World coronavirus dispatch: Now, Donald Trump threatens to quit WHO

From 265 mn likely going hungry in 2020, to how Wuhan residents are dealing with hope, fear and grief, and peril of lifeguarding in the time of Covid-19 - read these and more in today's world dispatch

The English Premier League has just announced that teams can start training in small groups this week, but they must observe social distancing rules. Surprise inspections, GPS tracking and video analysis are methods that could be used to ensure clubs adhere to new safety guidance. After all its clubs carried out coronavirus tests on Sunday and Monday, the Premier League will announce on Tuesday how many, if any, positive tests were recorded. Read more here.

Let’s look at the global statistics

Total confirmed cases: 4,716,513

Change over previous day: 87,654

Total deaths: 318,527

Total recovered: 1,787,454

Nations hit with most cases: The US (1,508,598), Russia (290,678), Brazil (255,368), the UK (247,709) and Spain (231,606).

Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

265 million risk going hungry in 2020: Across the globe, harvests are going waste because labourers are banned from working, can’t travel to farms or don’t want to work for fear of the virus. Meat processing plants in the US have been shut down, farmers in the US and UK have been forced to dump milk, and Russia has issued a wheat quote as the country’s imports have fallen. Read this report of the UN World Food Program.

UK govt’s aid for late-stage start-ups: Fast growing start-ups struggling to survive the lockdown will finally secure state support this week, with the launch of the 250-million-pound co-investment “Future Fund”. The government is set to take stakes in some of the UK’s most promising companies under the scheme, allowing bailout loans offered by the Treasury to be converted into equity. Read more here.

Trump threatens to quit WHO over China: US President Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) unless it demonstrates independence from China, in an escalation of his attack on the body. In a letter to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, Trump said he would take one of several dramatic actions, unless the global health body committed to reform within 30 days. Read more here.

Nasdaq to tighten requirements for companies seeking to list: Nasdaq will tighten requirements for companies seeking to go public on its exchange, a move that will affect a set of countries that includes China. The New York-based stock exchange will require companies to raise at least $25 million in equity capital in an initial public offering or a sum equivalent to a quarter of the value of the group once listed. Read more here.

Indonesia unveils aid for state-owned companies: Indonesia will extend $10 billion in financial support to a dozen state-owned companies to tide over the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The assistance will be in the form of working capital, accelerated payments for subsidising electricity and fuel to the poor and shoring up the companies’ paid-up capital. Read more here.

Specials

The job of lifeguards in the time of Covid-19: Lifeguards are trained to act as first responders for all manners of medical emergencies that can happen at the beach, often putting them in close proximity to beach patrons. And when it comes to making water rescues, they sometimes come in direct physical contact with people who might be spitting up water or gasping for air — an aspect of their job that is raising new concerns due to the ways that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, spreads. Lifeguards from places across the country who spoke to TIME Magazine expressed concern that the unique nature of lifeguarding might lead to a high level of risk of exposure to coronavirus this summer. Read more here.

Hope, Fear and Grief: Wuhan after the lockdown: For more than two months, the people of Wuhan, China, lived under lockdown as their city buckled beneath the weight of the coronavirus that emerged there. Then, gradually, cases ebbed. On April 8, the lockdown was lifted. Now, the residents of Wuhan are cautiously feeling their way towards an uncertain future, some of the first in the world to do so. There is trauma and grief, anger and fear. But there is also hope, gratitude and a newfound patience. Read more here.

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