By Orlando Crowcroft with AP
Published on
•Updated
Share this article
Comments
Euronews brings you all the latest news about the coronavirus pandemic.
Summary of key developments
Boris Johnson is to unveil the UK's lockdown exit roadmap on Sunday
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine seeing an increase in cases, says WHO
Nine die in Hungary after being ejected from hospital to free space for COVID-19
EU should take a more federalised approach to healthcare, says bloc's foreign policy chief
Why is the UK's COVID-19 death toll higher than other EU countries?
Latest updates
ADVERTISEMENT
${title}
${body}
Live ended
French court orders Renault to close factory
The court sided with a union and order the carmaker to suspend activities at its plant in Sandouville, ruling that security measures to protect workers for COVID-19 are insufficient.
The factory in which more than 1,8000 people work, partially reopened last week and will remain shut "for the time it takes to effectively implement measures" to protect staff, the court in Le Havre said.
The European Commission approved a French aid measure last week consisting of a €5 billion loan guarantee to Renault to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
Boris Johnson joins weekly "Clap for our Carers"
The British Prime Minister, who was hospitalised for a week in April after contracting COVID-19 joined in the national applause at 8pm local time on Thursday from the doorstep of 10 Downing Street.
The applause takes place every week at the same time to thank healthcare workers, emergency services, armed services as well as all other essential workers including delivery drivers, shop workers, waste collectors, teachers, postal workers, cleaners who keep the country working.
One of Donald Trump's valets test positive
A member of the military serving as one fo the valets for the US President has tested positive to COVID-19, the White House said on Thursday.
It added that the Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have both since tested negative and "remain in good health".
International tourism could fall 80% in 2020: World Tourism Organisation
According to the UN agency (UNWTO), the global health crisis could lead to an annual decline in international tourist numbers of between 60% and 80% when compared with 2019 figures.
"This places millions of livelihoods at risk and threatens to roll back progress made in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals," the agency warned on Thursday.
International tourism down 22% in the first quarter which translates into US$80 billion in lost exports, UNWTO said.
France reports 178 new deaths of coronavirus in one day
France reported on Thursday that 178 people have died of coronavirus in 24 hours, according to data from the country's Health authority.
The number of patients in intensive car in France has decreased to 186.
In total, 25,987 people have died of coronavirus in France.
Millions at risk of tuberculosis amid COVID-19 lockdowns, warns study
As the world focuses on the coronavirus pandemic more cases of tuberculosis are going undetected and untreated, according to new research.
Up to 6.3 million additional people could contract TB by 2025, and 1.4 million more people could die as cases go undiagnosed and untreated due to lockdown restrictions.
Watch the video by clicking on the player above | READ OUR FULL STORY
Norway to reopen schools from 11 May, bars from 1 June
Norwegian schools will reopen from 11 May and bars from 1 June, the Norwegian authorities announced on Thursday.
Cultural and sport gatherings of up to 200 people will be allowed from 15 June and the country's football league could start on 16 June, with clubs starting training again from Thursday, the government said.
"Our goal is, by 15 June, to reopen most places that have closed," Erna Solberg, Norway's prime minister, said. "But there is an important condition: we will only lift the measures if we can keep the pandemic under control."
Norway introduced a soft lockdown mid-March to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
On 20 April, nurseries reopened, followed by schools for ages 6 to 10 on 27 April.
"This is not the end," the Health minister Bent Høie warned. "At best, it's the beginning of the end."
Norway has reported 7,995 cases of coronavirus and 209 deaths.
WHO Europe 'deeply troubled' by rising interpersonal violence
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that European member states "are reporting up to a 60% increase in emergency calls by women subjected to violence by their intimate partners in April this year, compared to last."
It also said that online enquiries to violence prevention support hotlines have increased up to five times.
It said it was "deeply troubled" by such reports and blamed confinement measures.
"The past month of restrictive measures and lockdowns have understandably bred stress and anxiety. Social networks are disrupted, and insecurity and financial strains with jobs in jeopardy. For many, uncertainty, separation, and fear are part of daily life," it added.
It called on ensure services to address violence are available and resourced and to expand hotlines and online services.
Watch the UK government briefing in full
UK trying to avoid second peak in winter
Dr Jenny Harries, deputy chief medical officer for England, said during the UK government briefing that the aim for British authorities is to prevent a second peak of COVID-19 from taking place in the winter.
"We definitely don't want a second peak and we don't want it in the winter because people will be suffering from other winter infections," she said.
French borders to remain closed until June 15
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said that the country's borders with European countries (EU, Schengen, UK) will remain closed until "at least June 15".
Borders with non-European countries will be closed "until further notice," he added.
Boris Johnson to set out roadmap for next phase this weekend
Raab said that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will this weekend "set out the next steps" for adjusting the lockdown in the country.
Raab said that the infection rate in the country is now between 0.5 and 0.9 and that the measures set out until now mean the UK "can bounce back with vigour and energy" and that the "next steps zill be sure-footed".
He stressed, however, that "any changes that we make will be carefully monitored" and that the government may "tightened the restrictions again" if necessary.
UK death toll increases by 539
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that the country's death toll now stands at 30,615 after a one-day increase of 539.
London's Notting Hill Carnival cancelled
London's famous Notting Hill Carnival, held every year at the end of August in the Notting Hill borough of the British capital, has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, organisators said on Thursday.
"Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Notting Hill Carnival has been forced to cancel and will not take place on the dates of Sunday 30th August and Monday 31st August," organisators said on the Carnival's website.
French ministers detail rules for easing of lockdown starting 11 May
French people will need a new authorisation paper for any movement of more than 100 km outside their home département from 11 May, the French Interior minister said on Thursday.
Groups of 10 people maximum will be allowed to meet.
On 2 June, the rules will be reassessed, the minister said, but no event with more than 5,000 people will be organised until September.
Shops and businesses, including small cultural places such as libraries, will reopen on 11 May, except cafés, restaurants, theatres and places
About 400,000 businesses are about to reopen. "The social and economic life will start again", the economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said.
France's borders will remain closed to non-EU citizens and will be limited within the Schengen area to strict rules such as important familial or professional reasons, until at least 15 June.
Stricter rules in Paris and four 'red' French regions after 11 May easing of lockdown
Paris and four regions remain flagged "red" by the French government because "the coronavirus still circulates" there, French prime minister Edouard Philippe said on Thursday.
The French regions of Hauts-de-France, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Great East, as well as Paris and its Ile-de-France region, and Mayotte, an overseas territory, are marked as "red".
There, the easing of the lockdown will happen on 11 May as in the rest of France, but with stricter rules, the prime minister said.
In Paris and its Ile-de-France region, the virus "still circulates", the prime minister said. There will be strict rules in public transport and people are advised to reduce movement to a minimum.
In Mayotte, the prime minister said, the pandemic must be "brought under control" and the lockdown will remain in place for now.
The French regions marked as "green" because the number of coronavirus cases have slowed will be allowed to reopen high schools, cafés and restaurants if they remain "green" for three weeks after 11 May, Philippe said.
In "green" regions, parks and secondary schools can reopen from 18 May.
"The situation in Ile-de-France remains concerning," the French Health minister Olivier Véran said.
"France is ready to start testing massively," Véran added.
Tensions between locals and police officers in France's poor suburbs
Tensions have increased between locals and police officers in France's poor suburbs.
Nearly 3.2 American million workers have sought jobless aid, raising total layoffs since virus struck to 33 million
Nearly 3.2 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits in the United States last week as the business shutdowns caused by the viral outbreak deepened the worst U.S. economic catastrophe in decades.
Roughly 33.5 million people have now filed for jobless aid in the seven weeks since the coronavirus began forcing millions of companies to close their doors and slash their workforces.
That is the equivalent of one in five Americans who had been employed back in February, when the unemployment rate had reached a 50-year low of just 3.5%.
On Friday, the government will issue the April jobs report, and it's likely to be the worst since modern record-keeping began after World War II.
The unemployment rate is forecast to reach at least 16%, the highest rate since the Great Depression, and economists estimate that 21 million jobs were lost last month.
If so, it would mean that nearly all the job growth in the 11 years since the Great Recession ended has vanished in a single month.
French Tennis Federation to refund French Open tickets
The French Tennis Federation says it will refund tickets purchased for the French Open because of uncertainty related to the coronavirus pandemic.
The clay-court tournament at Roland Garros was initially slated to be held 24 May to 7 June but has been rescheduled for 20 September to 4 October.
The FFT says it "has taken the decision to cancel and refund all tickets purchased for the original dates of Roland Garros.''
The FFT is also working closely with French authorities "to establish the necessary measures which will ensure the health and security of all guests attending the tournament.''
Refunds will be received by end of May and a new ticketing procedure will be opened if the tournament goes ahead.
German soccer league says Bundesliga season will resume on 16 May
The German soccer league said on Thursday that the Bundesliga season will resume on May 16.
Cyprus tests migrants for coronavirus during lockdown
Cyprus says it is screening 10% of migrants confined at the country's two migrant reception centers for COVID-19.
Health care workers this week began carrying out tests on a hundred of migrants, Cypriot Interior Ministry senior official Loizos Michael told the Associated Press.
Michael said on Thursday that so far there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 among migrants who were confined at the centers in line with a strict, countrywide lockdown.
The official said the migrants' confinement will end in sync with a lifting on 21 May on all restrictions on movement if the COVID-19 infection rate remains at the current, minimal level.
Some 3,000 migrants have arrived in Cyprus since the start of the year, with most arriving before the lockdown came into effect in late March.
Cyprus to date counts almost 900 confirmed coronavirus cases and 15 deaths as a direct result of virus infection.
EU's 'concerns' on Polish election remain: Commissioner
EU Commissioner Didier Reynders told the AFP on Thursday that the "concerns" of the EU institutions regarding the organisation of the Polish presidential elections "stay the same".
"I welcome the debate in Poland but we will continue to follow the preparation of these elections," Reynders, the EU Commissioner for Justice, said.
"Our concerns stay the same," he added.
Spain daily virus death toll continues to decrease
Spain is maintaining its positive evolution of its coronavirus outbreak a day after its government succeeded in securing parliamentary support for a new two-week extension of its lockdown measures despite losing some important support from political rivals.
Spanish health authorities reported about 200 new fatalities on Thursday, taking the total death toll just over 26,000 since the start of the outbreak in Spain.
That is down from over 900 deaths a day a month before.
Spain has reported nearly 257,000 COVID-19 infections.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez salvaged a critical parliamentary vote on Wednesday to keep alive a state of emergency despite the loss of the backing of the main opposition party.
The state of emergency will now last until May 24.
Spain has started to slowly roll back its restrictions. Children were allowed to go outside for short walks with parents on April 26 and adults followed last weekend with outings for exercise.
Spain's government top virus expert said that any possible upticks in the contagion rate of that relaxation would be seen in the coming days.
"It is from here on that we should start to see if there are any effects,'' Fernando Simon said. "We have not noticed anything yet. We are maintaining the same tendency.''
Greek cafe protest: Restaurant owners say they can't make ends meet at reduced capacity
Cafe owners in Greece held a protest on Wednesday.
The country's restaurant owners say they can't make ends meet at reduced capacity, due to the lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Watch the video by clicking on the player above.
President of Lyon football club hopes German league resumption can reverse French league's early end
The president of French soccer club Lyon has said he hopes the resumption of the German league can prompt a reversal of the decision to end the season in his own country.
The top two leagues in Germany have been given the go-ahead to play in empty stadiums following a meeting between Chancellor Angela Merkel and state governors.
The 10 remaining league matches in France were canceled last week.
Paris Saint-Germain was declared champion and Lyon finished outside the European places in seventh.
Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has said to sports daily L'Equipe's website: "It might not be too late to imagine ... something coherent on a political level.''
He adds that "by adapting our methods we could probably have finished the league.'' Aulas argued for a playoff system to end the league by late August and reserved the possibility to claim damages he estimated at tens of millions of euros.
Coronavirus deaths pass 150,000 in Europe: AFP
The coronavirus pandemic has killed over 150,000 people in Europe, the AFP reported on Thursday, citing its own count based on official figures.
The AFP counted a total of 150,138 deaths in Europe for 1,640,799 coronavirus cases.
According to the AFP, 75% of European deaths due to coronavirus were in the UK (30.076), Italy (29.684), Spain (26.070) and France (25.809).
Air France announces €1.8 billion loss in first 2020 quarter
Air France-KLM lost €1.8 billion in the first quarter of 2020, mostly just in a few weeks in March as travel restrictions grounded planes worldwide.
The airline said on Thursday that it will take several years to recover.
The partner airlines, which have already won billions of euros of bailout loans from the French and Dutch governments, forecast that the second quarter will be far worse, with traffic down 95%.
Air France-KLM predicted a slow resumption of activity over the summer, but estimated it would still be down 80% in the third quarter compared to previous years.
In a statement, the company forecast a "prolonged negative impact on passenger demand, not expected to recover to pre-crisis levels before several years.''
Air France-KLM announced increased revenue in January and February, but then a big drop in March as countries closed borders and confined much of the world's population.
It reported €5 billion in revenue over the quarter, down 15% from 2019. Profit for the quarter was down €1.8 billion compared to a €324 million loss in the first quarter of 2019.
Like airlines around the world, Air France-KLM is working to ensure virus protections in its planes, in hopes of persuading people to resume flying once travel restrictions are lifted.
Bank of England expects massive recession for 2020 with GDP decrease of 14%
The Bank of England said on Thursday that it expects the UK's GDP to fall by 14% for this year, as a result of the economic shock caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
This would mean a major recession for the British economy.
The Bank of England also said that it expects a big GDP increase of 15% in 2021.
Poland's presidential election will 'not happen in May'
Poland's presidential election, which was postponed on Wednesday night, will not be held in May, the leader of one of the country's ruling parties said on Thursday.
The election "will not happen in May", Jaroslaw Gowin, the leader of the Porozumienie party, said.
The vote was initially scheduled for Sunday 10 May. Opposition parties had been demanding its postponement for weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the main ruling party PiS or Law and Order, at first did not want to delay the election, while Gowin agreed with the opposition on the need to postpone it.
The election will be held by post at a later date.
Europol warns against 'corona crimes' as lockdowns lifted
Europol, the pan-European police agency, has warned citizens against so-called 'corona crimes' as lockdowns are lifted in a number of European nations.
In a guide released Thursday, Europol singles out fake masks and test kits as well as spurious vaccines for the virus. It also warns those venturing out of their homes - in some cases for the first time in months - to lock doors and windows and keep valuables out of sight.
UK economy 'could shrink by 30%' in first half of 2020: Bank of England
The Bank of England said that UK gross domestic product (GDP) was set to see a "very sharp fall" in the first six months of 2020. As unemployment swells, thousands of UK companies have been left reeling by the coronavirus lockdown, which has confined millions to their homes.
It said that sales by British companies would likely be down 45% in the second quarter of 2020 and business investment 50% lower.
Unlike elsewhere in Europe, where lockdowns are coming to an end this week and next, the UK has had to extend confinement measures as its death tolls passed 30,000.
The UK was slow to impose a lockdown compared to elsewhere in Europe, and even when it did it was not as strict as elsewhere.
UN triples relief fund for fighting COVID-19 in poorest countries
The United Nations has boosted its fund for fighting coronavirus in the world's most vulnerable countries from $2 billion to $6.7 billion (6.2 billion euros).
Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said that the peak of the pandemic is not expected to hit the world’s poorest countries for three to six months.
But he said there is already evidence of incomes plummeting and jobs disappearing, food supplies falling and prices soaring, and children missing vaccinations and meals.
The updated appeal launched Thursday includes nine additional vulnerable countries: Benin, Djibouti, Liberia, Mozambique, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, Togo and Zimbabwe.
Airbnb CEO says travel 'will look different' as he announces 2,000 job cuts
Travel startup Airbnb, a company credited with helping to revolutionise tourism over the past ten years, announced Wednesday that it will cut 25% of its workforce.
In his statement to staff, CEO Brian Chesky said that two things were clear from the COVID-19 pandemic: We don’t know exactly when travel will return, and when it does, it will look different.
He went on to say that he believes post-COVID-19 travellers will "want options that are closer to home, safer, and more affordable."
Euronews took a look at the impact of coronavirus on the travel industry last week.
Play on: German football re-start could be followed across Europe
With Germany announcing that the Bundesliga will restart on May 15 (although without fans), other European nations are considering doing the same. With Croatia setting May 30 and Turkey considering June 12.
Turkey is still hoping that the Champions League final could be held in Istanbul as planned in August, AP reported on Thursday, although deciding which teams will play in it could be complicated given that so many qualifying and play-off matches have been missed.
In the UK, much of the battle hasn't been about who will win the Premier League, but who will drop out of it: Every year, three clubs are relegated to the second division of English football, the Championship, causing serious financial difficulties - as well as the loss of prestige.
Several teams are in the so-called 'relegation zone' with ten games to play, so deciding who stays up and who goes down is going to be more contentious than ever in 2020.
Lessons from Spanish Flu?
Comparisons to the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 and 1919 have been made often over the past few weeks, although that outbreak killed some 500 million people worldwide.
In the U.S., those concerned about the re-opening of the economy have made the point that the second wave of the pandemic was far more deadly than the first.
Euronews has covered the comparisons between Spanish Flu and coronavirus in a number of features recently, including in the UK and in the U.S.
Italian expert says contract tracing 'will not be enough'
Silvio Brusaferro, president of the Superior Institute of Health, told AP that Italy needed “a huge investment” in training for medical personnel to allow them to diagnose COVID-19 cases, as the country gradually re-opens after suffering more than 30,000 deaths.
He said that contact-tracing apps "aren’t enough" to manage future waves of infection.
Meet the European nationals left homeless and hungry by the COVID-19 lockdown
Euronews has been speaking to Europeans living in London about the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on their livelihoods.
Charities have warned that the lockdown has resulted in rising unemployment, forcing many more people onto the streets - including EU nationals.
France, Italy and Germany prepare for 'second wave' as lockdowns end
As lockdowns ease in Germany and Italy and get ready to relax in France (on May 11), fears have been raised over a second wave of the deadly virus.
France and Italy are prioritising tracing victims and their contacts, with France launching new software that would make this possible via mobile phones.
The French government has also not ruled out "reconfinement" in the event of a second wave.
“There will be a second wave, but the problem is to which extent. Is it a small wave or a big wave? It’s too early to say,” Olivier Schwartz, head of the virus unit at France’s Pasteur Institute, told AP.
Good morning. This is Orlando and I will be bringing you all the latest news from the coronavirus pandemic this morning.
Share this article
Comments