The Latest: Pope stresses continued combat of malaria
The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.
TOP OF THE HOUR:
— Pope Francis stresses combating malaria must continue as world also fights COVID-19.
— Singapore deports British man who lied about travel history.
— Demonstrators at Hong Kong mall flaunt social distancing measures.
— More than 30,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in 54 countries of Africa.
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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is stressing that efforts to combat malaria must continue even as the world fights COVID-19.
Concern has been rising that while the world is focused on the pandemic, people suffering from other illnesses could receive less attention. Francis added his voice to that chorus of concern, saying Sunday that “while we are fighting the coronavirus pandemic, we must also continue our efforts to prevent and treat malaria, which threatens billions of people in many countries.”
The U.N. World Health Organization has said severe disruptions to anti-malaria campaigns, using insecticide-treated netting against mosquitoes, coupled with difficulties in accessing medicine could lead to a doubling in the number of malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa this year compared to 2018.
As he has been doing during the Vatican’s and Italy’s COVID-19 lockdowns, Francis delivered his traditional Sunday noon blessing from a window overlooking empty St. Peter’s Square. He delivered his televised remarks from inside the Apostolic Palace.
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SINGAPORE— Singapore has deported a British man and blacklisted him after he lied about his travel history during a visit to a court last month. It was part of precautionary measure to curb the COVID-19 outbreak.
Singapore police say the 60-year-old man was allowed to enter the court premise on March 25 after declaring he hadn’t been abroad in the last 14 days. An investigation showed he flew into the city-state from Hong Kong on March 13, 12 days before his visit to the court.
Police said the Briton was given a stern warning before he was deported Sunday to Hong Kong and barred from re-entering the city-state, despite being married to a Singaporean permanent resident.
Singapore has the most virus cases in Southeast Asia at 13,624. This included 931 new infections Sunday, mostly among foreign workers living in cramped dormitory.
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HONG KONG — Demonstrators gathered in a Hong Kong mall on Sunday chanting pro-democracy slogans even as Hong Kong’s social distancing measures banned gatherings of more than four in public.
Police officers, including riot police with shields, entered the Cityplaza shopping mall in Tai Koo to disperse the crowds shortly after demonstrators gathered.
Hundreds of protestors gathered and sung the protest anthem “Glory to Hong Kong.” They shouted slogans reiterating their demands to the government and called for the Hong Kong police force to be disbanded.
The demonstration comes on the heels of the arrest of 15 former lawmakers and pro-democracy activists last week on charges of unlawful assembly stemming from huge rallies against a controversial extradition bill that would allow detainees to be transferred to mainland China.
The extradition bill was later withdrawn in September, although protests continued for several months with protesters demanding voting rights and an independent inquiry into police conduct.
Sunday’s demonstration is the city’s largest this year. Protests had quieted down in January after the COVID-19 outbreak in China led to a global pandemic.
Hong Kong reported no new cases on Sunday for the third time in the last seven days. The city has recorded a total of 1,038 infections and four deaths so far.
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JOHANNESBURG — The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says more than 30,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the 54 countries of Africa.
The report issued Sunday showed there have been 1,374 deaths in Africa. Only two African countries have not reported any cases of the disease — the tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho in southern Africa and Comoros, the small Indian Ocean islands.
South Africa has the continent’s most COVID-19 cases with 4,361, followed closely by three countries in North Africa: Egypt with 4,319 cases, Morocco, with 3,897 and Algeria with 3,256 cases.
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MADRID — Spain has reported its lowest daily death count for coronavirus infections in five weeks as its strict lockdown restrictions begin to pay dividends.
Spanish health authorities said Sunday that 288 people died from COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours, taking the total to 23,190 since the start of the outbreak. It is the first time the daily death toll has fallen below 300 fatalities since March 20.
The daily number of confirmed new infections also dropped. Spain counts 207,634 confirmed cases overall, but authorities say that the true number of infections is unknown due to limits on testing.
The daily rate of infection fell to 0.8%, down from over 20% a month before.
“The magnitude of today’s decrease is important,” Spanish health official Fernando Simón said. “As of tomorrow, our goal is no longer to reach the peak of the contagion curve, we are already there. Now we need to consolidate (our position) and think about how to safely move into the next phase of scaling down our restriction measures.”
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is to give details on Tuesday on further moves to reduce the lockdown after children were allowed out for the first time in 44 days on Sunday.
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THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Animals at two mink farms in the Netherlands have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
The Dutch Ministry of Agriculture said Sunday that some staff at the two farms had earlier displayed symptoms of the disease “so it is assumed that these are human-to-animal infections.”
As a precaution, authorities are closing roads within 400 meters (yards) of the affected farms in North Brabant, which is the Dutch region the hardest hit by the coronavirus.
The minks are not the first animals infected with the coronavirus. The findings come after positive tests in two pet cats in New York state and in some tigers and lions at the Bronx Zoo, adding to a small number of confirmed cases of the virus in animals worldwide.
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ROME — Italians are waiting to hear what new set of restrictions will govern their lives over the next months after almost seven weeks under a national lockdown.
Premier Giuseppe Conte has been spending the weekend consulting those who will have key roles in overseeing Italy’s gradual easing of restrictions – mayors, governors, allies in his center-left government, a national scientific advisory committee and an ad hoc group of experts including economists and psychologists.
The current lockdown lasts through May 3. Italy’s education minister said weeks ago that it was practically impossible for schools to reopen before the summer break. That would prolong pressure on working parents.
Family Minister Elena Bonetti said in an interview in Corriere della Sera on Sunday that she is pushing for the opening of summer recreation centers for children as well as daycare centers for kids six years old or younger.
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BARCELONA, Spain — The sound of children shouting has returned to Spain’s streets for the first time in six weeks after the government lifted a strict home confinement on its youngest citizens.
Spain’s government let children under 14 years old out for the first time on Sunday morning after 44 days of complete seclusion. They can now to take walks with a parent for up to one hour within one kilometer from home.
“This is wonderful! I can’t believe it has been six weeks,” said Susana Sabaté, a mother of 3-year-old twin boys who were wearing child-size face-masks. “My boys are very active. Today when they saw the front door and we gave them their scooters, they were thrilled.”
Youngsters can take one toy with them, but they are not allowed play with other kids and should maintain a one-meter distance from other people. Parks are closed. Authorities recommend that both parents and children wash their hands before and after outings.
Spain has one of the world’s strictest lockdowns as it fights to contain one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the world. The strict measures helped reduce a daily contagion rate that was over 20% a month ago to under 2% this week, easing pressure on hospitals that were on the brink of collapse.
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PARIS — The French government will detail to parliament on Tuesday how it plans to pull the country out of the coronavirus lockdown that has plunged the eurozone’s second-largest economy into a deep and alarming freeze.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe tweeted that he will unveil the “national deconfinement strategy” in an address at the National Assembly. Lawmakers will get to debate the blueprint before voting on it.
The government has for weeks had teams of experts working on finding a balance between restarting the economy without provoking a second surge of COVID-19 infections that could overwhelm hospital ICUs.
President Emmanuel Macron had already announced that France’s lockdown, in place since March 17 and among the strictest in Europe, would begin to ease from May 11.
Philippe’s long-awaited speech will flesh out the details. He said it will cover six themes: health, schooling, work, shops, transport and gatherings.
The lockdown has been raising tensions in France's poorest areas.
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ISLAMABAD — Frontline health workers in Pakistan’s largest Punjab province are holding rotating sit-ins to protest the poor quality of their personal protection equipment.
Dr. Salman Haseeb Chaudhry, president of the provincial chapter of the Young Doctor’s Association, said Sunday the substandard equipment is leading to an increasing number of health professionals contracting COVID-19, and that a grand health alliance including nurses and paramedics has formed to demand greater protection.
Chaudhry said 100 health professionals tested positive for the new coronavirus in the previous 24 hours.
Pakistan has confirmed 12,723 cases of the virus with 269 deaths attributed to COVID-19. The true number of infections is thought to be far higher.
Pakistan has been recording a steady daily increase of about 750 positive cases in the last week. Testing is still low with barely 6,800 people tested daily in a country of 220 million people, 60% of whom live in the most populous Punjab problem.
Pakistan has struggled to get protective equipment to its health professionals. Doctors in southwestern Baluchistan province who protested were jailed earlier this month. They were freed within hours.
The government has increased the supply of protective equipment after receiving planeloads of supplies from China and stepping up local production. But Chaudhry said the quality is substandard.
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LONDON —The British prime minister’s office says Boris Johnson will return to work Monday, two weeks after he was discharged from a London hospital where he was treated for the new coronavirus.
Johnson, 55, spent a week at St. Thomas’ Hospital, including three nights in intensive care, where he was given oxygen and watched around the clock by medical staff.
After he was released April 12, he recorded a video message thanking staff at the hospital for saving his life.
Johnson has not been seen in public since then, as he recovered at the prime minister’s country retreat outside London.
Johnson’s return comes amid growing criticism of the government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. The number of people with COVID-19 who have died in British hospitals reached 20,000 on Saturday. Thousands more are thought to have died in nursing homes.
Opposition politicians are calling for more clarity on when the government will ease a nationwide lockdown that was imposed March 23 and runs to at least May 7.
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