World faces food crisis
The heads of three global agencies warned Wednesday of the risk of a worldwide “food shortage” if authorities fail to manage the ongoing coronavirus crisis properly.
Many governments around the world have put their populations on lockdown causing severe slow-downs in international trade and food supply chains.
Panic buying by people going into confinement has already demonstrated the fragility of supply chains as supermarket shelves emptied in many countries.
“Uncertainty about food availability can spark a wave of export restrictions, creating a shortage on the global market,” said the joint text signed by Qu Dongyu, head of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Roberto Azevedo, director of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“In the midst of the COVID-19 lockdowns, every effort must be made to ensure that trade flows as freely as possible, specially to avoid food shortage(s)” from developing, they said in their statement.
Edinburgh arts festival cancelled due to virus
Edinburgh’s five annual international festivals, including the Fringe arts event, have been cancelled because of the coronavirus crisis, organisers said on Wednesday.
“For the first time in over 70 years, the five festivals that transform Edinburgh into the world’s leading cultural destination every August are not going ahead this year due to concerns around the COVID-19 pandemic,” they said in a statement.
Russian President working remotely
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has decided to handle his duties remotely, the Kremlin said Wednesday, after the head of the country’s main coronavirus hospital tested positive following a meeting with the president.
Denis Protsenko, who met with Putin last week as the Russian leader visited the Kommunarka hospital in Moscow, said Tuesday he had been infected with the coronavirus but was feeling well.
“The president prefers these days to work remotely,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, shortly before Putin was due to hold a cabinet meeting by videoconference.
11-year-old Indonesian girl dies
An 11-year-old girl has become Indonesia’s youngest person to die after contracting the coronavirus, officials said Wednesday, as the country’s death toll from COVID-19 nearly tripled from a week ago.
The girl, who was also suffering from dengue fever, was admitted to hospital on Madura Island off the coast of Java on March 19.
She had a fever and and breathing difficulties, and died the following day.
Tests only confirmed this week that the girl also had COVID-19.
France cracks down on movement
A man has been jailed in France for repeatedly violating strict anti-coronavirus lockdown rules, which have seen 359,000 fines issued countrywide as the outbreak death toll continues to mount, authorities said Wednesday.
Police Minister Christophe Castaner warned residents to write off any travel plans for school holidays starting this weekend, promising to punish any unwarranted movement as the country continues to evacuate dozens of critically ill patients from hospitals in overstretched areas of the country.
UK records over 500 daily coronavirus deaths
Britain reported 563 dailycoronavirusdeaths on Wednesday, the first time the national toll has exceeded 500, bringing the total fatalities to 2,352, according to official figures.
“As of 5pm (1600 GMT) on 31 March, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 2,352 have sadly died,” the health ministry said on its official Twitter page.
Virus-testing tent thieves to get tested
Hapless thieves who stole a coronavirus testing tent in New Zealand have put themselves at risk of contracting the virus and should get tested, police have warned.
The tent was stolen from outside an Auckland hospital where it had been set up to test Kiwis for COVID-19, police said in a video posted on Facebook Tuesday.
East Health Trust chief Loretta Hansen said staff discovered the tent was missing when they arrived early Tuesday morning to begin a day of testing.
“They chopped it off at the ground level. It was bolted in by concrete, and they just chopped it off.”
UK govt promises more virus tests
Britain said Wednesday it would soon begin testing 25,000 people daily for COVID-19 as criticism of the government grew over low numbers of testing compared to other countries.
Housing Minister Robert Jenrick told Sky TV that it was targeting 25,000 daily tests by “mid-April”, after the latest figures revealed the UK death toll was almost 1,800,.
The victims included a 13-year-old boy, thought to be the country’s youngest victim.
“We think within days we’ll be able to go from our present capacity, as I say, of 12,750, to 15,000,” said Jenrick.
“And then mid-April is when we expect to be at 25,000,” he added.
Turkey sends aid to virus-hit Italy and Spain
Turkey on Wednesday sent health supplies including masks to Italy and Spain, the two European countries worst hit by the novel coronavirus, the defence ministry said.
“Health supplies prepared to fight COVID-19 together, and with the hopes of seeing brighter days were sent en route to Spain and Italy” by a military plane, the ministry tweeted in English.
An accompanying video clip showed a Turkish military A-400M cargo plane preparing to take off.
The defence ministry posted the same message in Turkish, Spanish and Italian.
1,300 asymptomatic virus cases reported
China on Wednesday said it has more than 1,300 asymptomatic coronavirus cases, the first time it has released such data following public concern over people who have tested positive but are not showing symptoms.
Health officials also reported the first imported case from abroad in Wuhan -- the epicentre where the virus first emerged late last year -- heightening fears of infections being brought into China from other countries.
Of 36 new cases reported Wednesday, 35 were imported from abroad.
Russian plane heads to US with supplies
A Russian military plane carrying medical equipment has departed for the United States, the defence ministry in Moscow said Wednesday, as the Kremlin flexes its soft power amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Antonov-124, “with medical masks and medical equipment on board”, left for the US overnight, a statement said, without providing further details.
Video released by the ministry showed the cargo plane loaded with boxes preparing to take off from a military airbase near Moscow early Wednesday morning.
Workers exempted from 19- day tax rule
Cross-border commuters that live in Germany and work in Luxembourg, and that have now been subjected to home office for more than 19 days, do not have to worry about taxation in their country of residence.
Europe coronavirus death toll tops 30,000
The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 30,000 people in Europe with more than three-quarters of the deaths registered in Italy and Spain, as of Wednesday.
A total of 30,063 deaths have been recorded in Europe out of a total 458,601 cases, making it the continent that has been hit hardest by COVID-19.
The most deaths were recorded in Italy, with some 12,428 fatalities, followed by Spain with 8,189 and France with 3,523.
The latest European figures come just a few hours after the United States announced its death toll had risen to 4,076, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University.
REFERENCES AFP; News Updates
