The British government announced a rescue deal for the London Underground on Thursday, as unemployment kept rising in the US and the WHO warned that the coronavirus may never be fully eradicated.
The latest updates (see live blog below for details):
The number of COVID-19 deaths worldwide passed 300,000 on Thursday, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
US unemployment benefit applications hit 36 million in two months
World Health Organization warns coronavirus may never be fully eradicated
French pharma giant Sanofi irks Paris with US first for cure comment
New gene research aims to identify those most at risk from COVID-19
UN Secretary-General calls for action on mental health to tackle 'psychological suffering'
England health body unveils 'game-changer' antibody tests
EU mulls legal action against Hungary as MEPs debate COVID-19 emergency powers
Spain daily death toll rises above 200 for first time in five days
French 'can go on holiday in July and August,' says PM
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Trump says critical manufacturing should be brought back to US
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he intends to rebuild the country's stockpile and to bring critical manufacturing back to the US to prepare for future pandemics.
"My goal is to produce everything America needs for ourselves and then export to the world, including medicines," he told the Fox Business network.
"These stupid supply chains that are all over the world," he said, adding: "One little piece of the world goes back, and the whole thing is messed up."
International Olympic Committee approved $800m fund for postponed event
Global death toll crosses 300,000 mark
Brazil's Bolsonaro says lockdown is 'path to failure' as hundreds wait for intensive care beds in Rio state
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday that lockdowns and closing everything to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic "is the path to failure".
"It will break Brazil,” he said, talking to journalists in Brasilia.
Bolsonaro, who has been critical of lockdown since the start of the pandemic, warned of looming “chaos” as he once again lambasted governors and mayors who introduced lockdowns in their states and cities.
Meanwhile, local news reported that 900 people in Rio de Janeiro were waiting for an intensive care bed in one of the state’s overwhelmed units.
Alagoas joined the growing list of states whose intensive-care units are full in several hospitals.
France reports 351 new deaths in one day
Turkey's death toll tops 4,000
UK government 'optimistic' solution to bail out London public transport can be found
UK to roll out 'very reliable' antibody test in coming weeks
Italian death toll rises by 262
English care homes less affected than European ones: Minister
Plans underway to ease restrictions on elite sport in UK
UK carries out more than 126,000 tests in one day
'Avoid public transport', says UK minister
UK COVID-19 death toll increases by 428
New cases in Russia slip under 10,000 for first time in 12 days
New gene research aims to identify those most at risk from COVID-19
Researchers in the UK are hoping to discover why COVID-19 affects some people much more strongly than others.
This could lead to isolating those at higher risk in potential future waves of the disease and allowing those identified as low-risk to restart the economy.
US lacks vaccine plan, virus whistleblower tells Congress
Back to jail for Italian mobsters sent home over virus fears
Italian convicted mobsters who had been temporarily transferred from prison to house arrest for fear of coronavirus contagion are being brought back behind bars, the country's justice minister said on Thursday, after their release triggered heavy criticism.
Minister Alfonso Bonafede has come under fire after more than 370 convicted mobsters and drug traffickers successfully argued they needed to be temporarily released to avoid becoming infected with the coronavirus in prison.
The local newspaper Corriere della Sera reported on Thursday that one of the first inmates returned to prison was a convicted Cosa Nostra boss, Antonio Sacco.
He was one of a handful of top Mafiosi who won temporary release despite being incarcerated in a cell on his own under strict prison rules for mobsters, which also include extremely limited occasions to mingle with other inmates.
Responding to questions on Thursday from members of Chamber of Deputies' Justice Commission, Bonafede confirmed that mobsters were being ordered back to prison.
“The (administrative) machinery has started to review the health situation of those who asked to get out” of prison on grounds they were at risk of catching COVID-19, the minister said.
Last month, opposition lawmakers demanded that the justice minister explain how a convicted organised crime boss was granted house arrest because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
EU-UK talks struggle amid pandemic and cross-Channel division
Coronavirus vaccine: French pharma giant Sanofi irks Paris with US first for cure comment
French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi has riled Paris by saying the US would be first in line to receive any COVID-19 vaccine.
CEO Paul Hudson told Bloomberg that Washington would get priority because it had been first to fund Sanofi's vaccine research.
But Edouard Philippe, France's prime minister, said on Thursday that "equal access for everyone to the vaccine is not negotiable".
China foreign ministry says US authorities have 'abused American people's trust' in coronavirus response
China’s foreign ministry says U.S. authorities have failed to effectively fight the global coronavirus pandemic and “abused American people’s trust.”
Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian did not identify any officials by name but appeared to be firing back against accusations from the Trump administration that China mishandled or deliberately delayed releasing information about the outbreak first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
U.S. officials were “engaged in political manipulation of buck-passing and shirking responsibilities,” Zhao said at a daily briefing on Thursday.
He dismissed discussion of legal action against the Chinese government as “frivolous” and said the U.S. should “focus more on fighting the epidemic and safeguarding the lives and health of the American people and stop playing such buck-passing game.”
World economy is facing a 'once-in-a-century crisis', says Japan's Shinzo Abe
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday that the world economy is facing a “once-in-a-century crisis.”
“The spread of global infection is never-ending. The world economy is facing a once-in-a-century crisis and is not even comparable to the Lehman shock,” Abe said, referring to the giant investment bank and the financial crisis of 2008.
He added that even the world’s largest corporations are suffering significant damage and that it is “absolutely necessary to prevent chain bankruptcy.”
He made the remark while lifting a national coronavirus emergency -- except for Tokyo and seven other prefectures that remain at high risk.
Abe declared a monthlong emergency in parts of Japan, including Tokyo, on 7 April. He later expanded that move to nationwide and extended through 31 May.
The state of emergency allows local leaders to legally take social distancing and other measures, such as requests for non-essential business closures, though they carry no fines if violated.
The number of new cases has significantly decreased in Japan. Abe has urged a slow return to social and economic activity to avoid triggering a resurgence of the spread of the infections.
US unemployment benefit applications hit 36 million in two months
Roughly 36 million people have now filed for jobless aid in the two months since the coronavirus first forced millions of businesses to close their doors and shrink their workforces, the Labor Department said Thursday.
World Health Organization chief warns COVID-19 'may never go away'
The UN's global health body says it's impossible to predict when the pandemic might be controlled.
Here's our full write-up on the main story (see earlier blog entry), from Pauline Bock.
Watch: COVID-19 may never go away, WHO chief warns
euronews “This virus may never go away,” said Dr Michael Ryan, the executive director of the WHO's health emergencies programme. Without a vaccine, he added, it could take years for the population to build up sufficient levels of immunity.French government warns Sanofi over 'US vaccine priority'
France's government warned Sanofi on Thursday that it would be "unacceptable" for the pharmaceutical giant to prioritise US access to its COVID-19 vaccine, stressing that the company is "deeply French".
The rebuke comes just a day after Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson told Bloomberg that the US would be first in line to receive the COVID-19 vaccine if the company successfully develops one.
Secretary of State for the Economy Agnes Pannier-Runacher was first to condemn the comments on Thursday morning telling SUD Radio that "what Sanofi said yesterday is abnormal."
"It would be unacceptable for there to be privileged access to such and such country for financial reasons," she said.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe later said on Twitter that "a vaccine against COVID-19 will have to be a global public good" and that "equal access for everyone to the vaccine is not negotiable."
"I just reminded Serge Weinberg who chairs Sanofi, this large, deeply French company. He gave me all necessary assurances regarding the distribution in France of a possible Sanofi vaccine," he added.
Schools reopen in Finland
Finland has reopened elementary and secondary schools after a two-month hiatus amid the government’s strict distancing and hygiene guidelines for students and teachers in efforts to avoid a rise in COVID-19 infections.
The Nordic country introduced a lockdown in mid-March, including the mandatory closure of schools for all children older than 10 and a recommendation for younger children to stay home.
After weeks of remote classes and distance learning, schools reopened on Thursday for two weeks before the summer break starts in early June.
Students are being kept at a safe distance from each other in classrooms, frequent hand-washing is required and only one class at a time is allowed to stay outside during breaks.
The French 'will be able to go on holiday' in July and August, says France's PM
Philippe announced a "massive" aid fund for the tourism sector "worth 18 billion euros". "It's unprecedented, it's massive, it's necessary," Philippe said.
Access to COVID-19 vaccine must be 'fair and universal', says EU Commission
Spain's daily death toll rises over 200 for first time in 5 days while authorities call for respect of social distancing
Spain’s daily coronavirus death toll rose above 200 for the first time in five days, with 217 fatalities reported on Thursday.
It brings the outbreak death toll to 27, 321, with nearly 230,000 total cases.
Spanish authorities are calling for people to respect social distancing after a dozen protesters against the central government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic refused to disband late on Wednesday.
Clad in Spanish flags and banging pots, a few hundred protesters took to the streets shouting “Freedom! Freedom!” and demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
Videos of the gathering in an upscale Madrid neighborhood showed protesters demanding the end of lockdown measures.
Spain’s far-right political party, Vox, has been calling for pot-banging protests against Spain’s left-wing government’s response to the new virus, which has claimed at least 27,000 lives since early March.
The Spanish government’s top security official in Madrid, José Manuel Franco told Cadena SER radio, that the crackdown was against illegal gatherings during the pandemic, not to repress criticism against officials.
EU medical agency predicts possible virus drug approval 'before the summer'
Social distancing challenge: Going to work in London and Paris
Good Morning Europe's reporters have been donning their face masks to travel with commuters on the London Underground and Paris Metro, to compare the two cities' approaches:
EU mulls legal action against Hungary over emergency powers
The European Union’s top rule of law official says the bloc is monitoring whether governments remove emergency powers enacted to combat the coronavirus, amid deep concern about measures in Hungary.
MEPs are debating the matter, which comes amid a spate of arrests over "scaremongering" social media posts in the country.
New legislation widens police powers to be able to clamp down on "false information", but opposition parties say it's being used to silence critics of Viktor Orban's government.
EU Values and Transparency Commissioner Vera Jourova told MEPs this morning that emergency powers granted to authorities to combat COVID-19 should be eased along with lockdowns, or removed.
"The case of Hungary raises particular concerns” and that “on a daily basis, we are assessing whether we can take legal action," she said.
In late March, Hungary’s parliament endorsed a bill giving Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government extraordinary powers during the pandemic, including a measure against the spread of false information about the virus, and setting no end date for them.
England health body unveils 'game-changer' study
England's health authority has approved a new coronavirus antibody test, potentially paving the way for mass screening.
It's understood that the test can confirm whether someone has had the virus. It's been described by PM Boris Johnson as a potential "game-changer", and could lead to lockdown being lifted early - if a significant percentage of the population test positive for antibodies.
Developed by the Swiss healthcare firm Roche, it's been tested at the UK government's facility at Porton Down and approved by Public Health England.
It's hoped thousands of tests could be provided for the National Health Service each week. The government wants to roll out tests across the NHS first, and then the wider public.
The idea is to identify people who've had the disease and get them back to work, possibly via "immunity passports".
However -- and it's a big "but" -- it has yet to be proven that people who've had coronavirus are then immune from being infected again. The World Health Organization has cast doubt on this.
In a separate study led by Edinburgh University intends to find out why the virus affects some people more than others. More on that here:
New Zealand ends most lockdown restrictions and unveils huge spending plan
New Zealand has dropped most of the lockdown restrictions put in place due to the new coronavirus.
Shopping malls, retail stores and restaurants have been able to reopen on Thursday, and many people in the country of 5 million people could return to their workplaces.
But most gatherings will be limited to 10 people and social distancing guidelines will remain in place to prevent the spread of the virus.
New Zealand's government has outlined a vast borrow-and-spend programme as it tries to keep down unemployment, which is expected to rise from just over 4% to nearly 10% by June.
Under the budget plan, the government will spend 50 billion New Zealand dollars (28 billion euros) over four years to help boost the economy.
But it won't be enough to offset the devastating impact of the pandemic, and the finance minister acknowledged that tourism, which had accounted for about 10% of the economy, was not going to be the same for many years to come.
Qatar Airways warns of 'numerous' layoffs
Qatar Airways has warned that the company will not be able to avoid "numerous" layoffs amid the air travel industry collapse due to COVID-19, AFP reports.
The Gulf airline has reduced it service to just 35 destinations compared to 170 before the pandemic.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) warned last month that air traffic in the Middle East and North Africa could plunge by over 50% this year.
In a memo seen by AFP, Qatar Airways says that in current circumstances it cannot hold on to all its 30,000 employees, but does not specify how many jobs are threatened.
What will travel look like when restrictions are lifted?
Yesterday the European Commission proposed a set of recommendations aiming at lifting travel restrictions and border controls.
But how will airlines cope whenever flights resume? Many are resisting an idea to impose social distancing.
Footage shot by a passenger on Saturday shows a busy Ryanair flight with no evidence of passengers being kept apart.
Trump criticises Fauci over policy on reopening US schools
Donald Trump has called on governors across the United States to work to reopen schools that were closed because of the coronavirus.
He took issue with Dr Anthony Fauci, a key member of the White House coronavirus task force and the top US doctor for infectious diseases, who has urged caution.
“I think they should open the schools, absolutely. I think they should,” Trump told reporters at the White House, echoing comments he had made in a television interview. “Our country's got to get back and it's got to get back as soon as possible. And I don't consider our country coming back if the schools are closed.”
Fauci gave evidence before a Senate committee on Tuesday.
“We don’t know everything about this virus and we really better be pretty careful, particularly when it comes to children,” he said, making it clear that he believes reopening decisions will likely differ from one region to the next.
“To me, it’s not an acceptable answer,” Trump said of Fauci on Wednesday. He said the coronavirus has “had very little impact on young people,” although there is concern over cases of a mysterious inflammatory syndrome in young people that is thought to be related to the virus.
Trump and Fauci have publicly disagreed before, including on the effectiveness of certain drugs that have been tested to treat the virus.
Fauci has warned that cities and states could “turn back the clock” and see more death and economic damage if they lift stay-at-home orders too quickly.
World Health Organization: This virus may never go away
The World Health Organization’s emergencies chief said on Wednesday that it’s possible the new coronavirus may be here to stay, warning it was impossible to predict when the pandemic might be controlled.
“This virus may never go away,” said Dr. Michael Ryan, in a news briefing, adding that the number of people infected by COVID-19 so far is relatively low.
Without a vaccine, he said it could take years for the population to build up sufficient levels of immunity to it.
“I think it’s important to put this on the table,” he said, “This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities,” he said, noting that other previously novel diseases such as HIV have never disappeared, but that effective treatments have been developed to allow people to live with the disease.
Ryan said there remains hope that an effective vaccine will be developed, but even then, it would require a huge amount of work to produce the shots and distribute them worldwide to people willing to be immunized.
“Every single one of those steps is fraught with challenges,” he said.
UN chief calls for action on mental health
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is calling for more action from governments to help those suffering from mental health problems, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
He is launching a new policy brief entitled "COVID-19 and the Need for Action on Mental Health."
"The COVID-19 pandemic is now hitting families and communities with additional mental stress" he said in a video message.
Guterres also called on governments to support those who need assistance during the pandemic.
"We must shift more mental health services to the community, and make sure mental health is included in universal health coverage," he said.
"The United Nations is strongly committed to creating a world in which everyone, everywhere has someone to turn to for psychological support."
Good morning, this is Alasdair Sandford with the latest updates on the COVID-19 pandemic this Thursday.