More than 3.96 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 273,974 have died, according to a Reuters tally, as of 1315 GMT on Saturday.
– Europe
** More Britons should cycle or walk to work when the country’s lockdown is eased to take the pressure off limited public transport capacity under social distancing requirements, Transport Minister Grant Shapps said.
** The British government has told airlines it will introduce a 14-day quarantine period for most people arriving from abroad to try to avoid a second peak of the pandemic, an association representing the airlines said.
** Spain’s daily death toll from the coronavirus fell to its second lowest since mid-March, as half the country prepared to move to the next phase of an exit from one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns.
** President Vladimir Putin told Russians they are invincible when they stand together as he presided over celebrations of victory in World War Two that were slimmed down because of the coronavirus outbreak.
** Thousands of soldiers marched in Belarus to celebrate the Soviet victory in World War Two, as President Alexander Lukashenko rejected calls for lockdown measures.
** EU states should guarantee vouchers for travel cancelled during the pandemic and start lifting internal border restrictions in a bid to salvage some of the summer tourism season, the bloc’s executive will say next week.
– Asia-Pacific
** Hundreds of migrant workers in India’s western state of Gujarat clashed for a second day with authorities, hurling stones at police trying to enforce a coronavirus lockdown.
** Australia’s most populous states held back from relaxing coronavirus restrictions although other states began allowing small gatherings and were preparing to open restaurants and shops.
** At least six people were killed when protesters angry over what they see as unfair food aid distribution during the pandemic clashed with police in Afghanistan’s western Ghor province on Saturday, according to officials.
** China will reform its disease prevention and control system to address weaknesses exposed by the coronavirus outbreak, a senior health official said on Saturday.
** Senior international Olympics official John Coates said the delayed Tokyo Olympics could end up being the greatest Games ever, coming next year as the world emerges from the COVID-19 crisis.
– Americas
** The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved emergency use authorization (EUA) to Quidel Corp QDEL.O for the first COVID-19 antigen test.
** The U.S. government reported more massive economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis on Friday, with the unemployment rate last month leaping to 14.7%.
** Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned that if provinces move too quickly to reopen their economies, a flare-up of the pandemic could send Canada “back into confinement this summer.”
** British medical journal The Lancet called President Jair Bolsonaro the biggest threat to Brazil’s ability to successfully combat the spread of the coronavirus and tackle the unfolding public health crisis.
– Middle-East
** The coronavirus could kill between 83,000 and 190,000 people in Africa in the first year and infect between 29 million and 44 million in the first year if it is not contained, the World Health Organization said.
** Kuwait will enact a “total curfew” from 4 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Sunday through to May 30, the Information Ministry said on Twitter on Friday.
– Economic Fallout
** Large Italian companies have requested 18.5 billion euros ($20 billion) in state-guaranteed loans to weather the coronavirus crisis, state-backed export credit agency SACE said.
** India’s fuel demand dipped 45.8% in April from a year earlier, as a nationwide lockdown and travel curbs eroded economic activity.
** Auto production in Mexico and Brazil, Latin America’s top producers, plunged by an unprecedented 99% in April, with the two countries building a total of just 5,569 units.
** The head of the International Monetary Fund signalled a possible downward revision of global economic forecasts, and warned the United States and China against rekindling a trade war that could weaken a recovery from the pandemic.
- Reuters
