Coronavirus updates As it happens (2020-04-18)
Apr 18, 2020
COVID-19: Sunyani Central Market Decongested
As part of measures to avoid the possible outbreak and spread of the novel coronavirus disease in Sunyani, the Bono regional capital, the city authorities through its COVID-19 Task Force, have taken stringent steps to decongest the Sunyani Central Market.
To this end, additional market centres have been created for the various groups of sellers for use during this period in the municipality to drastically reduce human traffic at the main market.
Apr 18, 2020
French Covid-19 deaths top 19,000 as hospitalised numbers continue to fall
France has registered 642 more coronavirus deaths in hospitals and nursing homes in the last 24-hours period, taking the total to 19,323. But the number of hospitalised Covid-19 patients declined for the fourth consecutive day.
The number of Covid-19 positive patients in hospital fell to 30,639, as the rate of fatalities also slowed for the third day running.
Apr 18, 2020
COVID-19 Virus Dies Quickly Under Sunlight – Test Findings
Preliminary results from government lab experiments show that the coronavirus does not survive long in high temperatures and high humidity, and is quickly destroyed by sunlight, providing evidence from controlled tests of what scientists believed — but had not yet proved — to be true.
A briefing on the preliminary results, marked for official use only and obtained by Yahoo News, offers hope that summertime may offer conditions less hospitable for the virus, though experts caution it will by no means eliminate, or even necessarily decrease, new cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The results, however, do add an important piece of knowledge that the White House’s science advisers have been seeking as they scramble to respond to the spreading pandemic.
Apr 18, 2020
COVID-19: NDC Team Make Strong Recommendations To Gov’t As Cases Balloons
1. Testing & Contact Tracing
We take note of efforts made by government to scale up testing and contact tracing efforts as part of measures to identify and isolate persons who have contracted COVID-19. Concerns about the comprehensiveness of the strategy remain, and we list below related recommendations and those for the broader aims of COVID-19 testing.
1.1. There remains a lack of clarity on the definition of the tertiary contacts category employed in the enhanced contact tracing program. The current understanding is that these individuals are identified not because of their known interactions with secondary contacts, but rather by virtue of their coresidence in localities where index cases reside. It also remains unclear if this extends to primary and secondary contacts. This clarification would allow epidemiologists and statisticians around the nation to evaluate the practical utility of the definition for the efficient identification of cases and use of testing resources, and to assess its marginal benefits in ensuring comprehensivity of contact tracing.
Apr 18, 2020
More protests calling for end of lockdown across US
By BBC News
There are planned protests across the US as people call for the end of lockdown measures in several states.
The curbs, which include stay-at-home orders, are needed to slow the spread of coronavirus.
Facebook pages are calling for gatherings in Maryland, Wisconsin, Virginia and Pennsylvania. It is unclear how many people will attend. The four groups have more than 100,000 members combined.
Earlier this week thousands attended a demonstration in Michigan, which appears to have inspired the protests.
So far demonstrations against the shutdown have also been held in Ohio, North Carolina, Minnesota, Utah, Virginia and Kentucky.
President Donald Trump has been criticised for appearing to endorse the protests. In a series of tweets, he wrote: "LIBERATE MINNESOTA", "LIBERATE MICHIGAN" and then "LIBERATE VIRGINIA".
Apr 18, 2020
New York governor: 'A terrible experience'
By Peter Bowes BBC North America correspondent
At his daily briefing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the number of Covid-19 patients in the state continued to fall. There were 16,967 people being treated in hospitals, compared with 17,316 a day earlier.
Some 540 people died on Friday, the lowest daily tally in more than two weeks. But 2,000 new patients were admitted to hospital, which was "sobering".
While there was some positive news, he said it did not mean "happy days" were here again. Testing was a critical issue: "The more you test, the more information, the more you can reopen society," he said.
Mr Cuomo cautioned that infections could increase if the economy was reopened too fast.
"At every level this is a terrible experience,” he said. He added that it was no time for politics. The situation will get worse "if you politicise this emotion”.
Apr 18, 2020
In Lombardy, 'five times more killed' than by WW2 bombs
By BBC News
A sobering remark by Italy's special commissioner for the coronavirus emergency, Domenico Arcuri.
He said Italy's northern Lombardy region had now suffered more than five times the deaths seen from bombing in Milan during World War Two, when 2,000 civilians lost their lives between June 1940 and May 1945.
Another 482 deaths have been reported in Italy in the past 24 hours, including 199 in Lombardy, where Milan is the capital. So Lombardy has now seen over 12,000 deaths, more than half Italy's toll of 23,227.
The numbers are coming down every day, however. There are now 2,733 people in intensive care.
"We're going through a great tragedy. We've managed to confront it but we haven't yet beaten it," said Mr Arcuri.
Apr 18, 2020
France coronavirus deaths rise to over 19,000
By BBC News
French authorities say 364 people have died in the last 24 hours after contracting coronavirus, bringing the national total to 19,323.
The number of confirmed cases in the country has also risen to nearly 112,000.
But in a positive development, France's health ministry says the number of people being treated in intensive care units has fallen for a 10th consecutive day.
Apr 18, 2020
COVID-19: Lifting Lockdown Now Will Cause More Harm – Health Economist Warns
Health Economist, Dr. Gordon Abeka-Nkrumah is cautioning against calls not to extend the lockdown in parts of the country.
Dr. Gordon Abeka-Nkrumah says Ghana is at its critical stage in the fight against the novel coronavirus and any move to remove the current restriction of movements will affect the progress made so far.
Apr 18, 2020
Lady Gaga draws megastars to virtual concert to honour coronavirus workers
Some of the biggest names from the music, entertainment and sports worlds have joined Lady Gaga's global TV broadcast on Saturday night to pay tribute to the workers on the front lines of the fight against Covid-19. The Rolling Stones are the latest to sign up for the “One World: Together at Home” concert.
"We are honoured to be invited to be part of the 'One World: Together at Home' broadcast - from our homes in isolation," the Stones said in a statement by Global Citizen, the non-profit group organising the event with the World Health Organization (WHO) and curator Lady Gaga.