UK engine-maker Rolls-Royce cuts 9,000 jobs

Rolls-Royce, the British maker of plane engines, said Wednesday it will cut at least 9,000 jobs and slash costs elsewhere, as the coronavirus slams the aviation sector. "This is not a crisis of our making. But it is the crisis that we face and we must deal with it," chief executive Warren East said in a statement announcing that Rolls would cut nearly one-fifth of its global workforce.

"Our airline customers and airframe partners are having to adapt and so must we." Rolls said it expected "the loss of at least 9,000 roles" from a global workforce of 52,000 and would also cut "expenditure across plant and property, capital and other indirect cost areas". The measures would hand the company annual savings of more than £1.3 billion ($1.6 billion, 1.4 billion euros).

The restructuring will meanwhile cost Rolls about £800 million. Rolls said the restructuring would predominantly affect its civil aerospace business.

"Our defence business, based in the UK and US, has been robust during the pandemic, with an unchanged outlook, and does not need to reduce headcount," it added. Rolls has already spent the past two years cutting thousands of management roles following weak demand for its power systems used by the marine industry.

"The restructuring announced on 14 June 2018 will transition into this wider proposed reorganisation," Rolls said Wednesday.

"Focused predominantly on reducing the complexity of our support and management functions, the programme has substantially delivered on its objectives."

The new cull comes as global air travel remains virtually non-existent, even as governments start to ease their lockdowns.

With planes grounded worldwide, airlines are slashing thousands of jobs.

"Being told that there is no longer a job for you is a terrible prospect," East added on Wednesday.

"But we must take difficult decisions to see our business through these unprecedented times."Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been criticised for his initial response to the global pandemic, and has faced weeks of pressure about the availability of tests for the virus.

The country has seen 34,796 deaths, the secondhighest toll in the world behind the United States, and 246,406 cases, according to the latest figures.

But despite a recent surge in daily tests and the expansion of eligibility, MPs on a parliamentary committee said: "Testing capacity has been inadequate for most of the pandemic so far."

"Capacity was not increased early enough or boldly enough. Capacity drove strategy, rather than strategy driving capacity," they said in a 19-page letter to Johnson.

The findings by the House of Commons science and technology committee come after six sessions of evidence involving scientists, public health experts and government advisers, which also looked at other countries' responses to the virus. On Sunday, Britain carried out 100,678 tests for coronavirus, but only 1,215 tests were performed on March 10, just two weeks before a nationwide lockdown was ordered and as cases spiked.

MPs said there was "consensus... that testing capacity has been too low". Reacting to the report, work and pensions minister Therese Coffey told the BBC: "The capacity is there." The government has come under sustained pressure about the spread of the virus in care homes, and the testing of frontline health and social care workers.

Ministers have previously claimed to have "thrown a protective ring around care homes". The committee said a failure by government body Public Health England to publish its testing policy was "unacceptable for a decision that may have had such significant consequences", it added.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who maintains care homes were a government priority, on April 2 announced that 100,000 tests a day would be conducted by the end of that month.

MPs said that was "more of a personal initiative by the secretary of state" than a decision based on public health or scientific advice.

But they suggested that having that capacity could have given the government "more options" at an earlier stage of the pandemic.

Lack of testing capacity was also a factor for the decision to stop contact tracing on March 12, the committee said. Hancock has made an army of contact tracers a key part of a new approach to tackling the spread of the virus, alongside wider community testing and the roll out of a smartphone app.

He announced on Monday that 21,000 contact tracers have been recruited, and testing has been expanded to include everyone aged five and over with symptoms. A new target of 200,000 tests per day has been set for the end of this month. The government aims to use data from all three sources to inform its easing of lockdown measures, including the partial reopening of schools.

Emergency workers usually busy attending accidents on Thailand's roads mill around ambulances parked at a service stationfewer crashes and crimes a welcome outcome for several Asian countries during coronavirus lockdowns.

As Asia starts to assess the damage caused by the pandemic, some countries are realising there have been unforeseen benefits.

Vietnam's nationwide isolation has seen a drop in crime, Hong Kong has hailed an early end to its annual flu season-and now, Thailand is seeing a muchneeded win in road safety.

"Accidents have gone down quite a lot," said Banjerd Premjit, chief of the Por Tek Tung emergency medical team operating just outside Bangkok. In Pathum Thani province, where his team of three ambulances normally rush to about 15 grisly crashes a night, accidents have dropped by half. He credited Thailand's virusfuelled measures, including a ban on alcohol sales and a nighttime curfew.