A day of remembrance was declared in China on Saturday to honour the more than 3,300 people who died of Covid-19. Cars, trains and ships then sounded their horns, air raid sirens rang as flags were flown at half-mast. The first cases of coronavirus were detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei province late last year. Since then, the virus has swept the globe, infecting more than one million people and killing nearly 60,000 in 181 countries.
In Wuhan, the epicentre of China’s outbreak, all traffic lights in urban areas were turned red at 10:00, ceasing traffic for three minutes. China’s government said the event was a chance to pay respects to “martyrs”, a reference to the 14 medical workers who died battling the virus.
President Donald Trump has recommended Americans to cover their faces with scarves or homemade cloth masks while going outside to curb the spread of the coronavirus though he would not wear one himself. Citing the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Trump urged people to wear face coverings like scarves or homemade cloth masks, and to keep medical-grade masks available for the health workers. “The CDC is advising the use of non-medical cloth face covering as an additional voluntary public health measure,” Trump told reporters during a press briefing at the White House on Friday. “The CDC is not recommending the use of medical-grade or surgical-grade masks. Those needs to be used for medical people working to save lives of Americans. Medical protective gear must be reserved for the front-line healthcare workers who are performing those vital services,” he said. CDC has recommended that Americans wear a basic cloth or fabric masks that can be either purchased online or simply made at home. However, Trump said he will not follow that guidance. “I just don’t want to wear one myself, it’s a recommendation,” he said. “Somehow sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful Resolute Desk, the great Resolute Desk, I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know, I don’t see it for myself,” he said. The deadly coronavirus has so far claimed over 7,000 lives in the US and infected over 2,70,000 people. During the press conference, Trump stressed that the new masks guidelines do not replace CDC’s guidance on social distancing, including staying at home when possible, standing at least 6 feet apart for a period of time.
As Russian cities go into lockdown to try to contain coronavirus, Moscow is using the latest technology to keep track of residents. City officials are using a giant network of tens of thousands of cameras – installed with facial recognition software – which they plan to couple with digital passes on people’s mobile phones. It’s prompted concern about whether such widespread surveillance will ever be rolled back.
South African public healthcare workers dispersed into the buzzing streets of Johannesburg’s Yeoville neighbourhood on Friday as Africa’s worst virus-hit country rolled out mass door-to-door testing for COVID-19. Armed with screening questionnaires and testing kits, medics and volunteers set up their testing station on the front porch of a block of flats in the gritty business neighbourhood.
US President Donald Trump has expanded the role of the US Army in the fight against deadly coronavirus, saying that no one is better prepared to fight the current situation which is like a war. US till Friday reported 7,380 deaths and at least 276,500 infections due to the deadly coronavirus, the highest for any country in the world. “We are expanding the role of the Armed Forces in our response effort because no one is better prepared to win a war of the United States military, and we are in a war. Invisible enemy,” Trump told reporters during a press briefing as he described New York as the hotspot of this war. On Friday, the number of those infected by coronavirus (COVID-19) in the New York state alone crossed 100,000 and the deaths touched 3,000. It’s neighbouring New Jersey followed up with nearly 30,000 infections and 646 deaths.
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