Summary
- The global death toll from coronavirus has passed 247,000. There have been 3.5 million cases but 1.1 million recoveries, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally
- The Australian death toll stands at 96 after a death at Newmarch House in Sydney's west on Monday
- Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will join Australia's national cabinet meeting today to discuss COVID-19
- The COVIDSafe app has now been downloaded over 4.5 million times
- Three Qantas flights will this week rescue more than 500 Australians stranded in India by coronavirus travel restrictions but hundreds more remain in limbo
Death's dividing line: coronavirus in Italy never a national outbreak
By Bevan Shields
London: Deaths in one hard-hit Italian city skyrocketed nearly 570 per cent in March, in a further sign the coronavirus pandemic is claiming many more lives than official government figures suggest.
New 'excess death' data released just as Italy took its first steps out of a strict two-month lockdown on Monday show deaths from all causes were nearly 50 per cent higher in March than the five-year average for the same time of year.
Staff tend to a patient in the emergency COVID-19 ward at the San Carlo Hospital in Milan, ItalyCredit:AP
The virus has left of trail of suffering in the country's north, where the outbreak took hold in early February and quickly overwhelmed local hospitals.
Deaths in the city of Bergamo near Milan surged 567 per cent in March compared with the 2015-2019 March average. Images of a convoy of army trucks being filled with coffins were beamed around the world last month at the peak of the pandemic.
Deaths in the province of Cremona, the setting for the Academy Award-winning film Call Me By Your Name, were up 391 per cent. Nine other cities had death increases in March ranging from 120 per cent to 370 per cent higher than the average, according to the Italian National Institute of Statistics.
UK reports 288 new deaths, fewest since end of March
The UK government, under pressure to ease the coronavirus lockdown, will start rolling out a contact-tracing mobile phone app after posting the smallest daily increase in deaths from the disease since the end of March.
The software is being trialled in the Isle of Wight and, if successful, will be rolled out nationwide. If enough people install it, the app should help isolate new cases of Covid quickly, limiting the spread of the virus and allowing the rest of the country to start returning to normal.
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.Credit:Pippa Fowles
"By downloading the app, you're protecting your own health, the health of your loved ones, and the health of your community," Health Secretary Matt Hancock said at a briefing in London on Monday.
"This trial does not mean the end of social distancing on the Isle of Wight, or anywhere else for that matter."
The announcement came at the beginning of a key week for the British government in which it may set out how it will begin to ease restrictions that have brought large parts of the economy to a standstill. Businesses are set to be told to stagger shifts and enforce social-distancing measures if they want to re-open, according to people familiar with the plans.
Hancock said a further 288 people had died from coronavirus in the UK, down from 315 the day before.
The daily tally has usually been lower following a weekend, but Monday's figures - which include deaths in care homes as well as hospitals - are also lower than the week-earlier figure.
3985 more people tested positive for the virus, compared to 4,339 the day before. On Sunday, 85,186 tests were provided, more than the 76,496 offered the day before.
"New cases have to come down further," Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Jonathan Van-Tam, said at the briefing. "We have to get cases lower."
Bloomberg
Turkey announces plan to ease virus restrictions
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Monday what he called a "normalization plan" to gradually ease restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic as the death rate falls, but warned of tougher measures to come should the number of infections rebound.
In a televised address following a Cabinet meeting, Erdogan said shopping malls would be allowed to open starting on May 11, as would barber shops, hairdressers and beauty parlours - as long as they work on a system of appointment and accept customers at half-capacity.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Credit:AP
Erdogan said that the government is also lifting entry and exit restrictions for seven cities where the coronavirus outbreak has been brought under control. The measure, however, will remain in place for 24 other cities, including Istanbul and Ankara.
He also announced a respite for those chafing in-home quarantine.
Erdogan said that those over 65 - who have been under a curfew for the past six weeks - will be allowed to leave homes for four hours on May 10 when the rest of the population will be observing a weekend stay-at-home order. Children would be allowed to take walks for four hours on May 13 and teenagers on May 15.
"We have reached an important cornerstone," Erdogan said, as he announced the gradual lifting of restrictions.
But he also warned: "If the rules aren't adhered to and the outbreak spreads again we will be forced to resort to tougher measures."
Meanwhile, the health minister announced 64 new deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours - slightly up from Sunday's 61 deaths, which was the lowest number of daily fatalities in over a month. The country's death toll now stands at 3,461.
Fahrettin Koca, the minister, also reported 1614 more confirmed cases, bringing the total number of infections to 127,659.
Turkey ranks eighth in confirmed cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.
AP
Ausgrid calls out customers for abusing workers during COVID-19 lockdown
By Anna Patty
Ausgrid is calling out customers for abusing and threatening workers carrying out essential repairs during the COVID-19 lockdown, forcing the electricity distributor to launch a campaign for greater community understanding.
The social media campaign will feature Ausgrid staff asking the public for support during the pandemic. Starting on Tuesday, the short film will aim to explain why essential maintenance and repairs to poles and wires needs to continue.
Ausgrid chief executive officer Richard Gross said he was disappointed that workers were being threatened doing network maintenance.
“We’ve seen cases where crews had been physically blocked from doing their work by members of the public during the COVID-19 pandemic, while others have been threatened with spitting and coughing," he said.
Leaked Trump administration figures project 3000 COVID-19 deaths a day in the US
By Matthew Knott
Washington: The Trump administration is privately projecting that up to 3000 people will soon die each day from COVID-19 - a significant increase on current figures - even as the US President urges states to quickly re-open their economies.
The leaked projections from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emerged as Donald Trump acknowledged that the total US death toll could reach 100,000 - far higher than the estimates he has cited in recent weeks.
Donald Trump, speaking at a Fox News town hall at the Lincoln Memorial, said up to 100,000 people could die from the coronavirus in the US. Credit:AP
More than a dozen US states moved to ease strict restrictions on commercial and social activity on Monday (Tuesday AEST), joining large states like Texas and Georgia that recently re-opened significant portions of their economies.
The CDC, according to a presentation obtained by The New York Times, forecasts that the US will be recording 200,000 new cases each day by the end of May - a massive increase from 25,000 cases currently.
"There remains a large number of counties whose burden continues to grow or are in an elevated incidence plateau, including in the Great Lakes region, parts of the Southeast, Northeast, and around southern California," the CDC analysis says.
Plane carrying coronavirus aid crashes in southern Somalia
A plane carrying aid supplies for use in the fight against the coronavirus crashed in Somalia's southern Bay region on Monday, killing seven people on board, a security official and the state-run news agency said.
State-run Somalia News Agency said the plane belonged to African Express Airways and was ferrying supplies for use in the fight against the novel coronavirus. It said there were six crew members on board.
"An African (Express) Airways plane from Mogadishu flew to Baidoa and then continued its flight to Bardale town where it crashed," the news agency said on its website.
"The plane crashed near Bardale airport. It was carrying medicine to prevent COVID-19. It is not clear why it crashed."
Reuters
Inquiry resumes into Ruby Princess debacle
The Ruby Princess inquiry will hear from five new witnesses, as NSW recorded just one new positive COVID-19 case.
The Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess will commence its third round on Tuesday to help uncover the grave missteps of the ill-fated cruise ship that has been linked to more than 20 coronavirus deaths and 600 infections across Australia.
The first two sittings included witness testimonies from the cruise ship's doctor Ilse Von Watzdorf and the hotel manager on board, Charles Verwall.
The hearings will run on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
A male resident at Newmarch House aged care died on Monday, taking the facility's total to 15 and the NSW death toll to 45.
A daily testing regime has been established for staff at the western Sydney nursing home to manage what is Australia's second deadliest outbreak after the Ruby Princess.
AAP
Australian investors facing $26b hit as blue chips slash dividends
By Clancy Yeates
The dividend boom that has underpinned 90 per cent of sharemarket returns over the past decade is over with moves by the nation's largest companies to slash shareholder payouts poised to deliver a $26 billion hit to Australian investors.
Westpac, which has 610,000 retail shareholders, became the latest big company to suspend its dividend yesterday as NRMA owner Insurance Australia Group warned it was unlikely to pay a dividend to its 650,000 shareholders in September.
Westpac was the latest big financial institution to suspend a decision on its dividend on Monday. Credit:
Dividend payments in Australia totalled $80 billion last financial year, research from UBS recently found. Dividends and franking credits accounted for 87 per cent of returns from the ASX 200 index over the past decade.
Plato Investment Management has predicted a fall of nearly 30 per cent in dividends this year, which would reduce payouts to millions of Australian retail investors and super funds by $26 billion. But after recent moves from banks the plunge in payments could end up being even bigger.
"The risks are pointed to the downside," Plato managing director Don Hamson said on Monday.
Record US Treasury borrowing expected in coronavirus fight
The US Treasury will announce just how much new debt, expected to hit a record amount, it must issue to finance the budget-stretching stimulus measures aimed at combating the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
With nearly $US3 trillion ($4.68 trillion) approved by Congress to aid businesses, workers, hospitals, and state and local governments, as well as for other virus-related measures, the Treasury will have to issue new securities to pay for it all.
"Even before the pandemic there was going to be some increased funding needs going forward. But now all things are out the window," said Mike Lorizio, senior fixed income trader at Manulife Investment Management in Boston.
The Treasury will announce borrowing projections at 5am AEST.
Analysts at Jefferies expect second-quarter borrowing needs to be revised up to $1.99 trillion, exceeding the most the Treasury ever borrowed for a full fiscal year: just under $1.8 trillion in 2009 due to the financial crisis.
Another $1 trillion in borrowing would be on tap for the third quarter based on Congressional Budget Office cost estimates, according to a JEF Economics report.
Lorizio said issuance should be in an "easily manageable size that can be digested by the market, with room to grow."
"Regular and predictable is what the Treasury wants to be. They don't want to disrupt the market," he added.
Reuters
After retesting samples, French hospital discovers COVID-19 case from December
Paris: A French hospital that retested old samples from pneumonia patients discovered that it treated a man who had COVID-19 as early as December 27, nearly a month before the French government confirmed its first cases.
Yves Cohen, head of resuscitation at the Avicenne and Jean Verdier hospitals in the northern suburbs of Paris, told BFM TV that scientists had retested samples from 24 patients treated in December and January who tested negative for the flu.
"Of the 24, we had one who was positive for COVID-19 on December 27," he told the news channel on Sunday.
The samples had all initially been collected to detect flu using PCR tests, the same genetic screening process that can also be used to detect the presence of the novel coronavirus in patients infected at the time the sample is collected.
Each sample was retested several times to ensure there were no errors, he added. Neither Cohen nor his team were immediately available for comment on Monday.
Reuters
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2020-05-04 19:38:00Z
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