Europe in fear of second virus wave
Trump slammed by social media giants
BRUSSELS: While Europe yesterday tightened restrictions to face the threat of a second wave of Covid-19, US President Donald Trump found himself in the cross-hairs of Facebook and Twitter because of a video in which he claimed children were “almost immune” to the new coronavirus.
The worldwide death toll crossed 700,000 as the two US social media giants took action against Trump for spreading what they called “misinformation” about the virus.
Several European countries and cities reimposed tighter restrictions, including a “wake-up week” in Greece and new face mask and quarantine rules elsewhere.
The US tallied another 1,262 deaths and 53,158 cases on Wednesday, marking 157,930 total deaths and more than 4.8 million cases, making it by far the worst-hit country in the world.
A total of 703,640 deaths have been recorded so far globally, according to a tally compiled from official sources as of 10am yesterday, Thailand time.
Europe remains the hardest-hit region, with 211,764 fatalities, but the number of deaths is rising fast in Latin America, where 208,329 deaths have been recorded.
Greece re-introduced restrictions, citing travel, social gatherings and public transport as major spreading concerns.
Measures in the northeast Scottish city of Aberdeen included the closure of all indoor and outdoor hospitality venues as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon referred to what could become a “significant outbreak”.
Germany included Belgium’s Antwerp province on its list of regions requiring arriving travellers to quarantine for 14 days unless they can show a negative virus test and Switzerland added mainland Spain to a quarantine list of 46 countries, as well as Singapore and Romania.
But the most extraordinary move yesterday was Facebook’s removal of a video clip about the virus from Mr Trump’s account.
It was the first time the social network had taken down one of the president’s posts for violating its content rules.
It followed his claim that a group of people was immune from Covid-19, “which is a violation of our policies around harmful Covid misinformation”, said a Facebook spokesman.
Twitter, meanwhile, said it had blocked Mr Trump’s official campaign account, also for a “misinformation” violation over a tweet containing the same video, in which Mr Trump made the case for reopening US schools starting in September.
The @TeamTrump account soon reported that it had taken down the offending video.
Also in the United States, New York mayor Bill de Blasio, announcing new checkpoints at access roads into the city, said: “We’re not going to let our hard work slip away and will continue to do everything we can to keep New Yorkers safe and healthy.”
The virus killed more than 32,000 people in the city, which was one of its first epicentres in the United States.
One of Brazil’s leading indigenous chiefs, 71-year-old Aritana Yawalapiti, died yesterday of respiratory complications caused by Covid-19.
South America’s largest country is driving a surge in Latin America and the Caribbean, having recorded nearly 2.9 million cases, and more than 97,000 deaths.
That equals nearly half of the entire region’s 208,329 fatalities.
In Afghanistan, the health ministry said nearly a third of the population — or 10 million people — had been infected with coronavirus.
The world’s hope of ending the current cycle of outbreaks and lockdowns rests on finding a treatment, which has proved elusive so far.