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Summary
- The global death toll from coronavirus has passed 195,000. There are more than 2.7 million known cases of infection but more than 781,000 people have recovered, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally
- In Australia, the death toll stands at 79 and there are 6677 confirmed cases
- Australians have marked Anzac Day in their backyards and driveways after public services were restricted
- Dettol says disinfectant must never be injected or ingested to treat coronavirus after US President Donald Trump suggested trialling the method
- The death toll in the United States has passed 50,000
A very different Anzac Day
Herald photographers have captured a very different Anzac Day across the nation, as people stand at the end of their driveways, and the commemorative service at Canberra's War Memorial is attended by very few.
See our gallery here.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and wife Jenny lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during the Anzac Day commemorative service at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Live: Anzac Day service from Sydney's Anzac Memorial
Watch Sydney's Anzac Memorial Anzac Day service live here:
Qantas to fly 150 stranded Australians home from South America
Qantas will on Saturday operate a rescue flight to Melbourne from Argentina, bringing another 150 Australians and 20 stranded New Zealanders home from South America.
The flight is being operated by Qantas on behalf of the Australian government.
QF7028 will depart Buenos Aires at 2pm local time on April 25 and land in Melbourne at 7.30pm on Sunday 26 April.
This will be the last government rescue flight from Argentina, said a statement from the Australian embassy in Buenos Aires earlier this week.
Nations join WHO in virus initiative, but not US
World leaders pledged on Friday to accelerate work on tests, drugs and vaccines against COVID-19 and to share them around the globe, but the United States did not take part in the launch of the World Health Organisation initiative.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa were among those who joined a video conference to launch what the WHO billed as a "landmark collaboration" to fight the pandemic.
It aims to speed development of safe and effective drugs, tests and vaccines to prevent, diagnose and treat COVID-19 and ensure equal access to treatments for rich and poor.
"We are facing a common threat which we can only defeat with a common approach," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said as he opened the virtual meeting.
"Experience has told us that even when tools are available they have not been equally available to all. We cannot allow that to happen."
During the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009, there was criticism that distribution of vaccines was not equitable as wealthier countries were able to purchase more.
Leaders from Asia, the Middle East and the Americas also joined the videoconference, but several big countries did not participate, including China, India and Russia.
A spokesman for the US mission in Geneva said that the United States would not be involved because it is "deeply concerned about the WHO's effectiveness, given that its gross failures helped fuel the current pandemic."
US President Donald Trump has lambasted the WHO as being slow to react to the outbreak and being "China-centric" and announced a suspension of funding.
Tedros has steadfastly defended the WHO's handling of the pandemic and repeatedly committed to conducting a post-pandemic evaluation, as the agency does with all crises.
More than 2.7 million people have been infected with COVID-19 and nearly 190,000 have died from it since the new coronavirus emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, according to a Reuters tally.
"As new diagnostics, treatments and vaccines become available, we have a responsibility to get them out equitably with the understanding that all lives have equal value," said Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation, which was WHO's second largest donor last year.
More than 100 potential COVID-19 vaccines are being developed, including six already in clinical trials, said Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI vaccine alliance, a public-private partnership that leads immunisation campaigns in poor countries.
"We need to ensure that there are enough vaccines for everyone, we are going to need global leadership to identify and prioritise vaccine candidates," he told a Geneva news briefing.
People flock to beaches in Sydney's east before 9am closure
Randwick City Council has opened Coogee, Clovelly and Maroubra for a brief window for exercise only this morning, after forcibly closing all of its beaches at 1pm on Friday.
Herald photographer James Alcock was at Maroubra as the sun rose, capturing the crowds that flocked there for an early morning Anzac Day surf, swim or run.
Bathers at Maroubra at dawn on SaturdayCredit:James Alcock
"People failed to use beaches for exercise only," the council said in a statement on Friday afternoon explaining the closure.
Over the weekend, Coogee, Clovelly and Maroubra will be open between 6am and 9am to people doing exercise only, before closing for the rest of the day.
Bathers at dawnCredit:James Alcock
"All other unpatrolled beaches in Randwick City will remain closed until further notice. These beaches include Gordon’s Bay, Malabar beach, Little Bay beach, Frenchmans beach, Yarra Bay and Congwong beach," the council said in a statement on Friday.
"Ocean rock pools in Randwick City will remain closed until further notice as they are subject to a public health order to close."
Crowds also gathered on the foreshore and the sand at Coogee on Saturday morning, with hundreds there to get in some exercise before 9am.
New York reports lowest number of deaths in weeks
New York has reported its lowest number of deaths since March 31, with 422 deaths on Thursday.
More than 16,000 people have died in the state from the outbreak.
New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo Credit:AP
"Again, this is at an unimaginable level, and it's dropping somewhat. But it's still devastating news," Governor Andrew Cuomo said at his daily briefing.
The total number of people hospitalised statewide continues to drop slowly, hitting 14,258, though the number of new patients coming into hospitals is basically flat at around 1300, Cuomo said.
While the overall trends provide some hope, the governor continued to stress that any gains could be lost quickly if social distancing restrictions are relaxed too quickly.
"How fast is the decline, how low is the decline?" Cuomo asked. "Again, the variable is what we do."
New York has begun to increase the amount of testing, conducting 34,736 on Thursday, compared to around 20,000 usually.
Cuomo administration officials cite an executive order directing private and public labs to work with the state to prioritise coronavirus testing.
The state hopes to conduct as many as 40,000 tests a day.
AP
Back-to-school plans favour private students, educators warn
The NSW Teacher's Federation has warned that the state government's back-to-school plan for public school students will put them at a disadvantage compared to their private school peers.
As Education Editor Jordan Baker reports, the Berejiklian government's staged return model for year 12 - one day a week for four weeks from May 11, then two days for another four - their HSC candidates will have 12 days of face-to-face teaching in term two, while private school students who go back full time will have 40 days.
The HSC will still take place in 2020. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
Many of Sydney's private schools, including Trinity Grammar, St Catherine's School, SCEGGs Darlinghurst, will return to full-time face-to-face teaching from mid-May.
US states move towards re-opening, contrary to advice
Even as the confirmed US death toll from coronavirus rose past 50,000, salons, spas and barbershops reopened Friday in Georgia and Oklahoma with a green light from their Republican governors, who eased lockdown orders despite health experts' warnings.
In Oklahoma, Governor Kevin Stitt authorised personal-care businesses to open, citing a decline in the number of people being hospitalized for COVID-19. Those businesses were directed to maintain social distancing, require masks and frequently sanitise equipment.
Still, some of the state's largest cities, including Norman, Oklahoma City and Tulsa, were opting to keep their bans in place until at least the end of April.
With deaths and infections still rising in Georgia, many business owners planned to stay closed despite Governor Brian Kemp's assurance that hospital visits and new cases have levelled off enough for barbers, tattoo artists, massage therapists and personal trainers to return to work with restrictions.
Kemp's timeline to restart the economy proved too ambitious even for President Donald Trump, who said he disagrees with the fellow Republican's plan.
In Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer lengthened her stay-at-home order through May 15, while lifting restrictions so some businesses can reopen and the public can participate in outdoor activities like golf and motorised boating during the coronavirus pandemic.
Michigan has nearly 3,000 deaths related to COVID-19, behind only New York and New Jersey among US states.
Trump claims disinfectant comments were sarcastic
Doctors and the manufacturers of brands like Dettol then rushed to tell consumers not to ingest their products.
President Trump has since claimed that those comments were not serious.
“I was asking the question sarcastically to reporters like you, just to see what would happen,” he said on Friday.
Today's page 1
Good morning, Sally Rawsthorne here to take you through the day's events.
Here is the front page of today's paper:
The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday April 25Credit:
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2020-04-25 00:02:00Z
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