A Good Friday like no other
The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus hit 100,000 as Christians around the globe marked a Good Friday unlike any other – in front of computer screens instead of in church pews. The US had more than 18,000 dead, putting it on track to overtake Italy for the country with the highest death toll.
Public health officials and religious leaders alike warned people against violating lockdowns and social distancing rules over Easter and allowing the virus to come storming back. Authorities resorted to road blocks and other means to discourage travel.
With economies hit hard by the pandemic, some governments faced mounting pressure to restart some industries and fend off further economic devastation from the coronavirus.
Pope Francis presided over a torch-lit Good Friday procession in an otherwise empty St Peter’s Square, with nurses and doctors among those holding a cross as the Covid-19 pandemic upended the traditional ceremony at Rome’s Colosseum.
Some churches worldwide held services online, while others arranged prayers at drivein theatres. In Paris, services were broadcast from a nearly empty, closed-to-the-public Notre Dame Cathedral, still heavily scarred from a fire a year ago. In Warsaw, Poland, priests wearing masks heard confessions in a parking lot. And in New Orleans, the Catholic archbishop sprinkled holy water from the Jordan River from a biplane travelling overhead.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson remained in hospital with the virus but was out of intensive care. His father, Stanley Johnson, said the prime minister needs to ‘‘rest up’’ before returning to work.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration and congressional leaders appear poised to launch bipartisan talks on a new coronavirus aid package with hopes for action as soon as next week. Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer says the goal is to replenish a
$350 billion ‘‘paycheque protection’’ programme for businesses that’s being depleted.
Inmates at a Kansas prison where at least 28 people are sickened by the coronavirus rampaged through offices, breaking windows and setting fires before the facility was secured. Two inmates were injured in the disturbance involving about 20 men at the Lansing Correctional Facility.
New data shows the wallop the coronavirus outbreak is delivering to American households and economies. The US reported that consumer spending had its largest decline in five years in March. Consumer activity makes up about 70 per cent of all US economic activity.
New York Covid-19-related deaths jumped yet again by more than 700 in a day, but hospitals battling the outbreak reported encouraging news as the number of people admitted to hospital stayed relatively flat. Still, the New York metropolitan area accounted for more than half the nation’s 18,000-plus deaths.
In Mexico, beach towns have begun blocking off roads – in some cases building barricades of rubble across roadways – to seal themselves off from the outside world in a bid to stop the new coronavirus from entering.
Even as nearly 17 million Americans sought unemployment benefits, many appear to be falling through the cracks. They can’t get through jammed phone systems or finish their applications on overloaded websites. And now there is a whole new category of people seeking help – gig workers, independent contractors and self-employed people.
International charity groups usually provide support to wartorn or impoverished countries. But now they’re sending humanitarian aid to some of the wealthiest places in the United States to help manage the pandemic.
Experts say the fact that US health providers are turning to international charities underscores the government’s inadequate response.
The coronavirus has infected so many doctors, nurses and other health workers that some in France, Italy and Spain are now quickly returning from their sick beds and heading back to the front lines. ‘‘We were trained for this. The world needs us,’’ one doctor explained.
The coronavirus pandemic in Spain has heightened the fragility of the elderly of Barcelona’s working-class Poble Sec neighbourhood. It has stripped away the safety nets that kept them fed and healthy, and exposed them to a daily threat of infection that they know is likely to kill them. Difficult decisions are being made every day in the battle to keep the elderly safe. –