Nigeria’s two main cities — Abuja and Lagos — are preparing to go on lockdown to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The arrival of coronavirus testing kits donated by a Chinese billionaire is expected to give officials a more accurate reading of coronavirus infections in Africa’s most populous nation. But there are also concerns on how the public could react to a jump in infection numbers and a lockdown.The lockdown announcement was made during President Muhammadu Buhari’s national broadcast.Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari addresses the nation on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Abuja, March 29, 2020. (Nigeria Presidency/Handout)Normal activities in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun near Lagos are expected to shut down for 14 days starting late Monday night.”Some of these measures will surely cause major inconveniences to many citizens. But these are sacrifices we should all be willing and ready to make for the greater good of our country,” said Buhari.Hours after the announcement, thousands of citizens stormed shopping malls in Abuja in what appears to be panic-buying.Abuja residents like Daniel Yerimah said the shutdown is a necessary move to control the coronavirus from spreading.”Personally I think it’s long overdue and I’m not really satisfied with the way the government has been handling the whole situation. But with the president coming out to announce a lockdown, I think it’s a beautiful decision and I hope that this will help us control the situation on ground,” he said.A traffic gridlock is seen as people attempt to rush out of Abuja, Nigeria, following efforts of the authorities trying to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), March 30, 2020.However, he has some concerns.”I don’t believe many citizens can remain indoors for two weeks. It’s not possible because majority of the citizens live below the poverty line. Even one week, it’s not possible for them to remain indoors one week without any income,” said Yerimah.Since new testing kits donated by Chinese billionaire Jack Ma arrived in Nigeria last week, more testing has been carried out and more cases discovered.A general view of a food market in Lagos after Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari called for a lockdown starting tonight to limit the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), March 30, 2020.Chinwe Ochu is the head of prevention programs at NCDC. He said the kits are essential to containing the virus.”Our objective is to stop the transmission, and to do this, we want to have early detection of cases, early reporting, early cases investigations, isolation and treatment, early contact tracing and early social distancing,” said Ochu.With more than a hundred confirmed cases of the virus in Nigeria so far, authorities are working hard and say they’re ready to impose even more drastic measures if need be, in order to control the spread.
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Month: March 2020
Russia Embraces Quarantine Tactics Amid Coronavirus Surge
Russia tightened controls aimed at combating the spread of the coronavirus on Monday, with Moscow introducing temporary quarantine measures, and the Kremlin moving to extend the lockdown nationwide. The new restrictions came as President Vladimir Putin discussed the coronavirus, among other issues, with President Donald Trump in a phone call that the Kremlin insisted was at Washington’s request.The conversation came as Putin made clear he recognized the growing threat of the COVID-19 outbreak. He appeared for his second televised national address on the issue Monday afternoon with a new sense of urgency.“If you value your life, you should remain home,” he said, addressing elderly Russians, in particular. “God helps those who help themselves,” added the Russian leader. A doctor observes through a glass window the condition of the patient in a ward in the Moscow Sklifosovsky emergency hospital in Moscow, Russia, March 25, 2020.The new tone came as a government task force said suspected cases of COVID-19 had swelled past the 1,800 mark with nine deaths — numbers that continued to place Russia far lower than other global coronavirus hotspots but that Kremlin allies and critics alike now acknowledge reflect some degree of underreporting.Moscow through the looking glass Under new rules that went into effect midnight Sunday, the vast majority of Moscow’s 15 million inhabitants now face a blanket “home isolation quarantine” — with exceptions for trips to local supermarkets and pharmacies, as well as walking pets or taking out trash. A police officer wearing a protective mask and glasses stops a car driver to check his documents in Grozny, Russia, March 30, 2020.City authorities also announced that a system of smart QR codes would be developed to track people moving about the capital, as well as plans to retrofit additional public hospitals and private clinics to accept COVID-19 patients.“The situation with the spread of coronavirus has entered a new phase,” Mayor Sergey Sobyanin wrote in a blog post explaining the new rules with Moscow now an epicenter of the virus threat. “The extremely negative turn of events that we see in the largest cities of Europe and the USA is cause for enormous concern for the lives and health of our citizens,” Sobyanin said.Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin later issued an appeal to Russia’s far-flung regional governors to follow Moscow’s lead — calling the quarantine a “logical extension of the president and the government’s policies to battle the coronavirus.” Putin’s ‘workless week’Moscow’s restrictions seemed to upstage the “workless week” introduced by Putin in an address to the nation last week.While the Russian leader requested people to stay home, his appeal fell far short of the quarantines and self-isolation measures now commonplace in cities across Europe, the United States and Asia.Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with Russian regional officials via videoconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, March 30, 2020.Some Russians seemed to interpret the “workless week” as an unexpected paid vacation — a factor that Sobyanin said played a role in the decision to close Moscow down. “Movement across the city has been cut by two-thirds, and that’s very good,” Sobaynin wrote in the blog. “But it’s also obvious that far from everyone has heard us.” Amid a spell of spring-like weather over the weekend, parks were so crowded that authorities resorted to blasting public service announcements from passing ambulances. The message: Go home. Media reports also noted a run on meat and charcoal at local supermarkets, suggesting the outdoor barbecue season was, or soon would be, in full swing. Meanwhile, there was a spike in booked flights from Moscow to the southern resort city of Sochi — so much so that the region’s local governor, Benjamin Kondratiev, warned on social media that “this is not a week of extra leave or a holiday,” and ordered city attractions closed. Good cop, bad copRussia’s political chatter centered on the seeming gulf between Sobyanin and Putin over how to respond to the contagion. Had the mayor undermined the president? And who was in charge?“The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing,” Genady Gudkov, a former member of Parliament with ties to the opposition, wrote in a post on Facebook. “Either Putin is losing control, or differences among the elite are dangerously strong.”Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin attends a cabinet meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Moscow, Russia, March 30, 2020.Others argued that Putin was merely distancing himself from more unpopular restrictions — at least until they were trial-ballooned by the hapless Moscow mayor — in effect, playing good cop to Sobyanin’s bad. Putin threw Sobyanin “before the firing squad, and himself remained in the shadows, giving speculation that Sobyanin is acting on his own,” wrote Tatiana Stanovaya, a political analyst with R.Politik, in a post to her Telegram channel. Stanovaya chalked the showdown to the shifting improvisational nature of Putin’s rule, one in which “circumstances rule.” “And who rules the circumstances, rules Russia,” added Stanovaya.
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Popular Japanese Comedian Dies from Coronavirus
Popular Japanese comedian Ken Shimura, who drew inspiration from the American comedic icon Jerry Lewis, has died from the coronavirus, becoming Japan’s first known celebrity victim of the disease. He was 70.
Shimura, who attracted fans of all generations with his slapstick comedy and funny faces, had been treated at a Tokyo hospital and died on Sunday, according to his agency, Izawa Office.
He was diagnosed with pneumonia after contracting the coronavirus. He was hospitalized on March 20 after developing a fever and breathing troubles, and was put on on a ventilator.
The news of his death comes as new cases have spiked in Tokyo, with the city’s governor warning of an explosive spread of the virus in the region. The news topped Japanese television news and talk shows on Monday, and some fans and media gathered outside the hospital where he had been treated.
Tokyo had 68 new cases of the virus on Sunday, bringing its prefectural total to 430. Nationwide, Japan has confirmed 2,578 cases, including 712 from a cruise ship.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
Shimura’s death sent shock waves throughout Japan, where many people, especially the younger population, are seen as lacking a sense of urgency about the virus.
“I’m shocked to hear that he died so soon after his infection was reported,” a 21-year-old college student told NHK television. “Until now, the risk of getting infected seemed someone else’s problem, but I’m scared of it now.”
Shimura was a former member of the comedy rock band the Drifters, a household name in the 1970s and 1980s, and gained fame while starring in the group’s prime-time comedy show “It’s 8 o’clock, Gather Everyone!”
Born Yasunori Shimura, he recently was known for his popular character Baka Tonosama (Stupid Warlord) on TV comedy shows. He also led his comedy theater, Shimurakon (Shimura Spirit), since 2006.
He also was known as a fan of the late American comedian Jerry Lewis and had drawn inspiration from him.
Shimura’s death came as he was preparing for a new film. He was also to run in the Olympic torch relay in July to represent Higashimurayama, a town in Tokyo’s suburbs, his agency said. Japan and Olympic officials have agreed to postpone the games until next year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I don’t think Shimura himself expected to have to go this way,” an Izawa Office staff member told reporters, adding that his comedy shows were still upcoming on TV.
“I hope you will remember him and laugh,” he said. “Until the end, he was committed to present laughter to the people.”
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Spain Postpones 5G Spectrum Auction Due To Coronavirus
Spain will delay a planned auction of 5G spectrum due to the coronavirus outbreak, the government said on Monday.
As part of a Europe-wide drive to speed up the roll out of fast Internet and broaden coverage, Spain had been due to free up space in the 700 MHz band of its network by switching from analog to digital terrestrial television by June 30.
One of the world’s worst national outbreaks of the virus, which had infected 85,915 people and killed 7,340 as of Monday, constitutes force majeure, making it impossible to stick to that deadline, the government said in a statement.
Madrid has told Brussels it will set a new deadline for the 700 MHz band depending on the eventual end-date for emergency measures including restrictions on people’s movements, it added.
Austria postponed a planned 5G auction last week, and the CEO of French group Iliad said one coming up in France would likely meet the same fate.
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Grandma’s not Here: Coronavirus Keeps Kids From Older Family
A few weeks ago, Debbie Cameron saw her grandsons most days, playing the piano, making after-school snacks or singing nursery rhymes with the baby in her Chandler, Arizona, home. Then the cornavirus crisis hit and the boys were suddenly gone. Cameron is 68 and has asthma, making her one of the people most at risk of getting seriously ill or dying. Now she sees her grandchildren from behind the glass of a window or a phone screen. “Looking at them through the window and not being able hug them, it’s just a dang killer,” she said. For grandparents all over the world, being protected from the pandemic has meant a piercing distance from their loved ones. While children don’t seem to be getting seriously ill as often, they can be infected and spread the virus. It’s been a jolting change for many.Cameron and her husband, both retired teachers, usually watch their older grandchildren, aged 8 and 11, after school and their 7-month-old baby grandson four times a week. One of their three daughters is due to have another child in July.But as the effects of coronavirus spread, the family decided that caring for the boys was too risky. While most people who catch the disease suffer from symptoms like fever and cough and recover in a few weeks, some get severely ill with things like pneumonia. COVID-19 can be fatal, and older people who have underlying conditions like Cameron are the most vulnerable. So instead of chasing after little boys, she’s doing puzzles, listening to old radio shows or watching the Hallmark channel, trying to fill the hours in her much-quieter house. “I just go day by day, and when the dark thoughts come in I try and do something to take them away,” she said. “I cry. Sometimes I cry.” Still, she feels lucky she doesn’t have to leave the house to work, and that she has close family ties. Sometimes she re-reads a letter her mother wrote her father while he was deployed to the Philippines during World War II, laying out her raw emotions about how much she missed him as she cared for their first child without him. “My mother is a really strong woman, and in this one she was struggling,” she said. “If my mom did that, I can do this.” The sudden change has been challenging for kids’ parents too, many of whom are trying to work from home and balance childcare. Cameron’s daughter Julie Bufkin is at home with her 7-month old son Calvin, working from home as a project coordinator at Arizona State University while her husband goes into the office as an analytical chemist for Intel. She’s been taking webcam calls and answering emails while breastfeeding the baby and trying to keep him entertained, even after coming down with a fever and headache, symptoms similar to the new coronavirus. In line with the advice of public-health officials, she stayed at home to recover and wasn’t tested for the virus, since she’s young and healthy and didn’t become seriously ill. She’s now on the mend, but it only deepened her mother’s feelings of helplessness. “Imagine if your child is sick you can’t go help them,” Cameron said. “That’s the hardest part.”But for her daughter, it further confirmed that staying physically separate for now is the right decision. “We want my mom to survive this,” Bufkin said. And the grandparents can still step in remotely — Bufkin sets up a phone or a tablet in Calvin’s playpen, where they can sing songs, show him around the yard, look at the cat or play piano over FaceTime. “Anything we can, even five to 10 minutes to give her a little rest. That makes my day,” Cameron said. They’re only 5 miles (eight kilometers) away in suburban Phoenix, and for a time Bufkin was dropping off food weekly, then touching hands or exchanging kisses through the window. More often, they’re sharing their lives through a phone or tablet screen.The baby watches his grandparents on the screen, looking up from his own games to smile and laugh at his grandpa or focus on his grandmother playing the saxophone.Other grandparents are also looking for moments of brightness. They’re replacing chats on the porch with friends with Facebook conversations, or connecting with church congregations through video-messaging apps like Marco Polo.Others are turning the technological clock back. Margret Boes-Ingraham, 72, used to drive her 14-year-old granddaughter to choir practice a few times a week near Salt Lake City, then stay to listen to her sing. Without those rides spent listening to show tunes, she’s encouraging her granddaughter to keep a journal. “I asked her if I could read, and she said no!” Boes-Ingraham said with a laugh. For grandparents who live alone, hunkering down during the crisis can increase their isolation. Terry Catucci is a 69-year-old retired social worker and recovering alcoholic of 30 years in Maryland. She has seven grandchildren nearby in the Washington, D.C., area including a 5-year-old and a 1-year-old who she helps care for sometimes. She tries not to think about the little changes she’s missing during the years when children seem to grow every day.”When you’re in a time of crisis, you want to be with people you love, and we can’t,” she said. “I’ve run the whole gamut of the five stages of grief at any given day.” But she’s getting by, talking with her family and checking in daily with her Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor. Every night, neighbors in her retirement community set up lawn chairs at the end of driveways to chat with friends walking by at a safe distance.”We’re all learning how to survive in this time,” she said, “to live a little bit the best we can.”
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Hope Sails into New York Harbor Amid COVID Crisis
The U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort sailed into New York Harbor early Monday, bringing hope and relief to the city of 8.6 million, which has become the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. The mammoth white ship emblazoned with red crosses has 1,000 beds and 12 operating theaters. Its medical personnel will care for nonvirus patients in an effort to shift some of the burden from the city’s overwhelmed hospitals, which are focused on the outbreak. “Feeling the presence of the United States military here just gave me a sense that things are going to be OK,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters at the pier where the ship docked. “This ship is so impressive. It’s just looming there in our harbor like a beacon of hope.” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, speaks as he stands beside Rear Adm. John B. Mustin after the arrival of the USNS Comfort, March 30, 2020, at Pier 90 in New York.The Comfort sailed from Norfolk, Virginia, where it had to undergo some maintenance before deploying to New York. The city’s harbor also had to be dredged to allow the ship to moor. Officials said the ship is expected to begin receiving patients as soon as Tuesday. “This was supposed to take two weeks to make it possible for this ship to dock — they did it in eight days,” a relieved de Blasio said. “That means help has arrived quicker, and we are going to be able to do the lifesaving work right now.” U.S. Navy Vice Commander of Fleet Forces Rear Adm. John Mustin said the Comfort normally is at the forefront of U.S. humanitarian missions overseas. “This ship represents all that is good about the American people. All that is generous. All that is ready, responsive and resolute,” he said. New York City has more than 36,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. As of Monday, 790 city residents had succumbed to the virus. The last time the USNS Comfort came to the aid of New Yorkers was in the bleak weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. First responders and federal workers were housed on the ship, and its doctors provided them with crisis counseling. The Comfort’s mission is even more critical this time. “At this point, we assume at least half of all New Yorkers will contract this disease,” de Blasio said, adding that it “could be substantially more.” That would be more than 4 million people who could fall ill. He emphasized that for 80% of people who contract it, it is in a fairly mild form. “I’ve been honest, I think the weeks ahead will be tougher,” de Blasio said. “To date, I still fear that the worst is not going to be April but actually the beginning of May.” April is when experts have projected New York’s cases will hit their peak. De Blasio said he would continue appealing to the federal government to send more ventilators, personal protection equipment and trained medical personnel to help the city ramp up for the expected waves of cases.
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Climate Change Drives Gender-Based Violence in Somaliland-Oxfam
Climate change is driving gender-based violence among rural communities in the breakaway region of Somaliland, according to the charity Oxfam. In times of increasing drought, women travel further to find water and other needs, raising the risk of sexual violence. Similarly, men unable to support their families too often take out their frustration on their family. Neha Wadekar visited the region of Sool, Somaliland, with Oxfam and has this report.
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Zimbabwe Begins Lockdown to Fight COVID19
Zimbabwe on Monday began a 21-day lockdown to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Health care advocates and the business community are generally supportive, but have aired concerns they say the government needs to address.“We are worried that even as our numbers remain low there is possibility of wider community spread and transmissions. Further, in about two months’ time winter will be upon us, creating conditions ideal for more infections. There is need to take decisive measures now against the pandemic.” said President Emmerson Mnangagwa speaking on state television Monday, justifying the lockdown aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19.So far, there are only nine confirmed cases of the virus in Zimbabwe, and only one death.Most of the commodities in Zimbabwe are now sold in the informal sector in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe, March 1, 2020, as the country’s unemployment rate continues to rise. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)But to keep the numbers down, the government is requiring people to stay in their homes for the next three weeks, except when buying food and other essentials. Schools are shut down, as are most businesses.Speaking via WhatsApp, Fortune Nyamande, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights, welcomed the lockdown. However, he said the lockdown needs to supplemented by increased efforts to detect COVID-19 cases.“…The lockdown on its own is not a panacea to solving the COVID19 pandemic. The lockdown needs to be supplemented by additional measures such as increased case detection, increased community surveillance and as you are aware only less than 200 have been tested for coronavirus in Zimbabwe. These are very low and pathetic figures. So for us to contain this outbreak, during the lockdown let’s test more people,” said Nyamande.The country’s business owners will be in a tough spot during the next three weeks, with most deprived of income.Sam Wadzai says his organization is for the country’s 21-day lockdown. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)Sam Wadzai is from the Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation Zimbabwe. Via Whatsapp, he explains the vendors’ dilemma.“This lockdown is only in the best interest of this country. After all we have to be united to fight this deadly virus. But at the same time we also encourage the government to ensure that they put in place support mechanisms to continue so that people are able to survive during this lockdown period. We expect this to be done as quickly as possible so that people don’t die of hunger,” he said.President Mnangagwa was expected to meet with business owners Monday to discuss their concerns over loss of revenue during the 21-day lockdown. So far, the government has made no guarantees of financial support.
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Ukraine Parliament Approves Firing of Finance, Health Ministers
Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has approved the firing of Finance Minister Ihor Umanskiy and Health Minister Illya Yemets just weeks into their mandates, but failed to approve new candidates to the posts.At an extraordinary session on March 30, lawmakers also failed to approve the first reading of a revised 2020 state budget that takes into account the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.Umanskiy and Yemets became ministers on March 4 when parliament approved President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s cabinet shuffle.A reason for their firing was not given.Serhiy Marchenko was proposed as the new finance minister, but his approval fell three votes shy of the 226 needed in the legislature. The revised state budget for 2020 also failed by the same tally.The nomination of Maksym Stepanov as health minister also failed when he received 217 votes, nine short of what he needed.The budget draft will now return to lawmakers for revision.
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Americans Get their Art Fix Despite Corona Threat
Museums across the U.S. have closed to the public, to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.But that hasn’t stopped the guardians of some of the greatest art collections in the country from sharing their national treasures with people around the world. Washington’s revered Smithsonian museums are among the institutions that are temporarily closed to the public. But all 19 museums, and the National Zoo, are inviting the public to visit them online, for a compelling collection of digital offerings. Lin-Manuel Miranda/Mark Seliger/2016 (printed 2018), Archival pigment print/National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution“A great place to start is to go to our website, which is NPG.si.edu,” says Kim Sajet, director, Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.”You can look at the collection, you can look at special exhibitions, and then there are all sorts of resources for people at home, particularly for parents who are now finding themselves being educators.” Virtual visitors can also view hundreds of photos and videos on the museum’s Facebook page. And there’s storytime for kids, and art classes for people of all ages.“One of the most exciting things is when we did our first teaching how to make a portrait with Jill (Galloway),” says Sajet.”We had over 1,500 downloads, we had hundreds of thousands of shares. You’re building an online community and we’re talking to each other, and that’s terrific.” Anna Wintour, New York City, 2015/Annie Leibovitz/2015 (printed 2019), Archival pigment print/National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionThe museum plans to launch more digital storytime sessions, art-making workshops, and more, in the coming weeks. “I think when we talk about social distancing, I’d like to think of social connecting — just because we can’t be in proximity to each other doesn’t mean that we can’t be actually communicating with each other.”
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UK’s Prince Charles, 71, Out of Self-Isolation, in Good Health
British heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, who had tested positive for coronavirus, is out of self-isolation after seven days and is in good health, his spokesman said on Monday. Last week, his Clarence House office revealed that Charles, 71, had been tested after displaying mild symptoms of the virus and had been in self-isolation at his Birkhall home in Scotland where he had continued to work. After consultation with his doctor, he is now out of self-isolation, Clarence House said. He will resume meetings and take exercise in accordance with government and medical guidelines. However, his wife Camilla, who tested negative for coronavirus, will remain in self-isolation until the end of the week in case she too develops symptoms. Buckingham Palace has previously said Queen Elizabeth, who left London for Windsor Castle on March 19 along with her 98-year-old husband, Philip, is in good health.
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Trump Uses Wartime Act but GM Says it’s Already Moving Fast
Twelve days ago, General Motors put hundreds of workers on an urgent project to build breathing machines as hospitals and governors pleaded for more in response to the coronavirus pandemic.But President Donald Trump, claiming the company wasn’t moving fast enough, on Friday invoked the Defense Production Act, which gives the government broad authority to direct companies to meet national defense needs. Experts on managing factory production say GM is already making an extraordinary effort for a company that normally isn’t in the business of producing ventilators.”That is lightning-fast speed to secure suppliers, learn how the products work, and make space in their manufacturing plant. You can’t get much faster than that,” said Kaitlin Wowak, a professor at the University of Notre Dame who focuses on industrial supply chains. GM expects to start making ventilators in mid-April, ramping up to a rate of 10,000 per month at as quickly as it can. The company is working with Ventec Life Systems, a small Seattle-area ventilator maker, and both say the Defense Production Act of 1950 doesn’t change what they’re doing because they’re already moving as fast as they can, fronting millions in capital with an uncertain return. “I don’t think anybody could have done it faster,” said Gerald Johnson, GM’s global manufacturing chief.Peter Navarro, Trump’s assistant for manufacturing policy, said Saturday that invoking the act was needed because GM “dragged its heels for days” in committing to the investments to start making ventilators at an automotive electronics plant in Kokomo, Indiana.It was only a few days earlier that Trump had been holding up GM and Ford as examples of companies voluntarily responding to the outbreak without the need for him to invoke the act. Then on Friday, he slammed GM on Twitter and during his daily briefing for foot-dragging. On Sunday, he was back to praising the company during another briefing: “General Motors is doing a fantastic job. I don’t think we have to worry about them anymore.” But GM says it had been proceeding on the same course all along.The company got into the ventilator business on March 18 after being approached by stopthespread.org, a coalition of CEOs trying to organize companies to respond to the COVID-19 disease that has already claimed more than 30,000 lives globally. The organization introduced GM to Ventec, which makes small portable ventilators in Bothell, Washington.The automaker pulled together manufacturing experts, engineers and purchasing specialists, and the next day had people at Ventec’s facility, a short distance from a nursing home where the virus killed at least 35 people. They worked on speeding up Ventec’s manufacturing. A few days later, GM assigned more engineers and purchasing experts to figure out how it could make Ventec’s machines. Some Ventec parts makers couldn’t produce enough widgets fast enough, so GM went to its own parts bin to find suppliers to do the job, Johnson said. At the same time, GM was shutting down its car and truck factories temporarily due to worker fears about the virus. Erik Gordon, a University of Michigan law and business professor, said he thought Trump would commend GM and use it as an example for other manufacturers in the coronavirus fight. “What came out was a smack on the head,” he said.Gordon, who teaches a class in commercialization of biomedical goods, said Trump likely will claim credit when GM starts making the machines. “This is an election year, and on all sides you’re going to see political theater,” he said.Critics have urged Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act broadly to control the production, supply and distribution of ventilators and protective gear for hospital workers who are running short. That’s what the act was meant to do, and it was not for use against a single company, Gordon said. Even with increased production from all ventilator makers, however, the U.S. might not have enough of the life-saving machines. U.S. hospitals have about 65,000 of the ventilators that are sophisticated enough to treat critical coronavirus patients. It could probably cobble together a total of 170,000, including simpler devices, to help with the crisis, one expert says. A doctor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center estimates that 960,000 people in the U.S. will need to be on ventilators, which feed oxygen into the lungs of patients with severe respiratory problems through a tube inserted down the throat. Doctors hope social distancing will stop a huge number of people from getting sick simultaneously, flattening the curve of the illness so they can use one ventilator to treat multiple patients.Trump, in several appearances Friday, accused GM of promising 40,000 ventilators, then reducing the number to 6,000. He also said the company wanted higher prices than previously discussed.Ventec, which is negotiating with the government to provide more ventilators, said it only changed numbers and prices at the request of government agencies, which asked for a range of quantities and prices. The company said it’s selling the ventilators, which can treat severe virus patients, at distributor cost, and it has offered scaled down versions for a lower price. Up until late Sunday, Ventec and GM hadn’t known how many ventilators the government would buy but those details are now being worked out.Ventec isn’t sure if it will make any money on the devices, which generally sell for $18,000 — far less than ventilators used in hospital intensive care units that can cost $50,000. Johnson says GM has no intention of making a profit.Ventec will need government money to help pay parts suppliers and ramp up its own production from 200 per month to 1,000 or more, said CEO Chris Kiple. Invoking the Defense Production Act “shined a light” on the need for ventilators, he said, but Ventec can’t move any quicker.”We’re still moving full speed ahead,” Kiple said. “We know there’s a shortage of ventilators.”
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S. Korea to Offer Emergency Payments to Help Ease Impact of COVID-19
South Korea says it will make emergency cash payments to many of its citizens as part of efforts to boost its economy in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. President Moon Jae-in announced Monday during a meeting with a special task force that the government will pay about $820 to all households except for those in the top 30% income bracket, bringing the total amount to $7.4 billion. President Moon said the payments were compensation for South Koreans who have endured days and weeks of measures to halt the spread of COVID-19, including quarantines and social distancing. South Korea has 9,661 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Monday, with 159 deaths and 5,228 others having recovered. The country has earned global praise for its regular testing of hundreds of people daily which has helped slow the spread of the virus. But the country has seen a rise of imported cases of COVID-19, prompting the government to announce Sunday that it will impose a mandatory 14-day quarantine on all foreign visitors upon their arrival, effective April 1.
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Tokyo Olympic Head Expects Call from IOC’s Bach on New Date
Tokyo Olympic organizers expect to talk with IOC President Thomas Bach this week about potential dates for next year’s rescheduled games, with several reports suggesting they will be in the same July-August time slot.
The International Olympic Committee and Japanese organizers last week postponed the Olympics until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I anticipate speaking to President Bach this week,” Tokyo organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori said Monday, speaking at the opening of an executive board meeting. “He tends to call me directly, and that puts me in trouble because I don’t have good command of English.”
Mori and CEO Toshiro Muto have repeatedly said the Olympics will be held no later than next summer.
This year’s games were scheduled to open on July 24 and close on Aug. 9. The corresponding weeks next year would mean a July 23 opening ceremony. Japan’s national broadcaster NHK has reported July 23 as the likely opening date, as has the financial newspaper Nikkei.
“Opinions on both sides have been compiled, whether spring or summer,” Mori said. “There are opinions for both options and they both have advantages and disadvantages that are being compared and then will be decided.”
After holding out for weeks, local organizers and the IOC last week postponed the Tokyo Games under pressure from athletes, national Olympic bodies and sports federations. It’s the first postponement in Olympic history, though there were several cancellations during wartime.
The decision on a date is expected to come quickly. The athletes are demanding it, and any reorganization revolves around a firm time slot.
Both Mori and Muto have said the cost of rescheduling will be “massive” — local reports estimate billions of dollars — with most of the expenses borne by Japanese taxpayers.
Muto promised transparency in calculating the costs, and testing times deciding how they are divided up.
“Since it (the Olympics) were scheduled for this summer, all the venues had given up hosting any other events during this time, so how do we approach that?” Muto asked. “In addition, there will need to be guarantees when we book the new dates, and there is a possibility this will incur rent payments. So there will be costs incurred and we will need to consider them one by one. I think that will be the tougher process.”
Katsuhiro Miyamoto, an emeritus professor of sports economics at Kansai University, puts the costs as high as $4 billion. That would cover the price of maintaining stadiums, refitting them, paying rentals, penalties and other expenses.
Japan is officially spending $12.6 billion to organize the Olympics. However, an audit bureau of the Japanese government says the costs are twice that much. All of the spending is public money except $5.6 billion from a privately funded operating budget.
The Switzerland-based International Olympic Committee is contributing $1.3 billion, according to organizing committee documents. The IOC’s contribution goes into the operating budget.
Bach has repeatedly called the Tokyo Olympics the best prepared in history. However, Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso also termed them “cursed.” Aso competed in shooting in the 1976 Olympics, and was born in 1940.
The Olympics planned for 1940 in Tokyo were canceled because of World War II.
The run-up to the Olympics also saw IOC member Tsunekazu Takeda, who also headed the Japanese Olympic Committee, forced to resign last year amid a bribery scandal.
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New York City’s Central Park Getting Coronavirus Field Hospital
New York City’s strained health system is about to get some help with the arrival of a Navy hospital ship to care for general patients and a new field hospital to handle those infected with the novel coronavirus. The 68-bed field hospital is going up in the city’s iconic Central Park. Governor Andrew Cuomo said it is expected to open Tuesday.A 68-bed field hospital is under construction in New York’s Central Park to handle those infected with the novel coronavirus. (VOA/Vladimir Badikov)The U.S.-based Christian global relief group Samaritan’s Purse is behind the project. The group says a team of doctors and nurses will deploy to the site and care for coronavirus patients from the Mount Sinai Health System. It is already operating a similar facility in hard-hit northern Italy. New York City has more than 33,000 coronavirus cases and nearly 800 deaths.
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Coronavirus Lockdowns Extended as Governments Hope for Progress
The U.S. state of New York has passed the somber milestone of 1,000 coronavirus deaths, while governments across the world instituted or extended new lockdowns to try to blunt the effects of the outbreak. Hospitals in New York City are set to get some relief with Monday’s arrival of the Navy’s USNS Comfort hospital ship, which will clear space for coronavirus patients by taking those in need of other care. Its sister ship, the USNS Mercy, began taking patients Sunday at the port of Long Beach, outside Los Angeles. U.S. President Donald Trump announced U.S. guidelines on social distancing to prevent the virus from spreading would be extended from an initial Monday end date to the end of April. The United States has the most cases worldwide. Italy, which has by far the most deaths and has been under strict lockdown for weeks, reported more than 750 more deaths Sunday, but saw signs of hope with a slowdown in new infections. An Italian government official told Italy’s Sky TG24 television that while everyone wants to return to life as usual, talking about such a move at this point is inappropriate, and that the lockdown measures set to expire Friday will inevitably be renewed. Several world leaders have focused on the economic impact of the crisis, often drawing criticism amid mounting case counts and death tolls. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro ran afoul of Twitter rules with several posts featuring videos in which he met with groups of people and questioned the need to shut down businesses and keep people from gathering. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro walks after a meeting with the governors to define strategies to combat to COVID-19 during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Brasilia, Brazil, March 23, 2020.Twitter said it would ban posts that go against public health recommendations and encourage ineffective prevention techniques that could increase the likelihood of people getting sick. The social media company deleted two of Bolsonaro’s posts, saying he violated the policy. Among new restrictions going into effect Monday are isolation orders in Moscow, where people are only allowed to leave their homes for essential jobs, shopping for food or medicine, or for a medical emergency. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari announced stay-at-home orders for the country’s capital, Abuja, and its largest city, Lagos, and said that travel to and from other parts of the country should be avoided.In Britain, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prince Charles are among 22,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, the government’s deputy chief medical officer says the lockdown there could last as long as six months, but could be eased if people do as they’re told and conditions improve. Lockdowns are also being extended in Nepal, Slovenia and Argentina. Worldwide, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases stood at more than 723,000 with 34,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics early Monday. Victims include popular Japanese comedian Ken Shimura, whose death was reported late Sunday. The 70-year-old was hospitalized March 20 with a fever and breathing problems. China’s government is starting to encourage businesses to reopen as health officials keep an eye on the threat of imported cases after making vast progress in essentially eliminating locally transmitted cases. China was the first country to report cases of the new coronavirus and put in place its own strict lockdowns, especially in the city of Wuhan, which accounted for the highest number of the more than 81,000 infections in China. With hospitals all over the world facing an influx of patients and short supplies, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres highlighted their contributions in a late Sunday Twitter post. “Health workers worldwide continue providing critical assistance to those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, often through personal sacrifice. I’m grateful for their courage, commitment and sacrifice,” he said.
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Discovery of Unusual Natural Gas Sharpens China’s Maritime Sovereignty Claims
Repeated discoveries of an obscure, offshore natural gas known as flammable ice will bolster Chinese claims to a sea that’s contested by five other Asian governments. China extracted 861,400 cubic meters of flammable ice, a natural gas hydrate, for a daily average of 28,700 cubic meters during a mission that started in February, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday. The findings give China new cause to use the sea, despite protests from other countries, while ensuring an energy supply for its 1.4 billion population, analysts say. China would gain an even more solid footing in the sea if it began licensing flammable gas extraction technology to other countries or partnering with them to extract it, the scholars add. A new discovery “simply strengthens their argument” about why China should remain in the sea to pursue oil and gas, said Eduardo Araral, associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s public policy school. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam claim all or parts of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea. China calls roughly 90% of the waterway its own, overlapping zones claimed by the other governments and causing occasional clashes. China took a lead over the past decade by landfilling tiny islets for military use. Chinese technology, such as drones and underwater surveillance systems, is considered more advanced than the knowhow of Southeast Asian claimants. International law would not recognize an energy discovery as cause for claiming sovereignty, Araral said. Although the other claimant governments are busy at home managing Covid-19 disease caseloads, they are expected to take note eventually if China expands exploration. The discovery site, called Shenhu, is located in undisputed Chinese waters 320 kilometers from the mainland shore. “So far, I haven’t (seen) any official diplomatic protests from the Vietnamese side, but I think that they are closely watching the development,” said Nguyen Thanh Trung, Center for International Studies director at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City. Flammable ice lies under other tracts of the seas, meaning other countries will take interest, said Stuart Orr, professor of management at Deakin University in Australia. Flammable ice China’s minister of land and resources said the country mined flammable ice at sea for the first time in 2017 after about two decades of research, according to Xinhua. Because it can be ignited like ethanol, the gas is called “flammable.” One cubic meter of ice equals 164 cubic meters of regular natural gas, Xinhua said. The energy source that also occurs in Arctic tundra zones is considered clean and easy to transport yet hard to commercialize. The 2017 effort at Shenhu, which is about 1,225 meters deep, produced less gas than the recent one, Xinhua said. Sino-foreign joint exploration The flammable ice haul this month will let China showcase “technological prowess” and seek exploration partnerships with other countries, said Collin Koh, maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Other claimants to the sea lack their own flammable ice technology, Koh said. The four Southeast Asian claimants actively explore, however, for oil and conventional natural gas. “There should be some substantial interest from many other countries in accessing the technology that China has developed, which would give China the option of either licensing or choosing to share these capabilities with countries of interest, and that could provide it with significant political leverage in a world that’s worried about sources of low-cost energy,” Orr said. The Chinese leadership sees this discovery as a chance to remove foreign multinational energy drillers from the disputed sea, Koh said. Deals between Southeast Asian states and firms from Europe, India and the United States let foreign players into a waterway that Beijing sees as Chinese. “China is long aware that Southeast Asian countries will be turning to the foreign multinational energy corporations for this sort of venture, and all the while China wanted to be seen as a viable partner,” Koh said.
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Britain on Emergency Footing for First Time Since WWII
Britain is on an emergency footing for the first time since World War II. The move means the British government is setting up what it calls strategic coordination centers across the U.K. to distribute supplies to citizens to help combat the coronavirus outbreak. There are more than 22,000 British confirmed cases of coronavirus – Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prince Charles are among them. More than 1,200 have died. The government’s deputy chief medical officer says the lockdown could last as long as six months but says if people do as they’re told and conditions improve, the lockdown and other restrictions can start to be eased.Prince Charles tests positive for Coronavirus. Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales, Patron of the Intelligence Agencies, visits the Headquarters of GCHQ, on July, 12, 2019.In Moscow, the lockdown is just getting started. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin says beginning Monday, people will be allowed out of their homes only to shop for food and medicine, takeout the garbage, walk the dog, or for urgent medical care. Police will issue special passes to those who cannot work from home. Moscow reports 1,000 cases and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church is telling worshippers to pray at home “before someone dies.” While the number of cases in Italy – the European epicenter – slowed slightly for the second straight day Sunday, Spain’s death toll rose 838 overnight Sunday – a record climb for that country which, like Italy, remains on total lockdown. In Asia, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked that country’s poor to forgive him for the difficulties that country’s lockdown is causing them. He acknowledged the steps he ordered are harsh and knows people are angry with him. “But these tough measures were needed to win this battle,” he said Sunday. With a population of 1.3 billion, India’s lockdown is by far the world’s largest, leaving countless millions with no food or homes. Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, is banning public gathering of more than two people. The state government says people should leave their homes only under “exceptional circumstances.” Australia’s nationwide death toll stands at 4,000.A nurse speaks with patients at the door of a new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) clinic opening at Mount Barker Hospital in Adelaide, Australia, March 17, 2020.Syria Sunday reported its first confirmed coronavirus death, but human rights groups warn of a looming catastrophe, saying the country’s war-torn health care system is ill-equipped to handle an outbreak among refugees. Also Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump has extended the government’s recommended guidelines for social distancing for another 30 days. The U.S. has the world’s biggest number of confirmed cases. Finally, in Brazil, a federal judge has banned the government’s social media campaign that downplayed the coronavirus threat. President Jair Bolsonaro’s “Brazil Can’t Stop” campaign said there was no need for most Brazilians to lock down inside their homes. “I’m sorry, some people will die, they will die, that’s life,” Bolsonaro said in a television interview.
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UK’s Prince Harry, Wife Meghan, do not Need US Help for Security Costs, Spokeswoman Says
Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, have no plans to ask the U.S. government for help with security costs, the couple said in a statement on Sunday in response to a tweet from President Donald Trump that the United States would not pay for their protection.In January, the couple said they would step away from their royal duties and according to media reports, recently relocated to Los Angeles. Earlier on Sunday, Trump tweeted: “Now they have left Canada for the U.S. however, the U.S. will not pay for their security protection. They must pay!”A spokeswoman for the couple said later in a statement: “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have no plans to ask the U.S. government for security resources. Privately funded security arrangements have been made.”The duchess, Meghan Markle, who married Prince Harry, the grandson of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, in 2018, criticized Trump during his 2016 election campaign as misogynistic and divisive.Last year, Trump, on being told of Meghan’s criticism, said: “I didn’t know that. What can I say? I didn’t know that she was nasty.” But he also wished her well in her new life as a British royal.The couple stunned the royal family in early January with an announcement they would be stepping down from their roles as senior royals, in order to gain freedom from the intense media scrutiny that has followed them for several years.They had been living for several months with their son, Archie, on Vancouver Island in Canada.Britain’s Sun newspaper reported last week that the couple took a private flight to Los Angeles, but did not say when. Earlier this month, the United States and Canada agreed to close their border to non-essential travel at land crossings to ease the strain on health systems caused by the coronavirus.Meghan Markle was raised in the Los Angeles area and her mother, Doria, still lives there. Walt Disney Co said last week that Meghan had narrated a nature documentary that will be released on its Disney+ streaming platform on Friday.Last month, Canada said it would no longer provide security once the couple were no longer working members of the British royal family.The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had been assisting London’s Metropolitan Police with security for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex “intermittently” since November, when the couple began a six-week vacation in Canada, Reuters reported in February.
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Democratic Leader Dies as Missouri Coronavirus Cases Top 900
A Democratic Party leader in western Missouri died Sunday after contracting COVID-19 as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the state exceeded 900 and the death toll reached 12.
The death of William “Al” Grimes, the Henry County Democratic Party chairman, was announced in a tweet from state Chairwoman Jean Peters Baker. It came after the Henry County Health Center in Clinton, about 60 miles (96.56 kilometers) southeast of Kansas City, announced that a man in his 70s had died.
“We will miss you, Al,” Peters wrote. “The stars will not shine as brightly.”
Peters said that Grimes, a Navy veteran, had been active in campaigns throughout eastern and central Missouri. He also ran for the Missouri House in 2014 and 2016.
Grimes was first hospitalized in Clinton before being transferred on March 8 to a Kansas hospital, The Kansas City Star reported. His positive test for coronavirus was reported March 13, but he was among the state’s first confirmed cases.
His death was among two new deaths reported Sunday by the state Department of Health and Senior Services. There were no details about the other new death.
The number of coronavirus cases confirmed in Missouri rose by 65 from Saturday to 903, according to the department, but the increase of 8% was considerably lower than the 25% increase Saturday and the average daily increase of 45% over the past week.
For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.
Meanwhile, a third St. Louis-area police officer tested positive for the coronavirus and was in isolation.
The St. Louis County Police Department said Saturday that one of its officers had contracted the virus, but the agency does not believe it happened while the officer was on duty. The department provided no other details.
The St. Louis County police said affected work areas and vehicles have been thoroughly cleaned and they don’t know of any other cases associated with the officers.
Two officers in the St. Louis city police force’s traffic division also have tested positive for the virus.
Also, Jim Edmonds, a broadcaster for baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals said he underwent tests at an area hospital for coronavirus after going to the emergency room. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the 49-year-old former outfielder said he has pneumonia and was awaiting the results of other tests.
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Belarus Does Not Give Up on Football
Football leagues around the world have canceled soccer games for the foreseeable future as one of the measures to slow a rapid COVID-19 spread. But soccer, or football, as it is called in much of the world, continues to be played in Belarus where the number of confirmed infections is still relatively low.The country’s autocratic leader Alexander Lukashenko has dismissed the virus scare as overblown and has advised his people to continue business as usual, especially agriculture. Local media published photos of the Belarus president playing ice hockey.Top Belarusian football division, Vysheyshaya Liga, is run by the Belarusian Football Federation and currently includes 16 teams. The country has never excelled in soccer and has never qualified for the World Cup or the European football championships.But with sports fans around the world deprived of their favorite pastime, Belarus is getting attention and signing broadcasting contracts with a growing number of countries to carry their games. People in India and Israel, not just neighboring Russia, could soon become familiar with members of teams such as FC Minsk or Dinamo Minsk and their individual styles.Belarus soccer fans hope the exposure will inspire their teams to play better and qualify for the next UEFA (The Union of European Football Associations) champions league. UEFA Championship is also known as the European Cup.The spokesman for the Belarus Football Federation Aleksandr Aleinik said the organization is respecting the recommendations by the Sports Ministry. “All those who are in contact with fans were given protective gloves,” he said. But images of fans from some of the games Saturday show very few wearing masks and some of them cheering without any shirts on.The outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has been especially deadly for the northern city of Bergamo. The unprecedented toll has been traced to a February football match in Milan. More than 2,000 fans traveled from Bergamo to Milan to watch the Atlanta vs. Valencia match at Milan’s San Siro Stadium February 19. As they chanted in the packed stadium it is believed they picked up the new coronavirus strain and took it home to Bergamo. Two days later, Italy confirmed the first case of locally transmitted COVID-19. Six weeks later, Italy reported that the number of deaths from the coronavirus had topped 10,000. Bergamo is struggling to bury and cremate the number of bodies after several hundred people sometimes die in one day. European football leagues have canceled local soccer matches until at least the end of April to help slow the rapid spread of COVID-19. The European championship has been postponed until the summer of 2021 because the domestic competition cannot be completed in time for this summer.Most European countries have locked their borders and ordered closures of schools and all but essential businesses. People are asked to stay at home, gather in very limited numbers, sometimes no more than two, and keep a distance from others when they have to go out. In some cases, governments have imposed strict measures such as curfews and mandatory quarantine. But measures vary from country to country. In Sweden, restaurants and bars in some cities seemed as lively this month as ever, with the government allowing people to choose how to protect themselves. Schools, day care centers, gyms and beauty salons remained open even as they closed in neighboring Denmark and Norway. The government announced tougher measures last week after the number of infections and COVID-19 deaths suddenly soared. But Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said you cannot legislate everything and that individuals also have to take responsibility.Some experts also say that it is counterproductive to impose measures that cannot be sustained for a long period of time. Meanwhile, ordinary people in countries hit by the virus may have to weigh daily the pros and cons of stepping out of the house for weeks or months yet to come.
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Serial Killer Dubbed Grim Sleeper Dies in California Prison
Lonnie Franklin, the convicted serial killer known as the “Grim Sleeper” who preyed on the women of South Los Angeles for more than two decades, has died in prison. He was 67.California corrections officials said Franklin was found unresponsive in his cell at San Quentin State Prison on Saturday evening. An autopsy will determine the cause of death; however, there were no signs of trauma, corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said in a statement.The stepmother of a victim named Barbara Ware told People magazine she was shocked by the news.”I won’t say I’m pleased he died but at the end there was justice for all the bad things he did in his life,” Diana Ware said. “We can now be at peace.” Franklin had been on death row since August 2016 for the deaths of nine women and a teenage girl. Franklin was linked at trial to 14 slayings, including four women he wasn’t charged with killing. Police have said he may have had as many as 25 victims. Most of the victims were fatally shot at close range, though two were strangled. Their bodies were dumped and left to rot in alleys and trash bins.The killer earned his moniker because of the apparent hiatus from the late 1980s to 2002. The murders went unsolved for years and Franklin avoided suspicion by working as a city trash collector and onetime garage attendant for Los Angeles police. Community members complained that police didn’t seriously investigate the killings because the victims were black and poor and many were drug users and prostitutes during the crack cocaine epidemic.Franklin was connected to the crimes after a task force that re-examined the old cases discovered that DNA from Franklin’s son, which was in a database because of an arrest, showed similarities to genetic evidence found on some of the “Grim Sleeper” victims.A detective posing as a busboy at a pizza parlor collected utensils and crusts while Franklin was attending a birthday party. Lab results connected him to some of the bodies and led to his arrest.Investigators found a gun used in one of the killings and photos of victims in Franklin’s house after his arrest.Last year, Franklin was granted a reprieve when Gov. Gavin Newsom halted the execution of more than 700 condemned inmates on the nation’s largest death row for at least as long as he’s governor.California hasn’t executed anyone since 2006, under then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and inmates are far more likely to die of old age.
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N. Korea Says it Conducted Successful Test of Multiple Rocket Launchers
North Korea’s latest test of super-large multiple rocket launchers a day earlier was a success, state media said Monday.North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast Sunday, the latest in a flurry of launches that South Korea decried as “inappropriate” amid the coronavirus pandemic.The North’s official KCNA news agency said the launch was aimed at examining the strategic and technical features of the “super-large multiple rocket launchers,” which has been tested multiple times since last August overseen by leader Kim Jong Un, ahead of deployment.KCNA did not mention Kim’s attendance at the latest test, led by ruling party vice chairman Ri Pyong Chol and conducted at the Academy of National Defense Science.”The operational deployment of the weapon system of super-large multiple rocket launchers is a crucial work of very great significance in realizing the party’s new strategic intention for national defense,” Ri was quoted as saying during the test, without elaborating.”The test-fire was conducted successfully,” KCNA added.It marked the fourth round of tests this month since North Korea staged military drills and resumed missile launches following a three-month break.The move indicated the progress of Pyongyang’s weapons development while denuclearization negotiations with the United States remain in limbo.
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Trump Extends Federal Stay-at-home Guidelines for Another 30 Days as Virus Spreads
President Donald Trump is extending the voluntary national shutdown for a month as sickness and death from the coronavirus pandemic rise in the U.S.The initial 15-day period of social distancing urged by the federal government expires Monday and Trump had expressed interest in relaxing the national guidelines at least in parts of the country less afflicted by the pandemic. But instead he decided to extend them through April 30, a tacit acknowledgment he’d been too optimistic. Many states and local governments have stiffer controls in place on mobility and gatherings.Trump’s impulse to restore normalcy met a sober reality check Sunday from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, who said the U.S. could experience more than 100,000 deaths and millions of infections from the pandemic. Trump’s decision to extend the guidelines reflected a recognition that the struggle will take place over the longer haul.“I want our life back again,” the president told reporters in the Rose Garden.Brought forward by Trump at the outdoor briefing, Fauci said his projection of a potential 100,000 to 200,000 deaths is “entirely conceivable” if not enough is done to mitigate the crisis. He said that helped shape the extension of the guidelines, “a wise and prudent decision.”The federal guidelines recommend against large group gatherings and urge older people and anyone with existing health problems to stay home. People are urged to work at home when possible and avoid restaurants, bars, non-essential travel and shopping trips.The extension would leave the federal recommendations in place beyond Easter on April 12, by which time Trump had hoped the country and its economy could start to rev up again. Alarmed public-health officials said Easter was sure to be too soon.The U.S. had more than 137,000 COVID-19 cases reported by late Sunday afternoon, with more than 2,400 deaths.Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House, Sunday, March 29, 2020, in Washington, as President Donald Trump listens.Earlier Fauci told CNN: “I would say between 100,000 and 200,000 cases,” then corrected himself to say he meant deaths. “We’re going to have millions of cases.” But he added “I don’t want to be held to that” because the pandemic is “such a moving target.”One in 3 Americans remain under state or local government orders to stay at home to slow the spread of the virus, with schools and businesses closed and public life upended.Dr. Deborah Birx, head of the White House coronavirus task force, said parts of the country with few cases so far must prepare for what’s to come. “No state, no metro area, will be spared,” she said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”Most people who contract COVID-19 have mild or moderate symptoms, which can include fever and cough but also milder cases of pneumonia, sometimes requiring hospitalization. The risk of death is greater for older adults and people with other health problems. Hospitals in the most afflicted areas are straining to handle patients and some are short of critical supplies.Fauci’s prediction would take the death toll well past that of the average seasonal flu. Trump repeatedly cited the flu’s comparatively much higher cost in lives in playing down the severity of this pandemic.Trump had eyed a “reopening” of the U.S. economy by Easter, April 12, but in recent days medical professionals have warned that would be far too soon for the nation’s heavily affected urban areas.Just on Saturday, Trump was discussing tightening restrictions, suggesting then backing away from an “enforceable” quarantine of hard-hit New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. Instead, the White House task force recommended a travel advisory for residents of those states to limit non-essential travel to slow the spread of the virus to other parts of the U.S.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that Trump shouldn’t be so quick to reverse the social distancing guidelines, saying more testing needs to be in place to determine whether areas currently showing fewer infections are truly at lower risk.Trump’s “denial” in the crisis was “deadly,” she told CNN.“As the president fiddles, people are dying, and we have to take every precaution,” she said. She promised a congressional investigation once the pandemic is over to determine whether Trump heeded advice from scientific experts and to answer the question that resonates through U.S. political scandals: “What did he know and when did he know it?”Trump minimized the gravity of the pandemic for weeks. Asked whether she is saying that attitude cost American lives, Pelosi said: “Yes, I am. I’m saying that.”It put Pelosi out of lockstep with former Vice President Joe Biden, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, who said he wouldn’t go so far as to lay the blame for deaths on the president. “I think that’s a little too harsh,” he told NBC.Biden faulted Trump for holding back on using his full powers under the recently invoked Defense Production Act to spur the manufacture of the full range of needed medical supplies — and for making erratic statements about the pandemic.“He should stop thinking out loud and start thinking deeply,” Biden said.Meanwhile, governors in other hotspots across the country were raising alarm that the spread of the virus was threatening their health-care systems.“We remain on a trajectory, really, to overwhelm our capacity to deliver health care,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said on ABC’s “This Week.” “By the end of the first week in April, we think the first real issue is going to be ventilators. And we think it’s about the fourth or fifth of April before, down in the New Orleans area, we’re unable to put people on ventilators who need them. And then several days later, we will be out of beds.”He said officials have orders out for more than 12,000 ventilators through the national stockpile and private vendors, but so far have only been able to get 192.
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