World coronavirus dispatch: Cases rise sharply; scientists for mass testing

From the US' delayed reaction and purportedly underreported death toll, to relief package in Japan and Singapore, and Italy's flattening curve, read these and more in today's international dispatch

China, according to its official stance, is now on a road to recovery, even as the situation continues to deteriorate in the US. At this important juncture, a new investigation has revealed that the US might have been slow in reacting and closing its borders effectively.

According to the New York Times, 430,000 people arrived in the US on direct flights from China after Chinese officials first disclosed the virus outbreak on January 3. Of them, tens of thousands flew directly from Wuhan, and about 40,000 after US President Donald Trump ordered a travel restriction on February 2 — all in 279 flights.

The analysis, based on data collected from both countries, makes a very strong case for early containment measures. Read all about it here.

Let’s look at the global statistics:

Total confirmed cases: 1,280,046

Change over the previous day: 140,839

Total deaths: 70,356

Total recovered: 270,098

Nations hit with most cases: US (337,933), Spain (135,032), Italy (128,948), Germany (100,132), and France (97,780)*

*China has now dropped out of the list of top five affected countries

Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

Italy’s Covid-19 curve flattening: Europe is seeing signs of hope in the coronavirus outbreak as Italy’s daily death toll was at its lowest in more than two weeks and health officials noted that the infection curve was finally descending. In Spain, new deaths dropped for a third straight day. Read more here

Third economic relief package in Singapore: The Singapore government has announced a $3.6-billion package to soften the coronavirus pandemic’s blow on the city-state’s economy. Together with the previous two packages, Singapore has set aside $41.7 billion, or 12 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP). The latest package will be used for wage subsidies, rental subsidies and cash pay-outs for all companies. Read more here

Emergency in Japan: Japan will on Tuesday declare a state of emergency in some parts of the nation, giving governors the power to order measures like ‘stay at home’. The emergency, which is expected to last a month, will cover prefectures including Tokyo and Osaka. Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also said that the emergency would not be “a lockdown as has been done overseas. It is the opinion of our experts that its isn’t necessary”. Read more here

Also, Japan announces $988-billion relief package: Japan has announced a record stimulus package of $988 billion, or 20 per cent of its GDP. This will include cash handouts for households and small businesses hit by the coronavirus outbreak and deferrals on tax for companies and social service costs for citizens. Read more here

Boris Johnson in ICU: After being infected by coronavirus on March 27, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been put in the intensive care unit of a hospital at an undisclosed location where he undergoes further tests. 10, Downing Street, said he was running a high temperature. Read more here

Tiger tests positive of coronavirus: Earlier, it was a cat in Belgium, and now it’s a tiger in a US zoo. Health officials believe that the large cat in the Bronx Zoo became sick after being exposed to a zoo employee who had symptoms. A total of 7 tigers said to be infected have developed dry cough and decreased appetite. Read more here

US death toll may be underreported: An investigation has revealed that the actual number of fatalities in the US might be higher than the officially reported figure of 9,400. This is based on accounts of hospital officials, doctors, public health experts and medical examiners, who say some deaths have not been adequately autopsied to find out whether they happened from coronavirus. Read more here

Iran says virus coordination has improved its ties with UAE: Iran has been the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in West Asia. The spread of the virus has brought “more reason and logic” to Iran’s relationship with the UAE, the Iranian foreign ministry has said. Ties between Iran and the its neighbour, a close ally of the US and Saudi Arabia, had deteriorated significantly in 2019. Read more here

Dividend squeeze: Dividends paid to investors by big US companies will take nine years to recover from the downturn caused by coronavirus, according to bets in the futures market. Companies in the S&P 500 delivered almost a trillion dollars in dividends last year, but now most companies around the world are under pressure to cut pay-outs to shareholders and focus on keeping up payments to workers and other stakeholders. Read more here

Specials

Fall of the EU banks: Economists estimate that the European economy will be down by 10 per cent in the first half of this year. The problem with Europe is that its banks had not fully recovered from the financial crisis of 2008. Some like Deutsche Bank are plagued by meagre profitability and the cost of cleaning up. Economists fear, once this is over, European banks may be much more diminished than they already are. Read more here

Why is Germany’s fatality rate low? Germany is among the top-five most affected countries, with over 100,000 cases. But the deaths there have been only 1,584, or 1.6 per cent. By comparison, Italy has reported 12 per cent fatality; Spain, France and Britain around 10 per cent; China 4 per cent, and the US nearly 3 per cent. One of the reasons is that the average age of those infected in Germany is lower than that in other countries. Other reasons include more testing, a better health care setup and better implementation of social-distancing norms by the government. Read more here

What’s with the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine: A few days ago, Donald Trump hailed hydroxychloroquinea as a “game changer” in the fight against Covid-19, even as it was not scientifically proven to cure the coronavirus disease. Interestingly, India is a chief exporter of this drug, and it prohibited the drug’s export on 4 April “without any exception”. Trump even called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure the delivery of the drug consignment already ordered. Read more on this issue here and here