Health

Daily COVID-19 pandemic roundup: April 14

(Update adds information from: the US, G7, Canada, Spain, France and Latin America)

Miami Desk, Apr 14 (efe-epa).- Here’s a roundup of stories around the world related to the novel coronavirus pandemic:

US: President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered a freeze on US funding to the World Health Organization, saying at a White House press conference that he was halting funding while he conducts a review of the WHO’s “role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of coronavirus.”

US: The Trump administration reached a $25 billion bailout agreement with the main US passenger airlines, one of the sectors hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis, according to a Treasury Department statement. The airlines involved include American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Allegiant Air, Frontier Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, SkyWest Airlines and Southwest Airlines.

US: Seven crewmembers on board the US Navy hospital ship Mercy have tested positive for the coronavirus. The vessel is docked in Los Angeles to provide additional beds for local hospitals battling the pandemic, and the affected crewmembers – along with all personnel known to have come in contact with them – have been isolated.

US: New York City on Tuesday surpassed 10,000 Covid-19 deaths after the inclusion of more than 3,700 fatalities that had not been included to date in the statistics, according to the City Hall press secretary, Freddi Goldstein, as quoted by local media. The heretofore unincluded fatalities are people who died in their homes (as opposed to in hospitals) but who had Covid symptoms, even though they were never tested for the virus.

US: According to The John Hopkins University, a total of 596,670 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in the US so far, and 25,239 of them have died.

US: US tech giant Amazon’s stock price reached its highest level in history on Tuesday amid the coronavirus crisis, which has meant an unprecedented increase in business volume as quarantined people entertain themselves with their computers and mobile devices. On Tuesday, Amazon’s share price closed at $2,284.05, a 5.34 percent hike from the day before.

G7: The G7, which includes the world’s most industrialized and richest nations, announced Tuesday that it will support a temporary suspension of debt payments by the poorest countries if China backs the measure.

CANADA: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came in for considerable criticism on Tuesday for his decision to travel with his family to a rural residence for Holy Week despite Canadian authorities’ recommendation that citizens not make trips to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

SPAIN: Former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy regularly las left his Madrid home – despite stay-home orders – to exercise nearby, a Spanish TV station reported, providing images of the conservative ex-leader wearing sports clothing on the street.

FRANCE: The French government on Tuesday summoned China’s ambassador, Lu Shaye, to “clearly” express to him its “disapproval” over public statements by members of Beijing’s diplomatic delegation. China had complained in an April 8 statement posted on its embassy’s Web page about the arrests of several Chinese citizens in France who were allegedly distributing facemasks and PPE to Chinese citizens.

BRAZIL: The Brazilian Health Ministry reported 204 additional deaths from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll so far to 1,532, with the number of confirmed cases rising to 25,262.

BRAZIL: Rio de Janeiro Gov. Wilson Witzel, one of the regional leaders who has fought hardest to protect the public from the coronavirus, has tested positive for the virus, he announced in a video on his Twitter account, adding that he is experiencing mild Covid-19 symptoms. Para state Gov. Helder Barbalho also announced that he had tested positive for the virus.

ECUADOR: Ecuador on Tuesday announced that 7,603 confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been detected nationwide, 71.2 percent of them in the coastal province of Guayas, of which Guayaquil is the capital. So far, 369 people have died from the disease in Ecuador.

BOLIVIA: Interim Bolivian President Jeanine Añez announced Tuesday that she was extending the coronavirus quarantine by an additional 15 days until April 30, although she said that the emergency measures could be adjusted for some locations and regions depending on local circumstances and case loads.

COLOMBIA: Colombian army troops on Tuesday used a cistern truck and disinfectants to clean military installations in the town of Usme, near Bogota, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

UNITED KINGDOM: The Office of Budget Responsibility, an independent body that advises the government, warned the UK’s GDP could shrink 35 percent in spring because of the impact of the coronavirus lockdown on the economy although Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak warned there were “tough times” ahead. Health authorities said 778 coronavirus patients had died in hospital overnight, bringing the total to 12,107.

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