Our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic has moved here.
The UK will have to rely on social distancing measures until there is a vaccine or a treatment for coronavirus, England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said during the daily Downing Street briefing on Wednesday.
Whitty cautioned that achieving that goal will take time and that the outbreak will have to be managed through social distancing measure until then.
“Until we have those, and the probability of having those anytime in the next calendar year are incredibly small, and I think we should be realistic about that, we’re going to have to rely on other social measures, which of course are very socially disruptive, as everyone is finding at the moment. But until that point, that is what we will have to do,” Whitty said.
“But it’s going to take a long time and I think we need to be aware of that,” he added.
The Spanish parliament voted to approve the extension of its state of emergency proclamation for the third time until May 9.
The state of emergency was first decreed on March 14, which ordered severe restrictions on movement and business.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez argued for another extension during a speech on Wednesday morning.
Sanchez warned parliament members that the next phase of de-escalation and the return to normality “needs to be slow, gradual and therefore secure.”
The prime minister also mentioned that his government is “implementing a control system” for people traveling from inside or outside of Spain “to avoid more imported contagions.”
“Each mistake we do now, each challenge we fail, each delay caused by other interests will be a weight we will carry in the next months and years,” he added.
Spain has the world’s second highest cases of coronavirus cases, the country has enforced Europe’s strictest restrictions of movement.
There will be no knightings or awarding of other honors at Buckingham Palace in June, and the annual Garter service at Windsor Castle – where Knights of the Garter process with the Queen – has also been called off, a Royal Communications statement Wednesday said.
The majority of nurses in Spain say they have been working during the Covid-19 crisis without enough protective equipment, according to a study by the Spanish College of Nursing (CGE).
Of the 11,000 nurses surveyed across Spain, 74% said there were no masks in their work unit and 55% reported a lack of protective gowns.
However, the Spanish College of Nursing believes there are many more cases among health workers than have been reported, as the study reveals two-thirds of nurses reported having symptoms but weren’t able to get tested. The report also reveals 5% of nurses had to work with symptoms. Madrid, the hardest hit by the virus of Spain’s 17 regions, was also the region with the most number of nurses who reported having symptoms compatible with Covid-19.
In a lengthy report about Covid-19, the Ministry of Health said “the high contagion rate among health care workers could be attributed to different factors.” In the initial phase especially when there was less knowledge about how the virus was transmitted, the report said, cases “could have been generated among health care workers improperly protected.”
The College of Nursing study also reveals that many workers said they didn’t receive enough Covid-19-specific training to treat infected patients or use the special protective equipment. Some nurses also reported receiving “poor quality” supplies, such as having to reuse or wash masks and gowns, spending up to 14 hours with the same equipment, and reusing it the next day.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has tested negative for Covid-19, Dr. Zafar Mirza, his special adviser on health, announced in a tweet Wednesday.
“I am happy to report that his test is NEGATIVE,” Mirza tweeted.
Some background: The decision to test Khan came after Pakistan’s eminent philanthropist Faisal Edhi announced on Tuesday that he has tested positive for Covid-19. Khan and Edhi met in person six days ago.
According to Pakistan’s ministry of health, the number of diagnosed coronavirus cases in the country is now 10,076.
At least 25,085 people have died in connection with Covid-19 in Italy, according to the Italian Civil Protection Agency.
There are now 107,699 active cases of Covid-19 in Italy.
The total number of cases, including deaths and recoveries, is now 187,327.
If the World Food Program’s supply chain breaks down, “people will die and not just of Covid-19, but of starvation,” WFP Director David Beasley told CNN’s Hala Gorani on Wednesday.
Beasley warned that this was not a “sky-is-falling” scenario, but a reality they are currently facing.
“It’s not just food, it’s a number of things. If that supply chain breaks down, we can’t move goods and services, we can’t move supplies,” Beasley said.
“So if the supply chain breaks down or if the money falls apart, then if 100 million don’t get food, then 100 million don’t live. Then it’s a very bleak situation, so we are very concerned about this.”
Beasley said the WFP needs $350 million for extra flights to Africa to help move medical professionals into the country because commercial airlines have shut down.
Beasley said the world was already facing the worst humanitarian crisis in 2020 due to wars in Yemen and Syria. Now it’s a “perfect storm of extraordinary proportions,” he said.
South Korean officials say analysis of samples from recovered Covid-19 patients show all had formed neutralizing antibodies, but almost half still showed viral genetic material, Korean Centers for Disease Control (KCDC) Director Dr. Jung Eun-kyeong said at a press briefing Wednesday.
She added that these patients are likely not contagious.
About the analysis: The KCDC conducted analysis on 25 recovered patients to determine whether the Covid-19 virus could be detected. 25 patients had formed neutralizing antibodies against the virus, and 12 patients tested positive for Covid-19. When the samples from the 12 patients were cultivated the results were negative, Jung said.
Samples were taken from 39 cases that retested positive and so far 6 samples did not cultivate the virus. Examination on 33 other samples is ongoing.
Global carbon emissions are expected to fall 6% this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says.
WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said it’s “short-term” good news for the environment, but won’t be enough to get the world back on track to meet the 2015 Paris Agreement targets.
The WMO says while the coronavirus pandemic may result in a temporary reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, it is not a substitute for sustained climate action.
“Whilst Covid-19 has caused a severe international health and economic crisis, failure to tackle climate change may threaten human well-being, ecosystems and economies for centuries,” Taalas added. “We need to flatten both the pandemic and climate change curves.”
The last major cruise ship remaining at sea during the coronavirus pandemic docked in the port of Genoa, Italy today, regional council member Giacomo Giampedrone told CNN.
The planned docking of the Costa Deliziosa was delayed Tuesday due to poor weather conditions.
“The Costa Deliziosa has docked and health care personnel will go on board shortly, to transport the body of a woman who died on April 6 to the forensic office where a coronavirus test will be done, mainly as a precaution. Her death seems not be related to coronavirus,” Giampedrone told CNN.
“We will carry out a protected disembarking, just like we did in other cases of cruise ships that had coronavirus cases on board. But this time we are protecting more the people on board, who have been sailing since mid-March, than vice versa” Giampedrone said.
Some context: The port of Genoa was chosen as the final destination of Costa Deliziosa by the Italian Transport Minister and the regional governor. The cruise line company will provide transportation to all passengers and the 900 crew members, according to Giampedrone.
If the UK changes its policy and begins recommending the use of face masks for the public, the government will not be able to promise everybody free masks, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Parliament today.
“We will follow the advice and will listen to what the SAGE [Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies] says on masks. And then we will implement that,” Hancock said.
“And we do have to make sure we have supplies available especially for health and care staff where the scientific advice has been throughout that the wearing of masks is necessary in those circumstances,” Hancock explained. “We have got to make sure the provision is for them.”
Some context: The British government has faced intense criticism over its handling of the crisis, including a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers and a slow roll-out of coronavirus testing.
India’s government has introduced an urgent executive order to discourage violence against health workers, according to a government announcement following a cabinet meeting today.
What this is about: Reports of attacks and discrimination against healthcare workers have surfaced in India over the past two months. In March, medical staff in the nation’s capital New Delhi were being evicted and facing threats that their electricity would be cut off.
Earlier this month, CNN reported a mob pelted frontline health care workers with stones as they tried to treat a patient who was suspected of contracting the novel coronavirus in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
‘”We have zero tolerance and will not allow this in a civilized society,” the minister added. “Such crimes will now be cognizable and non-bailable. Investigation will be done in 30 days.”
The coronavirus blame game has reached a new level after Missouri announced it was suing China over the crisis. The US state is seeking damages for what it described as a campaign of “deception” and insufficient action to halt a “preventable” pandemic — allegations Beijing strongly denies.
The conflagration over China is becoming a key flashpoint in the 2020 race, with President Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden sparring over the country’s role in the spread of the virus. The battle could turn into a critical showdown in November’s election, Stephen Collinson writes.
Beijing has faced intense scrutiny and criticism over its handling of the coronavirus, and not only from Washington. But the pandemic still presents an opportunity for China to solidify its status as a superpower and global leader – especially as Trump alienates some allies with his “America First” approach, James Griffiths writes.
One outspoken critic of China’s government knows what it means to be socially isolated. The dissident artist Ai Weiwei, who was detained for three months by authorities back in 2011, told CNN that the coronavirus had only strengthened the “police state” in China.
With the Wuhan epidemic now contained, David Culver has returned to see how people there are navigating a new normal, after nearly three months living in lockdown.
Here are Wednesday’s other developments…
Trump backs off full immigration ban: Trump has announced a 60-day ban on immigrants seeking green cards to live in America permanently, but backed away from plans to stop workers entering the country on a temporary basis.
Famine of “biblical proportions”: The developing world is facing “multiple famines of biblical proportions within a short few months” unless urgent action is taken, the UN’s food relief agency said. It warned that the pandemic would push an additional 130 million people to the brink of starvation, on top of another 135 million who were already facing crisis levels of hunger.
Homeschooling widens inequality gap: A staggering 90% of the world’s students are in lockdown. But it’s going to hit poor kids much harder than rich ones. The inequality gap, present in education systems at the best of times, is being exacerbated by school closures worldwide, experts say.
Bangladeshi garment workers face ruin: When Fatema Akther arrived for work at the Alif Casual Wear garment factory in Dhaka in late March, she had no idea it would be her last day. She’s one of millions of garment workers — most of them women — estimated to have been furloughed or laid off in Bangladeshi factories, as global demand for fast fashion dries up.
Warning of second wave next winter: The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that another wave of coronavirus next winter could be “even more difficult” than the current outbreak because it would coincide with flu season.
A version of this story first appeared in CNN’s Coronavirus: Fact Vs. Fiction newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it in your inbox every day.
Britain’s first virtual sitting of Parliament began with the First Secretary of State coming under intense scrutiny over the UK’s jarring shortage of coronavirus testing.
Dominic Raab, who is standing in for Boris Johnson while the Prime Minister recovers from Covid-19, said the government is making “good progress” and would meet its target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of April.
But opposition leader Keir Starmer, making his first appearance in the House of Commons since winning the Labour leadership election earlier this month, criticized the government’s pace and pointed out the UK is “way behind” other European nations on testing.
He noted that a mere 18,206 tests were carried out on Monday, with just over a week until the end of April – to which Raab responded that the UK’s capacity for tests is at 40,000 a day.
“I think it’s really important that we fully understand what the First Secretary just said,” Starmer said. “That means that the day before yesterday, 40,000 could have been carried out, but only 18,000 tests were actually carried out.”
“All week I’ve heard from the frontline, from care workers, who are frankly desperate for tests for their residents and for themselves,” Starmer said. “They would expect every test to be used every day … so there’s clearly a problem. Why isn’t the government using all the tests available?”
Criticism over the number of tests carried out, and over shortfalls in protective equipment for health care workers, has been leveled at the government throughout its coronavirus response.
Raab and Starmer, along with a handful of other MPs, were present in the chamber and sat a safe distance from each other. Most lawmakers joined the session remotely, via a video-conference service.
Ukraine will extend coronavirus lockdown measures until May 11 after projections show it peaking early next month, the country’s Cabinet of Ministers said Wednesday.
“We need to tell people exactly when and what will be opened, and what the government’s plan of action is,” a statement from President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office read. “Peak incidence is expected in early May. People need to understand whether it will be possible to walk in the parks, go to hairdressers, notaries, lawyers and other businesses.”
The government was considering various options for modifying coronavirus restrictions to boost the morale of citizens and to help restart the economy, according to the statement.
Female medical staff in the UK are struggling to find personal protective equipment (PPE) which fits them correctly, according to the British Medical Association (BMA). Most of the equipment is designed to fit men.
The Indian government has introduced an urgent executive order to discourage violence against health workers.
The country’s Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, has been amended, and those found guilty now face imprisonment from 6 months to 7 years.
Earlier in the day, the Indian Medical Association withdrew its two-day protest, following a video conference with India’s Home Minister Amit Shah and Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.
The protesting doctors demanded an urgent law to protect the healthcare workers from violent attacks.
Two coronavirus-related deaths confirmed in Northern California’s Santa Clara County from early February are the earliest known deaths from the virus in the US.
The deaths were from February 6 and February 17 – up to three weeks before the first known US death in Kirkland, Washington, on February 29.
A third death in early March was also confirmed to be virus-related, the statement said.
Further details on the victims were not provided.
The Spanish government has made a U-turn on its updated restrictions for children and will now allow them out for walks after six weeks of confinement, starting this Sunday.
Speaking in Parliament Wednesday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced the change in the relaxation of restrictions for children. Sanchez made the statement less than a day after his government insisted that kids would only be allowed limited outings to places like supermarkets, pharmacies and banks, accompanied by an adult.
The negative response to the initial decision was immediate and loud, with people across Spain showing disapproval by banging pots and pans from windows and balconies on Tuesday evening.
Many politicians and health professionals also swiftly criticized the rules set out on Tuesday, forcing a response from the government within hours, with Spain’s Health Minister Salvador Illa saying those rules would be adjusted to allow “walks under specific conditions.”
In an apparent effort to control the damage, Spain’s Prime Minister said “this is a government that listens” and recognizes the “tremendous effort that the confinement has been for the young ones, as well as mothers and fathers, and families.” But he added that the “exception to this small relief, which allows the young ones to go out, does not change the most important thing – the rule of general confinement that continues in place.”
Spain has the strictest confinement measures in Europe, and the world’s second-highest number of coronavirus cases, after the United States.
The Socialist Party Prime Minister was accused of mishandling the coronavirus crisis in a fiery speech in Parliament by the conservative opposition leader, Pablo Casado, head of the Popular Party.
“You are sinning from incompetence,” Casado said. “You do not mess with our children. And you do not mess with the health of Spaniards.”
Sanchez made his announcement ahead of a vote in Parliament to extend Spain’s state of alarm for the third time, until May 9. Parliament is expected to approve the extension, which would make the lockdown order a total of eight weeks.
The Spanish Prime Minister said “this extension is different than the others. It is one that will begin to de-escalate the rules of confinement.”
As Spain looks ahead to a return to normality with the number of coronavirus cases decreasing, Sanchez warned “the return to normality will be slow and gradual, because it has to be secure.” The country has been hard hit economically by the pandemic.
Sanchez also emphasized the so-called new normality demands that “we must talk about the health system, revitalize the pulse of our economy, and take social protection measures. It is essential to prioritize being in line with Europe. The pacts in Spain will be the pacts in Europe. This is the new politics.”
