of the coronavirus crisis to lay off workers, labour minister Yolanda Diaz said on Friday.
“In our country nobody can take advantage of this health crisis, you can’t use COVID-19 to fire people,” Diaz said after an extraordinary cabinet meeting held on Friday.

Cannabis street prices surge under coronavirus lockdown in FranceLIBÉRER LA MAUVAISE HERBE

Caroline Pailliez, Mourad Guichard

PARIS/ORLEANS, France (Reuters) - The street price of cannabis in French cities has surged after tight border controls imposed as part of a nationwide lockdown to slow the coronavirus outbreak disrupted the flow of illegal narcotics and drug gangs hiked their rates.

Cannabis use is outlawed in France but the country has one of Europe’s highest consumption rates. Most cannabis resin that enters France comes from Morocco via Spain. Marijuana, or grass, is typically imported from the Netherlands.

“The price of a 100 gram bar of resin went from 280 euros to 500 euros in a week in Marseille,” said Yann Bastiere, a senior police union official who works with counter-narcotics investigators.

He said similar trends were observed in Bordeaux, in southwestern France, and Rennes in the northwest.

France imposed its lockdown on March 17 and joined other European states like Spain, Austria and Germany in tightening national border controls. A day later, the EU closed the Schengen area’s external borders to third-country citizens.

“France can no longer get its cannabis supplies,” said organized crime expert Thierry Colombie. “With the halt in exports from Morocco, we’re seeing prices go up in France as supply falls and dealers charge a premium.”

Colombie said an estimated 70% of cannabis resin sold on French streets was trafficked from Morocco, through Spain and over the Pyrenees. Much of the rest is shipped via Belgium and Holland.
SUPERMARKET CAR PARKS

In a flat in central Orleans, filled with the pungent aroma of hashish, one user said prices on the street leapt after Macron announced the lockdown and left France’s 67 million people only 16 hours to prepare.

Smoking his last joint before needing to source more, Cedric, who requested anonymity because recreational drug use is illegal in France, said that hours before the lockdown, the price of a gram of cannabis had doubled.

His dealer said he was demanding an extra 200 euros per 100 gram brick and would turn to locally-grown weed if the lockdown persisted.

“But I’m going to have to be able to get to their place,” said the small-time dealer, who earns up to 3,000 euros a month selling drugs, referring to the heightened police checks. “It’s going to be a nightmare.”

Dealers were having to be more creative in reaching their buyers, he said. Supermarket car parks were popular, with grocery shopping allowed under the lockdown rules. Others were dressing up as a joggers, with daily exercise still permitted.

Some police sources have privately expressed concerns that a prolonged scarcity of cannabis could fan trouble in France’s restless city suburbs and prisons.

Rivalries between drug gangs could escalate, while a fragile social peace in the deprived zones risked being tested once users were unable to get drugs.

“The shortage of drugs on the streets could lead to public disorder in the high-rise suburbs,” said Colombie, echoing the police fears. “We could be on the cusp of real trouble.”