HOPE’ FOR GERMANY
GERMAN chancellor Angela Merkel emerged from her twoweek self-isolation yesterday and warned her country’s lockdown could stretch beyond Easter.
The number of reported new deaths in Germany was 55, taking the toll to 1,330 last night but new cases slowed to 991, with the total now standing at 92,150.
Ms Merkel said the new figures gave cause for “very cautious hope” and added: “The rise in confirmed new cases is going a bit slower than a few days ago.
“But it is definitively way too early to identify a trend and therefore it is also too early to ease some of the strict rules we have set for ourselves.”
But the virus continued to send shockwaves around the world leaving hospitals struggling and economies in tatters as countries remain in lockdown.
A 60-year-old British man died after jumping 65ft to his death from a motorway flyover in Bangkok with his Thai wife blaming stress about his struggling business.
With medical supplies in short supply, there is also growing competition among nations.
New York City has emerged as the epicentre of the US outbreak with latest figures suggesting deaths were doubling every three days and new cases doubling every six.
Across New York state there have been 630 new deaths taking its total to 3,565 while new cases jumped 10,841 to 113,704, with 4,126 people in intensive care.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said the Chinese government had donated 1,000 ventilators and he had signed an executive order allowing medical students due to graduate in Spring to start practising now. He tweeted: “These are extraordinary times and New York needs the help.”
President Donald Trump used wartime laws to stop the export of N95 respirator masks and surgical gloves, provoking anger from the main importers Canada – which saw deaths increase by 65 to 214 and cases jump 1,177 to 12,924 in a day – and Mexico, which has had 60 deaths and 1,688 cases.
With Italians entering their fifth week of lockdown, its fatality rate slowed with 681 new deaths taking the grim total to 15,362 and new cases rising 4,805 to 124,632.
Among the dead were two doctors, taking the toll amongst medics to 80. They also account for nine per cent of all infections.
Ukraine, which expects a sharp rise of coronavirus cases in the coming weeks, has sent a team of doctors and nurses to Italy to help their counterparts and gain valuable field experience.
Italy’s deputy minister of health, Pierpaolo Sileri, said recovery may start after Easter if infection rates drop but warned “we will have to live with the virus and with social distancing” until a vaccine becomes available.
For Spaniards entering their fourth week of lockdown there was a glimmer of hope. For the second day in a row deaths fell from record highs of 950 and 932 on Thursday and Friday to 809 yesterday, taking the total to 11,744. New cases also slowed, increasing by 7,026 yesterday to reach 124,736 infections.
But the state of emergency there was extended for another two weeks until April 26.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: “We must reduce contagion. We need more time.”
The Netherlands reported 164 new deaths, taking its total to 1,651, while in Switzerland they rose by 56 to 540.
In Lausanne, the cathedral watchman has revived the medieval tradition of lighting a lantern and ringing the La Clemence bell every night.
Renato Hausler said that in the past it had been rung if a fire was spotted. He added: “We can compare this pandemic to a worldwide fire that has spread at lightning speed on all continents.
“It was also considered an encouragement, more than a distress signal. Everybody was hearing it and it brought unity with residents fighting the fire.”