GLOBAL IMPACT
Australia toll rises
The coronavirus death toll in Australia has risen to 21 after a grandmother died in regional New South Wales, marking the sixth death from the Ruby Princess cruise ship disaster. It came hours after the death of a 95-year-old woman from Sydney’s Dorothy Henderson Lodge, the fifth person to die as a result of the outbreak at the Macquarie Park nursing home. The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases passed 5000. Twenty-one people have now died.
Aussie minister touts drug
Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt has struck a deal to bring hydroxychloroquine, an unproven drug touted by US President Donald Trump as effective against Covid-19, into Australia. Hydroxychloroquine is a drug used to treat patients with lupus or other immune deficiency diseases and was available in Australia before coronavirus sent global suppliers into a lockdown on remaining supplies. The European Commission said the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of Covid-19 patients has not been proved. Freeman said in Australia the drug was being used strictly in intensive care “under the context of a clinical trial”.
Taliban ready to begin ceasefire
The Taliban said it was ready to declare a ceasefire in areas of Afghanistan under its control if they are hit by a coronavirus outbreak. The announcement follows a UN Security Council statement urging Afghanistan’s warring parties to heed the UN Secretary-General’s call for an immediate ceasefire to respond to the pandemic and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid throughout the country. The Taliban have also said they would guarantee the security of health and aid workers travelling to their areas offering assistance to prevent the spread of the new virus. It wasn’t clear how many cases would need to be confirmed in any given area for the insurgent group to announce a ceasefire and there was no immediate response from the Government. Afghanistan has 196 confirmed cases, including 24 deaths.
concerns about the US territory’s ability to respond to the coronavirus pandemic as officers accused the Government of exposing one of the largest police departments in a US jurisdiction to Covid-19. More than 150 officers are under quarantine as dozens await test results on an island that has reported 11 deaths and more than 280 confirmed cases amid a month-long curfew that has shuttered beaches, parks and non-essential businesses. The first police station to close is located in the popular tourist town of Rincon, where the 42-year-old
wife of one officer recently died from Covid-19. Also shuttered are police stations in Aguas Buenas, Caimito, Moca and San German. Matias said the union requested protective equipment two months ago but has barely received any items.
Migrant camps locked down
Greece has imposed a lockdown on a refugee camp after a migrant woman tested positive for coronavirus. In what would be the first positive case for an asylum seeker in Greece, she was found to have contracted the virus after giving birth at a hospital in Athens. It was not clear whether she contracted Covid-19 in the hospital or had been infected in Ritsona camp, north of the capital. The woman’s partner tested negative for the virus, but officials were still anxious to trace who else she had been in contact with inside the camp, which hosts around 2500 people. Greece has long feared the nightmare scenario of coronavirus spreading through its squalid, overcrowded refugee camps on the mainland and on islands in the Aegean. The most overcrowded facility is on Lesbos, where 20,000 people live in and around a camp that has an official capacity of less than 3000.
Cruise ships told to stay at sea
The US Coast Guard has directed cruise ships to prepare to treat any sick passengers and crew on board while being sequestered “indefinitely” offshore during the coronavirus pandemic. The new rules outlined in a memo are required for ships in the district that covers Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Puerto Rico. They also come with a stiff warning: any foreign-flagged vessels “that loiter beyond US territorial seas” should try first to medically evacuate the very sick to those countries instead. Many South Florida cruise ships are registered in the Bahamas, where hospital capacity is limited and people are still recovering from last year’s devastating Hurricane Dorian. Dozens of cruise ships are either lined up at Port Miami and Port Everglades or waiting offshore due to the coronavirus pandemic. Most have only crew aboard, but Carnival Corp, which owns nine cruise lines with a total of 105 ships, this week said that it had more than 6000 passengers still at sea.