Poll shows majority of Americans support canceling rent and suspending mortgage payments during pandemic

April 19, 2020 By Common Dreams


New polling from the think tank Data for Progress shows that a majority of Americans across the political spectrum support canceling rent payments and suspending home mortgage payments during the coronavirus pandemic—results that bolster the argument for legislation introduced Friday by Rep. Ilhan Omar to provide relief to “the millions of Americans currently at risk of housing instability and homelessness.”

Under the Minnesota Democrat’s bill, a summary from her office explains (pdf), “payments on all rental homes will be canceled and landlords will be able to apply to have their losses covered by the federal government through a Rental Property Relief Fund to be administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Additionally, all home mortgage payments will be suspended with mortgage holders being eligible to apply to a similar, HUD-operated Home Lenders Relief Fund.”

As Omar unveiled the Rent and Mortgage Cancelation Act, backed by fellow progressives in Congress and several advocacy groups, Data for Progress, People’s Action, and Justice Democrats on Friday released a memo (pdf) about the polling results. “With millions of renters in a desperate situation, bold legislation to relieve renters is imperative,” the memo says. “Eviction moratoriums—which postpone rent payments, but don’t cancel them—are only a first step, but they are not enough.”

My bill to cancel rent and mortgages isn’t just necessary, it’s popular.
55% of Americans support it, including Republicans. Only 33% oppose.
There’s no reason this should not be on the table in the next relief package!https://t.co/RyJXin2Q78
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 17, 2020

Data for Progress found that 55% of all voters somewhat or strongly support a policy that would suspend mortgage payments and cancel rent payments, and not require renters to pay rent that accumulated during the the pandemic. Broken down by political parties, that policy is supported by 67% of Democrats, 48% of Independents, and 42% of Republicans.

A similar policy that would require renters to eventually pay back all rent accumulated during the pandemic garnered even higher support. Across all voters, 63% supported that policy. The party breakdown was: 77% of Democrats, 56% of Independents, and 50% of Republicans.

The memo points out that “some in government are beginning to act,” highlighting housing relief efforts in New York and that “a growing number of states and cities have placed a moratorium on evictions.” However, the document adds, “this isn’t enough. Rent hasn’t been canceled—it’s simply been postponed.”

“As the coronavirus pandemic continues to place millions of Americans in a difficult economic situation,” the memo concludes, “lawmakers should pursue the cancelation and forgiveness of rent for all tenants in the U.S., knowing that a clear majority of Americans are on their side.”

New from @DataProgress + @justicedems + @PplsAction shows voters support @Ilhan‘s rent suspension and cancellation proposal. With partisan framing and arguments, the policy has 63% in support, 25% opposed. https://t.co/0THWW9wSAV
the supreme court will destroy everything we want (@SeanMcElwee) April 17, 2020

In a statement Saturday about the new polling, Justice Democrats noted:

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, a Harvard University report found that nearly half of renters in the U.S. are “cost-burdened,” spending more than 30% of their income on housing, and a quarter of renters are “severely cost-burdened,” meaning they spend more than half of their income to make the rent. The pandemic has exacerbated America’s housing crisis, leaving millions of renters in desperate circumstances and in dire need of bold legislation that goes beyond eviction moratoriums.

Justice Democrats executive director Alexandra Rojas urged members of Congress to urgently pass legislation that is ambitious enough to meet the needs of those negatively affected by the virus outbreak that continues to ravage communities across the country.

“We need to keep money in the pockets of working people in this country and a moratorium on rent and evictions is a major step in the right direction,” Rojas said. “The focus of additional COVID-19 emergency relief packages should match the scale of the crisis that millions of Americans are facing.”

NOT 1917
The ‘Spanish’ flu outbreak of 1918 is playing out just like ‘reopen’ protesters are in 2020: report

April 19, 2020 Sarah K. Burris


National Public Radio reporter Tim Mak wrote an extensive Twitter thread after researching the way the flu outbreak spread throughout the United States in the early 20th century.

It began in San Francisco in Sept. 1918, he explained, and people were successfully wearing masks and cases were dropping. By November, public health officials said the city could reopen.

“Residents rushed to entertainment venues after having been denied this communal joy for months. The mayor himself was fined by his own police chief after going to a show without a mask,” said Mak.

Another wave of the virus came in Dec. 1918 and the health officials told people to start wearing masks again, but people refused. Businesses were worried about their Christmas sales, so they opposed the efforts, as did the Culinary Workers Union. Residents were over it, and they’d already been dealing with it for months. Police began fining or arresting people for not wearing masks, which sparked lawsuits from people claiming it was their Constitutional right to risk their own lives.

Christian Scientists said it was “subversive of personal liberty” and civil libertarians claimed no one could force them to wear masks.

After the San Francisco Chronicle came out against mandatory masks, the death rate continued to climb, said Mak.

“An op-ed ran in the local paper w/headline ‘What’s The Use?’ after a man got sick despite following public health guidelines,” he explained. “A promised vaccine turned out to be bogus. Hundreds of citizens congregated on Dec. 16 to debate a masking order.”

On Dec. 18, a bomb was sent to the city’s public health official.

San Francisco’s Public Health Officer stuck by his guns, refusing to back down, and saying there was evidence that masks helped!

He implored the public to look to the data! Wear masks! They help!

More via Crosby: pic.twitter.com/i9lI6cxCHY
— Tim Mak (@timkmak) April 19, 2020


On Dec. 19, he explained that officials voted down an order that would make wearing a mask mandatory.

“The dollar sign is exalted above the health sign,” the public health officer said, according to Mak.

The worst rate of deaths from the flu pandemic was Dec. 30.

“It is of no time to quibble over the worth of the mask. It is the best thing we have found to date, and if you have anything better, for God’s sake, give it to us,” said a representative of an organized labor group.

Finally, the council reconsidered their vote and passed the order on Jan. 10. A whopping 600 new cases were reported just that day.

“Citizens were arrested/fined for not having masks on, but widespread disobedience of the order continue & large numbers of citizens refused to wear masks,” said Mak, noting that the protests still continued.

“Over 2,000 people attended an event formed by San Franciscans called themselves ‘THE ANTI-MASK LEAGUE,’ denouncing the mandatory masking ordinance.

The protesters were a group of “public-spirited citizens, skeptical physicians, and fanatics,” Crosby wrote.

Stockton Daily Evening Record
(Stockton, California)
21 Jan 1919, Tue
Page 1 pic.twitter.com/mWofM4todZ

— Maureen Moore (@HopesMom12) April 19, 2020

It was something Mak noted was remarkably similar to what is happening today with the protests around the country demanding a reopening of the government even if it will kill people.

He noted that the public health officer was the 1919 version of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the NIH virus expert that has been appointed to the coronavirus task force by the president. President Donald Trump’s supporters have now decided that they are against Fauci.

To this day, Mak said that no one credits wearing masks with helping stop the flu pandemic of the era.

SOURCES:

The University of Michigan's Influenza Encyclopedia
The San Francisco Chronicle’s archives
America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918 by Alfred W. Crosby
American Pandemic by Nancy Bristow

/END THREAD

— Tim Mak (@timkmak) April 19, 2020

While the flu was referred to as the “Spanish Flu,” it actually had nothing to do with Spain, it’s that Spain was the first country to talk about it openly. Other countries were suffering from it but were dealing with WWI battles. The flu spread throughout trenches during the war, killing over 45,000 American soldiers and hospitalizing 1.2 million soldiers.

SOURCES:

The University of Michigan's Influenza Encyclopedia
The San Francisco Chronicle’s archives
America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918 by Alfred W. Crosby
American Pandemic by Nancy Bristow

/END THREAD
— Tim Mak (@timkmak) April 19, 2020

Read his full thread on Twitter.

No — that $20 million for Ruth’s Chris isn’t going to workers at franchises
April 19, 2020 By Sarah K. Burris


Ruth’s Chris steak house was among the corporations that scored millions of dollars that were supposed to be allocated to small businesses. But according to the Wall Street Journal, those hefty loans aren’t being sent to the overwhelming majority of employees of the famous steakhouse.

Out of the 83 Ruth’s Chris steak houses in the United States, 73 are franchises, leaving just 25 to spend the $20 million as well as their corporate offices, CEOs and the top echelon of the C-suite.

“At least two other restaurant chains took advantage of that provision, public filings and interviews show. Brazilian steakhouse chain Fogo de Chão Inc. also got $20 million, and casual-dining company J. Alexander’s Holdings Inc. received $15.1 million,” said the report.

There are thousands of employees among those businesses that are suffering in the time of COVID-19, but the overwhelming majority are employed at those franchises that aren’t getting the bucket of bailout cash from the president


“We will be following all guidelines set forth by the [Small Business Administration] in how the funds are being leveraged, including payroll assurance for our team members in individual locations running our takeout and delivery business,” Ruth’s claimed in a statement.

“This is outrageous,” the Journal quoted House Small Business Committee Chairwoman Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), who asked for an inspector general investigation at the SBA. She called the White House to release information about loan recipients to “root out any signs of favoritism and mishandling.”

Read the full report at the Wall Street Journal.

Trump admin awards N95 contract far above normal price to bankrupt company with no employees: report

April 18, 2020 By Salon


The Trump administration awarded an N95 mask procurement contract worth eight times the usual price to a bankrupt company with no employees which has never even manufactured the respirator masks, according to a new report.

The company, Panthera, claims to provide tactical training and “mission support” for the Department of Defense and other government agencies. However, it has no experience with manufacturing or medical equipment, The Washington Post reported this week. Panthera’s parent company filed for bankruptcy in the fall, and it has not employed anyone since May 2018.

According to the contract terms, FEMA will pay Panthera $55 million for 10 million N95 respirator masks, or $5.50 a mask. 3M, one of the nation’s largest manufacturers, charges the government between $0.63 and $1.50 per N95 mask, depending on the model. Prestige Ameritech, the largest U.S. mask manufacturer, charged FEMA about $0.80 cents per mask in an order of 12 million.

FEMA clarified that Panthera is a distributor — not a manufacturer. A Panthera executive told The Post he had made the arrangements through his military contacts and claimed he would deliver on the contract before May 1 “for certain” and “with a very high-quality product.”

FEMA said it complied with federal law in the Panthera purchase, and the contracting officer for the deal “conducted a contractor responsibility determination.”

A chronic shortage of N95s has plagued the U.S. since the outbreak began, and demand for the uniquely-configured masks still has not been met, in part because they are difficult to make. The machines that manufacture them take half a year to build and cost upwards of $4 million.

The combination of demand and the U.S. government’s laggard response has chummed the market for protective medical equipment, and grifters have been quick to pounce. A Georgia man was charged in mid-April with trying to sell $750 million worth of non-existent masks and other equipment. Major U.S. vendors have caught flak for selling masks to foreign buyers.

In response to questions about persistent mask shortages, President Donald Trump suggested, without evidence, that individuals might be taking the masks “out the back door” of hospitals. The president also often complains that healthcare workers will not sanitize masks for multiple uses.

“We have very good liquids for doing this — sanitizing the masks — and that that’s something they’re starting to do more and more,” the president said. “They’re sanitizing the masks.” (While FDA guidelines for N95 respirators say they “should not be shared or reused,” they stop short of prohibiting it outright.)

The Department of Health and Human Services first notified companies Feb. 24 that it would be placing bulk N95 orders, but it did not act in earnest until a month later. The Trump administration has in recent weeks placed orders for $628 million worth of masks, with HHS accounting for more about two-thirds of those purchases.

“All the traditional procurement rules are out the window,” Rick Grimm, director of the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing, which advises state and local governments on procurement, said. Unstable markets are often rife with price gouging and poor products, such as Chinese KN95 masks, which were initially banned by FDA until a dearth of masks in early April forced the agency to accept them. One medical supplies broker told Forbes, “This is the craziest market I’ve ever seen.”

Two days before the KN95 ban was lifted, Salon obtained an email from Robert Hyde — whose text messages with Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas about surveilling U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovich made him a target of the impeachment investigation — in which he claimed to have access to 10 million masks, deliverable the next week. He also tweeted photos that day of boxes of Chinese KN95 masks, which were banned in the U.S. at the time.

Hyde told Salon that he would import most of the masks from unnamed Chinese and Israeli suppliers. He also claimed to have a $25 million product order from New York hospitals, though no evidence was provided.

Hyde said he first planned to “collect donations” but took a capitalist approach after learning market prices ran between $1.90 and $6.90 per mask before his own sales markup for target clients: state governments and hospitals.

“Is cost really an issue when people are catching this virus?” he said in an interview. “What’s five bucks? What’s ten bucks?”

The self-identified “landscaper from Connecticut” and current congressional candidate has repeatedly dismissed the coronavirus pandemic, downplaying the death rate and claiming in a tweet that “we are being lied to” about the virus’s lethality. On March 29 he asked, “Are your hospitals overwhelmed, as the panic master’s claim?”

Two weeks before that, however, Hyde gained a continuance to a federal grand jury subpoena after claiming to an FBI agent that he had been exposed to the coronavirus at February’s CPAC conference. The FBI agent replied, “Lying to federal officials is a federal crime and can be charged as an offense.” (The subpoena is in connection to Hyde’s texts with Parnas about surveilling Yovanovich.)

In another series of emails and texts, obtained by Salon, a Texas woman named Sheri Aaron pitched a sitting U.S. senator from Virginia on purchasing an array of medical equipment from an anonymous third party, including multiple ventilator models and up to 110 million KN95 masks, at the time banned in the states. Aaron told Salon “the intent was to let those public officials making the calls for assistance aware there may be available supplies from an independent vendor” but did not reveal the name of the supplier.

Kathleen O’Neill contributed to this report.

Trump administration was alerted about COVID-19 concerns in ‘real time’ by Americans working at WHO: report

April 19, 2020 By Tom Boggioni


According to a report from the Washington Post, Donald Trump administration officials were receiving warnings about the coming coronavirus pandemic early on from Americans working at the World Health Organization.

While the president has tried to the blame on COVID-19 health crisis that has shut down the U.S. and cause d the economy top crash on the WHO, the report claims there was other information being delivered in “real-time” to U.S. authorities who were late in preparing the country for the coming pandemic.

More than a dozen U.S. researchers, physicians and public health experts, many of them from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were working full time at the Geneva headquarters of the World Health Organization as the novel coronavirus emerged late last year and transmitted real-time information about its discovery and spread in China to the Trump administration, according to U.S. and international officials,” the report states. “A number of CDC staffers are regularly detailed to work at WHO in Geneva as part of a rotation that has operated for years. Senior Trump-appointed health officials also consulted regularly at the highest levels with the WHO as the crisis unfolded, the officials said.”

As the Post notes, the new report contradicts complaints from the Trump administration that were misinformed and were caught unaware of the growing crisis.

"The presence of so many U.S. officials undercuts President Trump’s charge that the WHO’s failure to communicate the extent of the threat, born of a desire to protect China, is largely responsible for the rapid spread of the virus in the United States,” the Post reports.

You can read more here. BEHIND PAYWALL

Idaho GOPer says stay-at-home orders ‘no different’ than sending Jews to extermination camps
STEPHEN MOORE CLAIMED TO BE ROSA PARKS NOW THIS

April 19, 2020 By David Edwards


A Republican state lawmaker compared Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) to Adolf Hitler because she said that stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic are akin to Nazi extermination camps.

During an interview with a Texas podcaster last week, Idaho state Rep. Heather Scott called the economic shutdown “no different than Nazi Germany.”

“And when you have government telling you that your business is essential or non-essential, yours is non-essential and someone else’s is essential, we have a problem there,” Scott explained. “I mean, that’s no different than Nazi Germany where you had government telling people either you were an essential worker or a non-essential worker, and non-essential workers got put on a train.”

“You can’t take away people’s lives and property without compensation, and that’s exactly what he would be doing,” she later added. “I mean, they are already calling him Little Hitler — Gov. Little Hitler.”

And so I think people will start educating others, and people will be more and more vocal until they will say, ‘Enough of this,’ and put the pressure — hopefully political pressure — on him,” Scott added. “That’s what I would hope for.”

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/detroits-jewish-community-condemns.html

It's potatoes, again, for circus animals in Italy lockdown

AFP / MARCO BERTORELLO

Circus director Derek Coda Prin poses in the "Circo Millennium" which is stuck in Savona, northwestern Italy, during a lockdown to fight the novel coronavirus. The fairgrounds cannot perform their show and the animals need more food.

What do you call a hungry alligator during a coronavirus lockdown? An Italian circus stuck in a car park for two months has the answer: a problem.

The Millennium Circus was supposed to be performing along the Ligurian coast in northern Italy, but the virus and a national shutdown of the country stopped it in its tracks.

A kangaroo lies listlessly in its enclosure, while llamas, camels and ponies gather at the fences dividing their respective pens, keeping each other company.

Like the rest of the country, they can do little but kill time, while waiting for the potatoes to be handed out.

AFP /MARCO BERTORELLO

 Animals of the "Circo Millennium" stand in a pen at fairgrounds in Savona, northwestern Italy, during a strict lockdown in the country to fight the novel coronavirus.

The 40 animals -- parrots, geese, a huge-horned buffalo -- and 35 circus performers and staff were only supposed to be at the vast car park for a few days, before heading up the coast to seaside resorts.

But the troupe has been at a standstill since February 20 and has to rely on the help of local associations and animal lovers to feed its beasts.

"They eat about 200 kilos of fodder a day, as well as apples and carrots. And they drink about 1,000 litres of water daily," Derek Coda Prin, the artistic director, told AFP.

Amid the lorries, trucks and caravans, an acrobat is rehearsing her vertical bar act.

AFP / MARCO BERTORELLO

Children and a performer of the "Circo Millennium" train in Savona, northwestern Italy, during a strict lockdown. The show cannot be performed and the animals depend on donated food.

Locals arrive with donated bags of fruit, vegetables, bread or meat.

"At this point, unfortunately, the animals have become a problem," said Coda Prin, whose family has worked in the circus for five generations.

"They are our life companions, our friends, and we try to look after them in the best possible way. But they're not like dogs or cats you can give your leftover lunchtime pasta to".

Paradoxically, among those helping the Millennium Circus is the ENPA, the national association for the protection of animals, which fights the exploitation of animals in circuses.

As well as the pressing issues of the current lockdown, the circus is also worried about the future.

AFP / MARCO BERTORELLO

A member of the "Circo Millennium" feeds the animals with the little food available in Savona, northwestern Italy, during a strict coronavirus lockdown. The troupe relies on local associations and animal lovers to feed its beasts.

Coda Prin said he was worried the virus -- believed to have originated in wild animals -- may put the paying public off circuses featuring feathered and fanged creatures.

"I think it will have created a bit of a dangerous psychosis for our line of work," Coda Prin said.

19APR2020

USDA terminates Chinese-owned Smithfield farm aid contract
WHICH ONLY HURTS ITS EXPLOITED WORKERS

Humeyra Pamuk

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture terminated a $240,000 purchase contract with Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods that had been awarded under the Trump administration’s agricultural trade bailout program, a move taken at the company’s request, a department spokesman told Reuters on Friday.
FILE PHOTO - Some of the products of Smithfield Foods are displayed in front of at a news conference on WH Group's IPO in Hong Kong April 14, 2014. REUTERS/Bobby Yip

The move comes weeks after Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, one of the country’s biggest farm states and the biggest hog-producing state, slammed Smithfield for receiving what he said was aid from the USDA that was meant to help American farmers hurt by China’s trade tariffs.

“Smithfield requested to terminate their contract awarded under the Food Purchase and Distribution Program. USDA has agreed to the termination,” Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for the USDA, told Reuters.

Murtaugh said the transfer of funds for the food purchase contract had not yet taken place, and that Smithfield’s request to cancel the contract was received on Nov. 13.

Smithfield, owned by Chinese conglomerate WH Group (0288.HK), was not immediately available for comment. The company is the world’s largest pork processor and hog producer with $15 billion annual revenues, according to its website.
President Donald Trump in late May announced tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, prompting retaliation from top trading partners like China that has since spilled into agriculture markets.

To help offset damage to American farmers, a key constituency for Trump, the USDA rolled out a $12 billion aid package that included $1.2 billion in purchases of commodities. The program allocated around $558 million to pork purchases.

Grassley, who has represented Iowa in the U.S. Senate since 1981 and is one of the most senior Republicans in the chamber, complained in late October about Smithfield’s approval for what he said was federal aid.

“I don’t understand why Chinese owned Smithfield qualifies for USDA $$ meant to help our farmers,” he wrote on Twitter.

A spokeswoman for Smithfield at the time denied the company had applied for federal assistance, but confirmed it was a qualified vendor to take part in the food purchase program.

SEE  

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=SMITHFIELD

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=TYSON

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=MEAT+PACKING

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=COVID19

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=JBS

NOT JUST PASSOVER AND EASTER
In shadow of coronavirus, Muslims face a Ramadan like never before

Hamid Ould Ahmed, Ulf Laessing, Gayatri Suroyo
APRIL 19, 2020
ALGIERS/CAIRO/JAKARTA (Reuters) - Days before the holy fasting month of Ramadan begins, the Islamic world is grappling with an untimely paradox of the new coronavirus pandemic: enforced separation at a time when socialising is almost sacred.


FILE PHOTO: A municipality worker in a protective suit disinfects Kilic Ali Pasha Mosque due to coronavirus concerns in Istanbul, Turkey March 11, 2020. REUTERS/Kemal Aslan

The holiest month in the Islamic calendar is one of family and togetherness – community, reflection, charity and prayer.

But with shuttered mosques, coronavirus curfews and bans on mass prayers from Senegal to Southeast Asia, some 1.8 billion Muslims are facing a Ramadan like never before.

Across the Muslim world the pandemic has generated new levels of anxiety ahead of the holy fasting month, which begins on around Thursday.

In Algiers, Yamine Hermache, 67, usually receives relatives and neighbours at her home for tea and cold drinks during the month that Muslims fast from dusk till dawn. But this year she fears it will be different.


“We may not visit them, and they will not come,” she said, weeping. “The coronavirus has made everyone afraid, even of distinguished guests.”

In a country where mosques have been closed, her husband Mohamed Djemoudi, 73, worries about something else.

“I cannot imagine Ramadan without Tarawih,” he said, referring to additional prayers performed at mosques after iftar, the evening meal in which Muslims break their fast.

In Jordan the government, in coordination with neighbouring Arab countries, is expected to announce a fatwa outlining what Ramadan rituals will be permitted, but for millions of Muslims, it already feels so different.

From Africa to Asia, the coronavirus has cast a shadow of gloom and uncertainty.

‘WORST YEAR EVER’

Around the souks and streets of Cairo, a sprawling city of 23 million people that normally never sleeps, the coronavirus has been disastrous.

“People don’t want to visit shops, they are scared of the disease. It’s the worst year ever,” said Samir El-Khatib, who runs a stall by the historic al-Sayeda Zainab mosque, “Compared with last year, we haven’t even sold a quarter.”

During Ramadan, street traders in the Egyptian capital stack their tables with dates and apricots, sweet fruits to break the fast, and the city’s walls with towers of traditional lanterns known as “fawanees”.

But this year, authorities have imposed a night curfew and banned communal prayers and other activities, so not many people see much point in buying the lanterns.

Among the few who ventured out was Nasser Salah Abdelkader, 59, a manager in the Egyptian stock market.

“This year there’s no Ramadan mood at all,” he said. “I’d usually come to the market, and right from the start people were usually playing music, sitting around, almost living in the streets.”

Dampening the festivities before they begin, the coronavirus is also complicating another part of Ramadan, a time when both fasting and charity are seen as obligatory.

‘ALL KINDS OF TOGETHERNESS MISSED’

In Algeria, restaurant owners are wondering how to offer iftar to the needy when their premises are closed, while charities in Abu Dhabi that hold iftar for low-paid South Asian workers are unsure what to do with mosques now closed.

Mohamed Aslam, an engineer from India who lives in a three-bedroom apartment in downtown Abu Dhabi with 14 others is unemployed because of the coronavirus. With his apartment building under quarantine after a resident tested positive, he has been relying on charity for food.

In Senegal, the plan is to continue charity albeit in a limited way. In the beachside capital of Dakar, charities that characteristically hand out “Ndogou”, baguettes slathered with chocolate spread, cakes, dates, sugar and milk to those in need, will distribute them to Koranic schools rather than on the street.

Meanwhile in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, some people will be meeting loved ones remotely this year.

Prabowo, who goes by one name, said he will host Eid al-Fitr, the celebration at the end of the fasting month, via the online meeting site Zoom instead of flying home.

“I worry about the coronavirus,” he said. “But all kinds of togetherness will be missed. No iftar together, no praying together at the mosque, and not even gossiping with friends.”

Reporting by Sulaiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers, Ulf Laessing and Seham Eloraby in Cairo, Diadie Ba in Dakar, Gayatri Suroyo in Jakarta and Alexander Cornwall in Abu Dhabi; Writing by Kate Lamb; Editing by Matthew Tostevin, Robert Birsel

Wuhan lab denies virus link as online mega-concert raises spirits

AFP/File / JOHANNES EISELEThe P4 biosafety laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology is equipped to handle dangerous viruses

A laboratory in the Chinese city at ground zero of the global coronavirus outbreak has rejected as "impossible" US theories it is the cradle of the pandemic, as President Donald Trump warned Beijing of consequences if it was "knowingly responsible".

The denial came as the world's top musicians -- from the Rolling Stones to Taylor Swift, Stevie Wonder and teen superstar Billie Eilish -- joined forces for a virtual mega-concert, hoping to spread cheer to billions under lockdown.

The six-hour online event aimed to cultivate a sense of community during a pandemic that has ravaged the global economy and killed at least 157,000 people worldwide, with nearly 2.3 million confirmed infections.

AFP / Olivier DOULIERYA-listers entertained fans with a six-hour online extravaganza celebrating healthcare workers

"Was it a mistake that got out of control or was it done deliberately?" Trump said at a White House briefing Saturday, questioning the origins of the disease, which first emerged in the city of Wuhan in December.

"If they were knowingly responsible, yeah, then there should be consequences," he said when asked if China should face repercussions for the pandemic.

The highly contagious disease was likely first transmitted to humans at a market where exotic animals were slaughtered, according to Chinese scientists.

But conspiracy theories that the virus came from a maximum-security virology lab have been brought into the mainstream in recent days by US government officials.

AFP / Alberto PIZZOLIAt least 157,000 people have been killed by the disease with two-thirds of the deaths in Europe

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said an investigation was underway into how the virus "got out into the world".

"There's no way this virus came from us," Yuan Zhiming, the head of the P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is equipped to handle dangerous viruses, said in an interview with state media.

"I know it's impossible," he added.

- Lockdown protests -

The US has the highest caseload of any country, with more than 735,000 confirmed infections, and by Sunday had lost 39,000 people to the virus, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.

Progress was marked in some places and New York state reported the lowest number of deaths in weeks, which Governor Andrew Cuomo attributed largely to social distancing.

AFP / Hector RETAMALThe highly contagious disease first emerged late last year in the city of Wuhan in central China

But as Americans and others around the world chafe after weeks under stay-at-home orders, resentment is rising.

Anti-lockdown protests on Saturday drew hundreds of people at the capitols of states including Texas, Maryland, New Hampshire and Ohio. Many demonstrators waved American flags and some carried arms.

The small but spreading movement drew encouragement from Trump, who tweeted that three states should be "liberated" from the stay-home orders.

He has called for a rapid return to normality to limit damage to the US economy -- while largely leaving the final decision on easing lockdowns to state officials.

With 22 million Americans out of work seemingly overnight as businesses closed under the lockdown, families are turning more and more to food banks to get by.

"We have gone for months without work," a woman who gave her name only as Alana said at a food distribution centre in Chelsea in suburban Boston.

- Orthodox Easter -

Mounting evidence suggests that social distancing has slowed the pandemic after more than half of humanity -- 4.5 billion people -- were confined to their homes.

AFP / ARIANA DREHSLERAnti-lockdown protests in several US states drew hundreds of people

Stay-at-home orders have been enforced in Italy and Spain, both still the hardest-hit countries in Europe, with death tolls over 20,000, followed by France, which has recorded more than 19,000 fatalities.

As governments around the world grapple with when and how to ease lockdowns, Spain on Saturday extended its nationwide shutdown to May 9.

Japan, Britain and Mexico have all expanded their movement restrictions.

Yet elsewhere, signs that the outbreak could be easing prompted Switzerland, Denmark and Finland to begin reopening shops and schools this week. Germany is set to follow suit with some shops back in action on Monday.

Iran also allowed some Tehran businesses to reopen Saturday despite the country being home to the Middle East's deadliest outbreak.

AFP / VALERY HACHEFrance has recorded more than 19,000 virus fatalities

"How can I keep staying home? My family is hungry," said Hamdollah Mahmoudi, 45, a shopworker in Tehran's Grand Bazaar.

Israel has also approved some easing to its tight restrictions -- while pointedly avoiding announcing the first stage of an exit from lockdown.

Many of the world's 260 million Orthodox Christians marked Easter on Sunday without attending church services.

However Easter celebrations were allowed to go ahead in Georgia despite a nationwide curfew, with hundreds attending.

In Zimbabwe, mass rallies and military parades to mark the country's 40th anniversary of independence from British colonial rule were cancelled.

And Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth II will not mark her birthday on Tuesday with a traditional gun salute.

Australia has called for an independent investigation into the global response to the pandemic, including the World Health Organization's handling of the crisis.

Its foreign minister said the country would "insist" on a review that would probe, in part, China's response to the outbreak.

Back in Wuhan there was an emotional return to the city for the Chinese Super League football team after more than three months stranded on the road while the area was on lockdown.

Wearing masks, the players had bouquets of flowers thrust into their hands as supporters clad in the team's orange colours held banners and sang to welcome them home.

burs-kaf/axn