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Coronavirus: Demand for Filipino nurses increases in Europe
Germany's alleged attempt to fly in Filipino nurses to provide assistance to COVID-19 patients has irked many in the Philippines. The country is facing a shortage of health workers as it tries to combat the disease.


The German news agency dpa reported last week that Berlin planned to bring in at least 75 Filipino nurses to Germany to assist in the country's fight against the novel coronavirus.

The "Hessische Krankenhausgesellschaft," an association of over 150 hospitals in the German state of Hesse, reportedly said they "received a special permit" to fly in the Filipino nurses.

The news sparked anger in the Philippines, which is struggling to cope with the COVID-19 cases, hampered by a weak public health system. The Southeast Asian country's Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello told DW that the move had been put on hold until further notice. "Our nurses are needed more at home," Bello said.


Filipino nurses are coveted by German health authorities

Expected spike in COVID-19 cases

The Philippines has recorded over 550 coronavirus cases so far, but health experts say the number could be much higher due to limited testing facilities in the country. The virus could spread exponentially in the country in the coming weeks, they warn.

According to the online news agency Rappler, the Philippines has only conducted about 12 COVID-19 tests for every million people, falling far behind regional neighbors like Malaysia — 422 people per million — and Vietnam — 159 people per million.

Philippine authorities are bracing for a spike in coronavirus cases following a scheduled increased testing after the country procured 100,000 testing kits last Saturday.

Underpaid and undervalued

Earlier this week, private hospitals in Manila announced they couldn't take in more coronavirus patients as they had reached full capacity.

Read more: Coronavirus: How Japan keeps COVID-19 under control

The Philippine Health Department has made an urgent call for nurses to sign up as volunteers to look after COVID-19 patients. Some experts are highly critical of the Health Ministry's move.

"Asking nurses to volunteer is uncalled for. It is an example of the neglect and exploitation our nurses face," Maristela Abenojar, president of the Filipino Nurses United (FNU) association, told DW.

The average salary for nurses in a government hospital is around $250 (€228) to $350 (€319) per month. In private hospitals, it ranges from $200 to $250 per month. Last year, the Supreme Court set the minimum monthly salary for nurses in public hospitals at $600 per month. "It has not been implemented," said Abenojar.

DW visited a public health center in Manila last month and found out that only two nurses were tending to around 100 patients in the hospital's general admissions ward.

"A nurse's shift can stretch from eight hours to 16, sometimes even more. Nurses' work is also not valued in the country," said Abenojar.

Greener pastures elsewhere


Many nurses in the Philippines are keen to escape their dire working conditions

Inadequate salaries and bad working conditions drive Filipino nurses to seek employment in other countries, including Europe, the Middle East and the US. In 2013, the Philippines and Germany signed an agreement that allows Filipino health workers to get an employment in Germany.

"You can't blame our nurses for leaving the county. The government needs to improve their working conditions and increase their salaries so that they can stay," said Abenojar.

Janina Santos graduated in nursing in 2009 but works as a researcher to support her family. "I can't afford to work as a nurse," she told DW.

Last week, the government approved a pay-out of $2,000 for health workers who may contract COVID-19 and $20,000 for the families of those who die from the disease.

"The government is finally recognizing the value of nurses, but what good is money when a nurse falls sick or dies?" Santos said.

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Opinion: How many deaths can we afford?

Just two weeks into this crisis some are actually calculating how many deaths society can accept to salvage the economy. For DW's Henrik Böhme, this is unacceptable.


It's a question to which there is no answer — at least, to which I have no answer. But some people seem to think they know it. There's an unnerving debate going on about what we should consider more important: protecting the health of every single individual, or protecting the economy from a devastating crisis.

For decades, I have written about the economic impacts of crises of all kinds, including the 9/11 attacks or the collapse of Lehman Brothers. I even experienced the fall of an entire system — that of communist East Germany — in 1989. And now there's this virus, still invisible and unknown. It is this unfamiliarity that makes it so dangerous and also that makes us so anxious. So anxious that we accept lockdowns, restrictions to our freedom of movement and social-distancing measures. Economic and public life has ground almost to a halt, giving rise to images resembling those of an apocalypse. Rush hour no longer exists.

Read more: Coronavirus sledgehammers global job markets

Huge stimulus packages

We're beginning to juggle bigger numbers than during the global financial crisis. The US has passed a $2 trillion (€1.8 trillion) relief package, and the European Central Bank has launched a €750 billion Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program. Such packages are being announced all over the world.

So now the question many are asking is, of course: Who will pay for them? Is it going to be like after the financial crisis when all states were in debt up to their necks? With the consequence that they introduced austerity measures and slashed spending with a devastating effect on social welfare, health care systems, education and investments. Credible medical studies conducted in Britain show that many thousands of people additionally died of cancer between 2008 and 2010 because they did not receive adequate treatment, partly as a result of such austerity measures.



CORONAVIRUS: EUROPE ON LOCKDOWN

Paris on lockdown

Activity on the bustling streets of Paris came to a complete halt after France announced a nationwide lockdown last Tuesday. People are not allowed to leave their homes, unless it is for a sanctioned reason such as buying food, visiting a doctor or going to work. The mayor of Paris, however, has called for stricter confinement measures as the number of infections increases worldwide.

Hard words

Now, once again, we're talking about trade-offs. How many dead people can or do we want to afford? Or, to put it differently: How much is a human life worth to us? Are we even allowed to make such calculations, as private equity manager and former manager of Goldman Sachs' Germany operation, Alexander Dibelius, has been doing? Dibelius has publicly wondered whether it is right to protect the 10% of the population that is at particularly high risk from coronavirus while allowing the economy to be affected so badly that the fundamentals of our affluent societies could end up with permanent damage.

Is it possible to be any colder or more calculating? And this from a man who studied medicine and was a surgeon. What about the Hippocratic oath? What more is needed than the haunting and vivid pictures from Italy? Pictures of doctors who have to decide whom to treat and whom to let die. Pictures of a collapsing health system.

This is what this showdown is mostly about: preventing such collapse. For if hospitals in Germany or other countries go through what Italian hospitals have experienced, a lot of other people will die as well as coronavirus patients, such as those who have suffered heart attacks or strokes. These deaths may well be mere collateral damage for Dibelius, like the million deaths and more that Imperial College London has forecast for the US. I have a question for this medic-cum-banker: Have you read about the 20-year-old medical students in the French city of Mulhouse who had to pack the dead into body bags and transport them away?

Read more: Coronavirus: German doctors lay down life-or-death guidelines

Many affected

Of course, the fact that the economy has slowed down is a huge problem. It is a problem for local bars, which can barely keep themselves above water even in good times. It's a problem for freelance theater directors who won't have any performances for half a year. For people in event management, for caterers. The list is endless.

It's also a huge problem for big companies such as Lufthansa, because right now flying is not the best business model. Or for Volkswagen, which has stopped production even though it had planned to launch a new electric car with great fanfare in summer. But this, too, shows how big the crisis really is: Although VW and many other carmakers have shut their factories because their workers' health has priority, they have recently been producing only for the stockpile, because no one wants to buy cars at the moment.

Illegitimate calculation

Yes, the virus is eating away at our systems, at our society, restricting our freedoms, giving us the feeling we are no longer in control, shaking our belief in the fact that we have a solution for every problem and heralding another big recession.

Still, we are not allowed to make such calculations. We are not allowed to sort out human beings. We cannot lock older people away so that the economy grows again (and in any case, young people are also dying from the virus). Scientists are, of course, aware of their responsibility; they can see the social and economic damage the current measures are causing and will adjust them accordingly.

No, we have to weather this temporary and brief pause together. We have to look after the little flower of solidarity that has emerged in this crisis in the midst of what is an extremely egoistic society. Solidarity is the real weapon against the coronavirus.

The economy will find its feet again — I'm sure of that.

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Don't forget climate threat, Earth Hour activists urge

Lights are off for Earth Hour around the globe as activists try to put climate disruption back on the agenda. Experts readying for the next UN summit in Glasgow admit mass travel by delegates will need a rethink.

Sydney's Opera House and Harbour Bridge darkened lights for an hour on Saturday, kicking off a global sequence that left Abu Dhabi's Grand Mosque, Berlin's Brandenburg Gate and the Eiffel Tower in Paris in the dark.

The initiative, started in 2007 by the environmental group WWF, asks firms, local authorities and people to douse lights briefly from 8:30 p.m. local time.

More than 100 landmarks were expected to take part in the event, with 360 cities set to participate in Germany. Locked down by the coronavirus pandemic in many locations, participants have instead shared photos and videos online. Artists also performed via social media.

All mass events have been canceled to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read more: Will it soon be too late to save the climate?

Coronavirus leads to dramatic decrease in CO2 emissions

'Rethink our strategy'

"It's a time to really rethink our strategy," said Katie Eder of the youth alliance Future Coalition, which is helping to coordinate Earth Hour.

"We are really looking at this as a way to reimagine what a social movement can look like in a digital age," said Eder.

Glasgow, Scotland is due to host the United Nation's next climate summit in November, COP26, the 26th on tackling climate disruption blamed on fossil fuels.

Host Britain, itself facing a traumatic COVID-19 outbreak, said Friday it was keeping summit planning "under careful review" and was in frequent contact with the UN climate agency in Bonn and partners, including pandemic-hit Italy.

"Other means such as video and phone conferences" may become essential for pre-COP26 planning meetings, a British spokeswoman told Reuters. Talks are also planned for Bonn in early June on advancing the COP26 agenda.

Read more: Coronavirus and climate change: A tale of two crises

Reduce travel 'footprint'

Dhaka-based climate expert Saleemul Huq said it was time to consider new ways of organizing the international climate process, taking into account complex logistics and reducing the carbon footprint.

"We need to be thinking innovatively about making these kinds of global meetings more efficient in terms of outcomes and less dependent on thousands of people from all over the world flying into one city," said Huq.



CATASTROPHES TRIGGERED BY WARMING OCEANS
A California day at the South Pole

In Antarctica, scientists measured temperatures on par with Los Angeles. In February, a record 18.3 degrees Celsius (64.9 degrees Fahrenheit) was measured at the Argentinean research station Esperanza Base in the north Antarctic. This was the highest temperature since measurements began there, according to NASA. The warm weather led to quickly developing melt ponds (pictured right).

Too early to decide on Glasgow

But Nairobi-based climate expert Mohamed Adow said — while it was too early to decide on delaying the Glasgow summit — single-place summits involving many thousands were needed for the quick flow of decision-making.

Climate diplomacy was difficult when officials, for example, in Africa, lacked online access or had poor connection quality, said Anna Schulz of the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development.

Huq said the main task for COP26 would be to accelerate the unfinished work of phasing out fossil fuels and protecting people from climate impacts.

Read more: Corona stimulus plans overlook 'historic' chance for climate crisis

Pandemic shows action possible: Thunberg

Prominent Swedish youth activist Greta Thunberg, herself in isolation in Stockholm with a suspected case of COVID-19, said Tuesday the world's reactions to the pandemic showed that rapid action on climate change was possible.

"The coronavirus is a terrible event … there is no positive to come out of it," said Thunberg.

"But it also shows one thing: That once we are in a crisis, we can act to do something quickly, act fast," she said. "We can do it online and at home. We just need to be creative and find new ways."

In 2019, the youth climate strike movement that Thunberg inspired brought millions of citizens, young and old, onto streets around the world.

ipj/aw (Reuters, dpa, epd, AP)

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  More frequent and stronger storms

  As oceans warm, the intensity of tropical cyclones will increase. The hurricane or typhoon season will last longer and there will be significantly more hurricanes, especially in the North Atlantic and the northeast Pacific. Extreme weather conditions will result in extremely destructive storms in the future, even in regions that have so far been spared.
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Grassroots 3D printing efforts help produce medical safety gear


Budmen Industries, a company that makes 3D printers in Syracuse, N.Y., has converted to making face shields for medical staff. Photo courtesy of Budmen Industries

March 26 (UPI) -- Community efforts to make medical protective equipment on 3D printers have sprung up around the United States in the last week to respond to urgent shortages caused by the coronavirus.

As major manufacturers -- such as Ford Motors, 3M and General Electric -- announce projects to produce safety equipment, schools, dentists and 3D printing shops from Montana to New York have launched their own efforts using high-tech printers.

Many hospitals have asked their staffs to reuse protective equipment, such as masks, gowns, gloves and face shields, and physicians report that existing supplies could run out in many places in days, according to the American Medical Association.

"Just about every night, I'm on the phone with a couple of doctors I've been in contact with to see what we can do," said Isaac Budmen, owner of a small company that makes 3D printers, Budmen Industries, in Syracuse, N.Y.

Budmen raised $10,000 on the GoFundMe website in a week and has printed the headbands and frames for more than 600 face shields since then.

He bought plastic sheets for the shield portion and estimates each face shield is now costing about $5 apiece. The community embraced the project, with the Greater Syracuse Soundstage, a film studio, now allowing limited crews of four at a time to assemble the shields.

In many cases, entrepreneurs like Budmen have created their own designs for items they are printing, but medical supply companies have released designs for some parts.


The Department of Defense's additive manufacturing initiative, America Makes, launched a new effort Wednesday to provide designs and to connect medical institutions with 3D printers.

Printing masks has proven more difficult for the industry, according to neurosurgeon Marlin Richardson at the Billings Clinic in Montana.

He and a local dentist, Spencer Zaugg, decided to design their own mask that uses pieces of existing surgical masks as the air filter. That way, local supplies of masks can be extended.

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"A notice had gone up at the hospital that we had limited supplies and were going to using one mask per day. That's very unusual. We usually change masks for every patient," Richardson said.

Padding and straps for the masks are needed, and Richardson said the community has responded by sewing and making those.

He and Zaugg are working on a better design for a higher-quality respirator mask.

The Billings Clinic is now seeking out every 3D printer in the community, including all of them at Billings public schools, Rocky Mountain College and Montana State University-Billings. A Billings area company that makes industrial filters, Flowmark/HighTech, plans to provide 20,000 pieces of filter material for the project.

Other 3D printing companies that are making equipment include Voodoo Manufacturing in Brooklyn, N.Y., which says it has converted 200 3D printers to make protective equipment and replacement parts for ventilators.

"To minimize the risk of infection, we have divided our production team into sub-teams, which work separately and use good sanitation practices," Voodoo said in a statement.

Markforged, based near Boston, has printed face shields and swabs for test kits and sent them to hospitals where they are being tested, founder Greg Mark said.

"What we've found is that 20 printers can print 14,000 swabs a day," Mark said. "We have assembled a task force within Markforged to identify the biggest impact initiatives our technology can solve."

Kosovo PM becomes 1st world leader ousted over coronavirus response

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, pictured here at his inauguration on February 3, was ousted by a no-confidence vote. File Photo by Valdrin Xhemaj/EPA-EFE

March 26 (UPI) -- Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has become the first world leader ousted for their response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Lawmakers in Pristina voted Kurti out of office Wednesday stemming from disagreements with his handling of the crisis. He assumed office on February 3.

Parliament ousted Kurti, leader of the left-wing Vetevendosje Party, on a vote called by the center-right LDK, a minority portion of the governing coalition that also took power just last month.

The move leaves Kosovo without stable leadership after an emergency curfew was imposed by Kurti Monday to help stem the outbreak. The former Serbian province had reported 71 COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The restrictions ordered by Kurti limit public and private gatherings and prohibit the movement of private vehicles and citizens throughout much of the day and overnight.

Kurti's political rival, President Hashim Thaci, denounced the measures as unconstitutional and said only an emergency declaration could justify them. Under such emergencies, the largely ceremonial presidency is granted special powers.

The dispute led the LDK to file a no-confidence motion, which passed with 82 votes Wednesday in the 120-seat assembly.

Kurti, however, said he will remain in a caretaker capacity until new elections are held.

Fears of likely recession up by 50% in U.S., Gallup survey shows

American Flags hang last Friday at the empty platform where closing bell ceremonies usually take place at the New York Stock Exchange, on Wall Street in New York City. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

March 26 (UPI) -- The number of Americans who believe an economic recession is likely to occur in the United States has increased by about 50 percent in one week, a Gallup poll shows.

The survey, released Wednesday, found that 61 percent of Americans polled last week think there's likely to be a recession, up from 38 percent the week before.




Gallup said 31 percent believe a recession is somewhat likely to occur, while 8 percent don't think there will be one.

In terms of political affiliation, Democrats (83 percent) are more likely than Republicans (35 percent) to believe a recession will happen, and 60 percent of independents believe there's likely to be one. The numbers have increased for all three since mid-March.

Those with the highest annual income -- $90,000 or more -- are most likely to believe a recession will happen, at 69 percent. Fifty-seven percent of people making $36,000 to $90,000 believe a recession will happen, while 60 percent of those making less believe so.

Meanwhile, 18 percent of Americans believe it's very likely their household will have "major financial struggles" because of the coronavirus pandemic. Thirty-four percent say struggles are somewhat likely to happen, 39 percent say it's not too likely and 9 percent say it's not likely at all.

The number who believe their financial situation is likely to suffer is up from 10 percent from March 13-16.

Those in lower-income households are more likely -- nearly three in 10 -- to believe they'll struggle financially than those in higher income brackets.

As the coronavirus spreads in the United States, more states and local jurisdictions have been implementing stay-at-home orders for non-essential workers and directing non-essential businesses to close.

The Labor Department said Thursday 3 million additional unemployment claims were filed last week, the largest weekly increase in U.S. history

RELATED Ford plans to reopen 4 U.S. assembly plants within weeks

U.S. cuts humanitarian aid to Yemen

GUN RUNNER NATION USA CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY IN YEMEN

USAID says its operations have been interfered with by 

Houthi rebels in Yemen. File Photo by Yahya Arhab/EPA-EFE

March 26 (UPI) -- The United States is cutting back on the aid it sends to Yemen amid interference by Houthi rebels, the U.S. Agency for International Development said.

The reduction in aid comes as fighting rages on in the Middle Eastern country's five-year civil war.


"The U.S. has begun a reduction in assistance in northern Yemen," a spokesperson with USAID said in a statement to UPI. "Despite the international aid community's tireless advocacy and diplomatic engagement, the Houthis have failed to demonstrate sufficient progress towards ending unacceptable interference in these operations.

"As a result, the U.S. government has made the difficult decision to reduce aid until we can be confident that U.S. taxpayer assistance will reach those for whom it is intended."

RELATED Watchdog: Saudi, allied forces have 'seriously' abused civilians in Yemen

Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been involved in a fight with a Saudi-led coalition backing the Yemeni government of President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi since 2015. The United States is one of the largest donors sending assistance to help the country, which has also been ravaged by famine and a cholera outbreak.

USAID said that despite the reduction, it will still support "the most urgent life-saving assistance in northern Yemen, and are evaluating these activities in light of the global COVID-19 response."

There are no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Yemen, but USAID said it's working with partners and humanitarian programs to plan for and respond to the pandemic.

RELATED All sides to blame for at least 120 attacks on Yemen hospitals, report says

The United States gave $700 million to Yemen last year. Aid agency Oxfam called on the United States to reverse its decision to cut funding, saying it will be key for preparing the country for a coronavirus outbreak.

"We are working tirelessly to make sure no one and nothing gets between humanitarians and people in desperate need of aid," said Scott Paul, Oxfam America's humanitarian policy lead.

"We don't accept interference by any of the authorities in Yemen. But putting Yemeni lives in the balance through a premature and unilateral funding suspension will not improve the humanitarian situation. USAID says it will continue supporting life-saving activities even as it eviscerates Yemen's first and best defense against the defining health crisis of our time. That is simply impossible to understand."

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Judge orders release of 10 ICE detainees over COVID-19

The Bergen County Correctional Facility, one of three U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement jails that were ordered to release a combined 10 detainees over health concerns connected to COVID-19. Photo courtesy of Google Maps/Website

March 27 (UPI) -- A U.S. federal judge for the southern district of New York has ordered the immediate release of 10 immigrants under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at New Jersey jails where cases of the deadly and infectious coronavirus have been reported.

The individuals were arrested by ICE in connection to civil deportation proceedings in New York City and petitioned late Wednesday for release from correctional facilities in Hudson County, Bergen County and Essex County that have reported cases of COVID-19.

The petitioners argued that their detention at facilities infected with the virus exposes them to excessive risk as they suffer from underlying health conditions. They said their due process rights were violated as the facilities lack adequate health protections.

U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres granted their petition late Thursday and barred ICE from re-arresting them upon their release during their deportation proceedings.
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In the decision, Torres wrote that immigration detainees can prove that their due process rights have been violated by showing government officials knew or should have known that their confinement subjected them to excessive risk. She concluded that the risk the 10 detainees faced behind bars was not only severe but "quite possibly fatal."

Torres also chastised Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf and the other respondents for failing to protect the health of detainees.

"The spread of COVID-19 is measured in a matter of a single day -- not weeks, months or years -- and respondents appear to ignore this condition of confinement that will likely cause imminent, life-threatening illness," she said.

RELATED First coronavirus case confirmed in ICE detention

She wrote that during oral arguments, the measures the respondents had implemented to protect those under their charge were "patently insufficient."

The respondents, she said, couldn't prove that the facilities could afford inmates the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention's requirement of six feet of distance between individuals nor could it state how they are protecting high-risk detainees, such as the petitioners.

"Confining vulnerable individuals, such as petitioners, without enforcement of appropriate social distancing and without specific measures to protect their delicate health ... demonstrates deliberate indifference," she wrote.

RELATED Honduran man dies by apparent suicide in ICE custody

The petitioners suffer from chronic medical conditions, such as respiratory issues, diabetes and heart disease. They were being held at the Hudson County facility, where two detainees and a correction officer tested positive for COVID-19; the Bergen County jail, where one detainee was infected with the virus; and the Essex county jail, where a superior officer had contracted the disease.

According to New Jersey's Department of Health, the state has 6,876 cases of COVID-19 and 81 deaths associated with the virus.

Brooklyn Defender Services, who filed the petition, applauded the decision, stating "this is a huge victory, but we won't' stump until we free them all."

The order was handed down amid a growing call by activists and lawyers for jails to release ICE detainees vulnerable to COVID-19.

The ACLU said it is suing ICE detention centers in at least two states for the immediate release of detainees it says are put at heightened risk due to the virus.

"ICE will be responsible for a humanitarian tragedy if it does not heed the advice of public health experts now," it said.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn Defender Services also demanded in a letter on Thursday that New York City officials release those incarcerated and halt new admissions after 75 detainees and 45 jail staff members have tested positive for COVID-19.

"Elected officials at every level of government must take immediate action to initiate mass release and halt new admissions before it is too late," wrote Lisa Schreibersdor, executive director of Brooklyn Defender Services.

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G20 leaders to inject $5T in global economy to curb coronavirus effects

Residents in Beijing, China, wear protective face masks to guard against the coronavirus disease. No new local cases were reported in China on Thursday. Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo

March 26 (UPI) -- Leaders of the G20 nations on Thursday pledged to inject more than $5 trillion into the global economy to minimize the economic damage from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The world leaders announced the pledge in a joint statement after holding a virtual summit via videoconference. They pledged to conduct "bold and large-scale" fiscal support in response to the crisis.

"We are currently undertaking immediate and vigorous measures to support our economies; protect workers, businesses -- especially micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises -- and the sectors most affected; and shield the vulnerable through adequate social protection," the leaders said.

They called on the International Labor Organization and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to monitor the pandemic's impact on employment and said they would work with the World Health Organization, International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group as well as multilateral and regional development banks to develop a financial package.

"We stand ready to strengthen the global financial safety nets," they wrote. "We call upon all these organizations to further step up coordination of their actions, including with the private sector, to support emerging and developing countries facing the health, economic and social shocks of COVID-19."

The European Union on Thursday approved $40 billion in funding to tackle the coronavirus pandemic as the global death toll from the virus surpasses 23,000.

The funding is expected to go toward creating the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative. The fund will go toward spending on healthcare and financing for small- and medium-sized businesses.

The United Nations, meanwhile, launched a $2 billion COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan to assist the world's most vulnerable countries.

Also Thursday, the Spanish Parliament voted early to extend its state of emergency to allow the country's lockdown measures, in place since March 14 that prohibit its more than 45 million people from leaving their homes, to continue until April 11.

The vote followed its Ministry of Health announcing Wednesday it recorded a spike in deaths, surpassing China as the nation with the second-most number of deaths.

Italy's caseload has surpassed 74,000 and edges closer to overtaking China, but Italian health officials on Thursday reported a decline in new cases for the fourth straight day.

Beijing's health commission reported zero local transmissions of the virus on Thursday but dozens of new imported cases, a trend that has continued to increase this week. China's total caseload is more than 81,200.

In Japan, the government said Thursday it will establish a new coronavirus task force after its health ministry reported dozens of new cases, increasing its total to more than 1,200.

"I told Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe there is a high risk of coronavirus spreading widely," Health Minister Katsunobu Kato told reporters following a meeting with the prime minister.

However, he said Abe was not considering a state of emergency that would arm governors with the power to order citizens to remain indoors and close schools.

Wednesday, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike asked residents to stay home over the weekend after dozens of new cases appeared in the city. Tokyo is within an "important phase in preventing an explosive rise in the number of infections," the governor said.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has called on governments to protect those behind bars as part of their measures to contain the disease.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a statement the virus has begun to appear in prisons, jails, immigration detention centers and other facilities built to detain people, and urged the governments to release those vulnerable to the virus and people detained without legal merit.

"Now, more than ever, governments should release every person detained without sufficient legal basis, including political prisoners and others detained simply for expressing critical or dissenting views," she said.

Detention facilities are often overcrowded, unhygienic and offer inadequate health services to their vulnerable populations, she said, adding that social distancing and self-isolation are "practically impossible" in these institutions.

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Pew Research Center: Over half of American families have stock assets

Fifty-two percent of U.S. households have some level of investment in the stock market, the Pew Research Center said Thursday. 

Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
March 26 (UPI) -- Though the economic stimulus package to cope with the coronavirus recently restored some optimism in the stock market, the Pew Research Center said Thursday the losses will still impact the majority of American families.

U.S. markets saw a third consecutive day of gains Thursday after the Senate passed a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package.

The U.S. stock market lost three years of gains in a matter of weeks because of the coronavirus. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed above 22,000 Thursday after closing Monday at 18,591.93, its lowest closing level since November 2016, and receding from a record-high close of 29,551.42 on Feb. 12.

A small share of Americans, 14 percent, are directly invested in individual stocks, but a majority, 52 percent have some level of investment in the stock market, mostly from retirement accounts, the Pew Research Center said.

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Roughly four in 10 U.S. workers have access to employer or union-sponsored retirement plans with the values of many plans linked to the stock market.

The analysis based on 2016 data, the latest available, found that shares in the stock market increased as household income level rose.

For families with annual income less than $35,000, about one in five had assets in the stock market. That rose to 44 percent for those households making $35,000 to $53,000 and jumped to 66 percent for families making $53,000 to $100,000 and 88 percent for families making six figures or more.

Demographic data showed that 61 percent of white households were invested in the stock market compared with 31 percent of black households and 28 percent of Hispanic households. Families headed by an adult age 35 or older but younger than 65 were more likely to be invested in the stock market. Still, 41 percent headed by an adult under age 35 owned some stock.