Health
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced to provide $5 million to help the public health agencies in and around Seattle fight the coronavirus. The money is intended to provide tests and help with the detection of people infected. The Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman said that “early detection plays an essential role in helping public health authorities identify and treat people with COVID-19". According to him, testing is also important in order to be able to "take steps to safely isolate them and reduce transmission within the community".
The Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced that the schools in his country will stay open and advises following the policy of social distancing. Students should stay 1.5 meters apart from each other while being at school. In addition to this Australia banned handshakes and implemented a policy that people need to go into self-isolation for 14 days upon entering the country.
Several days after meeting a delegation from Brazil, of whom multiple members have been tested positive for the coronavirus, Donald Trump underwent a test himself. The White House physician has now announced that the President's test result is negative.
The northern neighbor country of Italy takes on new measures to prevent the coronavirus from spreading further. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has announced that people should only leave their homes for essential workes, essential shopping (such as food and medicine) and for helping other people.
Hospital staff celebrated by taking off their masks together, as the last of the makeshift emergency hospitals to combat the coronavirus has been closed in Wuhan, China.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that it would waive a rule regarding takeoff and landing rights until May 31. The rule requires airlines to use 80% of their allocated slots in order to keep them. The measure aims to counter ghost flights as many connections are cancelled due to the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
From March 14 on the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment is offering free tests for the coronavirus. Between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. people can line up with their cars and the first 100-150 vehicles will get tests. The testing is free and proof of insurance is not needed.
Dr. Marty Makary from the John Hopkins University claims that for every person that has been positively tested for the coronavirus, multiple untested but infected people are out there. He thinks that the US has between "50,000 and half a million cases". Even his lowest estimation is way higher than the official number of over 1,600 confirmed cases. He also criticizes the CDC - the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - for not rolling out the testing fast enough and even using the wrong testing system.
With the beginning of April, the administration under Donald Trump is planning on tightening the work requirements for the SNAP - the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program commonly referred to as Food Stamps. People that are healthy and able and don't raise children need to work at least 20 hours a week if they are between 18-49 years old in order to qualify. The government estimates that around 700,000 people will lose access to the SNAP program following this change.
In her Instagram Stories, she shows herself lying in bed and says that she suffers from "a chill, feeling feverish, cough, runny nose". The model hopes that it's just a cold, and says that she'd love to test for the coronavirus, but two different doctors denied her the test.
Italy's deputy economy minister, Laura Castelli, announced that in order to help individuals and households to better cope with the financial and economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, all mortgage payments will be suspended.
A South Korean source claims that "intelligence analysis suggests that Kim Jong-un" has left the capital city of North Korea and has moved to Wonsan on the east coast of the country following the spread of the coronavirus. The source also says that over 180 North Korean soldiers have died following the Covid-19 spread.
Although completing the needed research and studies for a vaccine against the coronavirus could take an undefined amount of time, the first vaccine has entered a testing stage. The University of Saskatchewan in Canada said they are close to completing the research phase and are now starting to test the vaccine on animals.
Following the withdrawal of the McLaren Racing team from the Australian Grand Prix, after a team member was tested positive for the coronavirus and isolated, the Grand Prix race was canceled. The team principles discussed the situation and they "concluded with a majority view of the teams that the race should not go ahead."
After a team member of McLaren got tested positively for Covid-19 the team decided to withdraw from the Grand Prix. The team member went into self-isolation as soon as they started to show symptoms and is now being treated by local health authorities.
Following the global spread of the coronavirus Disney is taking measures and closes down Disney World in Orlando, Florida as well as the Disneyland resort in Anaheim, California and the Disneyland in Paris, France. With these parks closing all eleven Disney parks around the world are now closed due to the coronavirus pandemia.
People wanting to come from Europe will be banned from traveling to the United States for the next 30 days. The ban applies to countries inside the Schengen economic and travel zone. The two exceptions are the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The actor announced on his Twitter that Rita Wilson and he got checked in Australia, after having multiple symptoms like feeling tired, body aches, chills and slight fevers. While these symptoms aren't a clear indication for the coronavirus, and for example can be the cause of a cold, they both got positive test results for Covid-19. Both will now go into isolation and be subject to further tests following the official protocols in Australia.
The centre-back player was tested positively for the coronavirus and stated that the is "fine". The Serie A started all by law required isolation procedures to further prevent the virus from spreading. This includes people who have come into contact with Daniele Rugani. This follows after all sporting events in Italy have been postponed until April.
Everything that is declared "non-essential" for the people of Italy is ordered to close by the Italian government. The only exceptions are food shops and pharmacies. This measure follows the general lockdown of the country and aims to slow down the spread of the coronavirus.
After 13 days of hospital treatment, a 100-year-old man has been discharged after his recovery from the coronavirus. Being born in February 1920 the man was admitted to the hospital on February 24th. Having pre-conditions next to the new Covid-19 infection such as A lzheimer's disease, hypertension and heart failure.
The Moscow healthcare department announced that people who return from countries with increasing infection rates such as China, South Korea, Iran, France, Germany, Italy and others should self-isolate themselves for 14 days inside their own homes. Not following this could be punished by up to five years in prison.
The Iranian internet service providers have been asked by the Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi to provide 100 gigabytes of internet to their users for free. This comes ahead of the Persian New Year holidays and is aimed to contain the spread of Covid-19.
The Xinjia Express Hotel in Quanzhou, in the Chinese province of Fujian, has collapsed. The Hotel was used as a quarantine center for coronavirus patients. Following officials around 70 people were in the building at the time of the collapse.
The presidential nominee contender and Senator Bernie Sanders wrote in an opinion article for USA Today, that instead of politicians scientists should be in charge of the coronavirus response. He criticizes that Vice President Mike Pence has been appointed to lead the task force and demands different measures such as Trump signing "the bipartisan emergency funding passed by the House, and the administration should provide any additional resources needed by state and local agencies on the frontlines of this effort."
After a meeting with health officials, Republican Senator Rick Scott and other senators announced that "there won't be a million people to get a test by the end of the week". They claimed that the numbers will be way smaller, that the government is still sending out test kits and people need to be trained for their proper usage.
Following the spread of the coronavirus the prime minister of Italy Giuseppe Conte introduced a travel ban for the whole country. Together with this nonessential travel and all public gatherings are prohibited. Leaving the home is only allowed for essential work, family emergencies and health care situations. This includes the cancellation of all sporting events including the football Serie A.
Following the increasing spread of the coronavirus in Italy, the Pope has cancelled his public appearances. The regular addresses on Sundays and Wednesdays will be held privately inside the official papal library in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace. The Vatican stated that both will be streamed on the internet.
Five days after being discharged from a makeshift hospital in Wuhan a 36-year-old man, who was previously admitted and treated for the coronavirus, died of respiratory failure. His wife stated that he was not feeling well two days after being back home from the hospital. The Wuhan health commission issued a death certificate that stated that the cause of death was Covid-19.
A personal letter from Kim Jong-un, North Korea's Dictator, has been delivered to South Korea's president Moon Jae-in. In the letter, Kim Jong-un expresses his support to fight the coronavirus. He also wished for good health. Following this Moon returned a letter to North Korea to express his gratitude for the quiet support.