Coronavirus not man-made, say US intelligence agencies
Millions of people have been infected by coronavirus across the world, with the death toll passing 210,000. Here are the latest updates on the pandemic from other nations
■ WASHINGTON DC
US intelligence agencies have concluded that Covid-19 was “not manmade or genetically modified”.
But they say they are still examining whether the origins of the pandemic trace to contact with infected animals or an accident at a Chinese lab.
The statement came yesterday from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the clearing house for the web of US spy agencies.
It came as President Donald Trump and his allies have touted the as-yetunproven theory that an infectious disease lab in Wuhan, the epicentre of the Chinese outbreak, was the source of the global pandemic that has killed more than 220,000 worldwide.
■ NEW YORK
Police were called to a New York City neighbourhood after a funeral home overwhelmed by coronavirus resorted to storing dozens of bodies on ice in rented trucks, and a passer-by complained about the smell, officials said.
Investigators who responded to a 911 call found that the home had rented four trucks to hold about 50 corpses, according to a law-enforcement official.
The Andrew T Cleckley Funeral Home in Brooklyn was cited for failing to control the odours, but no criminal charges were brought.
The home obtained a larger, refrigerated truck later in the day, the official said, and workers in protective gear could be seen in the afternoon transferring bodies into it.
New York City funeral homes have struggled since late March. The city set up temporary morgues, and hospitals used refrigerated tractor trailers to cart away multiple bodies at a time, sometimes loading them in public view on the pavement.
Crematoria have been backed up, and funeral directors across the city have pleaded for help as they have run out of space.
■ LOS ANGELES
The city of Los Angeles will offer free testing to all residents, whether or not they have symptoms.
Until now tests were reserved for those with symptoms and frontline employees like healthcare and grocery store workers.
Mayor Eric Garcetti says LA will be the first major US city to offer widescale testing to all its residents.
People can sign up online for appointments starting immediately.
Priority will still be given to people with symptoms, such as a fever, cough and shortness of breath.
■ MEXICO
Police in southern Mexico may face charges after they opened fire on townspeople protesting an anti-virus roadblock that activists say cut their community off from the outside world.
It was the one of the first instances of armed confrontation at the hundreds of roadblocks that have sprung up across Mexico to stem the spread of the new coronavirus.
Prosecutors in the southern state of Chiapas said in a statement that one man was seriously wounded when police from the town of Yajalon opened fire on protesters from the nearby township of Tumbala on Sunday.
The man was shot in the back and chest and is being treated at a hospital. Two vehicles were also damaged.
Prosecutors said the demonstrators had gathered at a health-services checkpoint leading into Yajalon and began throwing stones.
Prosecutors said they would bring attempted murder charges against any public servants responsible for the shooting, and assault and gang charges against some demonstrators.
■ JAPAN
Under Japan’s coronavirus state of emergency, people have been asked to stay home. Many are not doing so.
Some still have to commute to their jobs despite risks of infection, while others continue to dine out, picnic in parks and crowd into grocery stores with scant regard for social distancing.
On Wednesday, the first day of the “Golden Week” holidays that run through May 5, Tokyo’s leafy Shiba Park was packed with families with children, day camping in tents.
The lure of heading out for Golden Week holidays is testing the public’s will to unite against a common enemy as health workers warn rising coronavirus cases are overwhelming the medical system in some places.
Experts say a sense of urgency is missing, thanks to mixed messaging from the government and a lack of incentives to stay home.
■ CZECH REPUBLIC
Nobody died of Covid-19 in the Czech Republic on Wednesday, the second day without a fatality this month after April 15.
So far, 227 people have died in the Czech Republic, according to health ministry figures released yesterday, after more than 7,500 have been tested positive.
It is now possible for the government to gradually ease its restrictive measures adopted to contain the pandemic.
■ AUSTRALIA
The Australian Capital Territory has become the first of the country’s eight states and mainland territories to declare itself free of all known cases of coronavirus.
Chief health officer Kerryn Coleman said the territory surrounding the capital city Canberra was free of any recorded infection yesterday for the first time in seven weeks after the last patient recovered.
There have been 106 confirmed Covid-19 cases in Canberra and three patients have died. The capital territory has a population of only 420,000, the second-smallest of the states and territories, and its infection rate per head of population ranks in the middle of the field.
Everyone with cold or flu symptoms have been offered free Covid-19 testing in Canberra.
■ SOUTH KOREA
Authorities yesterday reported four more cases over 24 hours, the first time its daily jump has been below five in about two months.
The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement that the additional figures took the country’s total to 10,765 with 247 deaths. It says 9,059 of them have recovered and been released from quarantine.
It says the four new cases are all imported ones.
■ SYRIA
The United Nations humanitarian chief said 44 cases and four deaths have been announced in Syria.
Mark Lowcock told the Security Council that a healthcare system hit by nine years of war cannot be expected “to cope with a crisis that is challenging even the wealthiest nations”.
Mr Lowcock said 43 confirmed cases and three deaths have been announced by authorities in Damascus and its surroundings, and a first case and death were confirmed in Syria’s north-east.