April 19 coronavirus news

A senior UK government figure has defended Prime Minister Boris Johnson's approach to the coronavirus pandemic, following a wide-ranging critique in the Sunday Times newspaper.

Cabinet minister Michael Gove described the Sunday Times piece -- which reported that Johnson had missed five emergency meetings on the virus and accused the government of failing to order protective equipment or heed scientists' warnings -- as "off beam."

"The idea that the Prime Minister skipped meetings that were vital to our response to the coronavirus, I think is grotesque," Gove told Sophy Ridge on Sky News on Sunday.

"The truth is that there were meetings across government, some of which were chaired by the Health Secretary, some by other ministers, but the Prime Minister took all major decisions," said Gove.

Speaking later on the BBC's The Andrew Marr Show, Gove acknowledged that Johnson had not attended the five Cobra meetings but said this was not unusual since such meetings were usually led by the relevant Secretary of State.

Cobra is the colloquial name given to interdepartmental meetings in the Cabinet Office Briefing Room "A." Because of the serious nature of these meetings, they are usually chaired by the PM or another senior minister.

Johnson first chaired a Cobra meeting on coronavirus on March 2. 

Gove added that the Sunday Times article was using this information “out of context” and “whipped [it] up in order to create a ‘j’accuse’ narrative.”

The Sunday Times report also stated that a number of opportunities to reduce the impact of the pandemic had been missed by the UK government in January, February and March.

The government has been criticized over shortages of personal protective equipment for frontline health and social care workers and a slow start to testing for the virus.

A Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement Sunday that the government had been "working day and night to battle against coronavirus, delivering a strategy designed at all times to protect our NHS and save lives," and guided by medical and scientific expertise.

“Our response has ensured that the NHS has been given all the support it needs to ensure everyone requiring treatment has received it, as well as providing protection to businesses and reassurance to workers," the statement said.

Johnson continues to recuperate at his official country retreat following treatment in intensive care for Covid-19.

The Prime Minister is “recovering well” and is in “cheerful spirits,” Gove told Sky.

Gove said Johnson had spoken with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Friday to deliver instructions to the government.

Johnson continues to follow the advice of his doctors in order to make sure that he “rests and recovers fully,” Gove said. He added that the Prime Minister is “absolutely on top of things.”

RELATED

Britain's health service is part of its national psyche. It's also on life support

There are at least 735,287 coronavirus cases in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally.

At least 39,090 people have died.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as all repatriated cases.

A CNN map which uses JHU data and refreshes every 15 minutes can be seen here.

Musical lovers, it's time to pause whatever you're watching on Netflix.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera," staged at London's Royal Albert Hall in 2011, is now available to stream free on YouTube for this weekend only. So grab some snacks, dim the lighting, and get ready to bring Broadway into your living room.

The free musical is available on Webber's "The Shows Must Go On" YouTube channel. Viewers are invited to donate to The Actors Fund, which is raising money for Covid-19 Emergency Relief.

Read the full story here.

Boeing's assembly lines will restart next week, building commercial aircraft for the first time since its Washington state assembly shut down a month ago. But the collapse of demand for air travel means its airline customers may not need those jets -- or even accept them. 

News that Boeing plans to resume production helped lift its shares 14% Friday. But it doesn't change the fact that so far this year Boeing has had four times as many orders for new jets canceled -- 196 -- as it has booked new orders. Another 160 orders have been deferred and are no longer counted in its backlog of orders. 

And while most of the canceled planes are Boeing's troubled 737 Max, which has been grounded since March 2019 following two fatal crashes that killed 346 people, the problem is much broader than that safety issue. It's the fact that airlines aren't going to need new planes for the foreseeable future.

Of the worldwide fleet of 26,000 passenger jets, nearly 17,000, or 64%, are now parked at airports, according to tracking service Cirium.

Read the full story here:

RELATED

Boeing won't be returning to 'normal' anytime soon

Pakistan will lift restrictions on mass gathering at mosques for prayers during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Pakistani President Arif Alvi announced on Sunday.

Congregational prayers will be held but strict disciplinary measures will be in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus, Alvi said.

Ramadan this year is expected to begin at sundown on April 23.

After a consultation with the country’s top religious scholars, the president released a 20-point action plan. This includes measures such as requiring people to wear masks in mosques and providing a police presence there to ensure social distancing is in place.

Alvi added that the government would review and change any part of its policy on mosques during Ramadan if these measures were not being followed or if the number of cases were to rise exponentially.

The number of diagnosed coronavirus cases as of Sunday in Pakistan was 7,993, with 159 deaths, according to the country’s health ministry.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne has called for an "independent review" of the circumstances that led to the start of the coronavirus pandemic, adding to growing pressure on China over its handling of the virus. 

"We need to know the sorts of details that an independent review would identify for us about the genesis of the virus, about the approaches to dealing with it, and addressing it, about the openness with which information was shared, about interaction with the World Health Organization, interaction with other international leaders," she said in an interview with Australia's ABC television on Sunday.

"All of those sorts of things will need to be on the table."

Paine said that when it comes to Australia's relationship with China, "transparency is essential." 

Asked whether she believes the World Health Organization is too "beholden" of China, she said Australia shares the concerns that the US has expressed. 

"I think it is about an independent mechanism, and I’m not sure that you can have the health organization, which has been responsible for disseminating much of the international communications material, and doing much of the early engagement and investigative work, also as the review mechanism," Payne said.

"That strikes me as somewhat poacher and gamekeeper."

RELATED

Trump is halting funding to the WHO. What does this actually mean?

Sixteen more people who had recovered from coronavirus and were released from quarantine have tested positive again for the infection, South Korea's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported on Sunday.

This means that 179 people in total have retested positive after they were released from quarantine, out of 8,042 patients who've recovered from Covid-19 so far, KCDC director Jung Eun-Kyeong told a press briefing.

It is currently unclear why patients could be retesting positive. Most experts think it's unlikely that somebody will be reinfected right after recovering. It's possible that issues with testing -- or varying amounts of viral RNA in the body, which the tests look for -- could explain why people test positive after testing negative, experts say.

An in-depth epidemiological investigation is underway to figure out the cause, Jung said.

Among all of the cases who have retested positive, patients in their 20s made up the highest number, with 41 cases (22.9%), followed by patients in their 50s, with 32 cases (17.9%), according to the KCDC.

Most such cases test positive after an average of about 13 days following release from quarantine, Jung added, and so far no secondary infections have been reported from these cases.

Death toll passes 160,000: At least 160,917 people have died from Covid-19 and there are more than 2.3 million cases worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally. Worst hit by the pandemic is the US, where there are more than 734,000 coronavirus cases and 38,900 deaths.

Lowest daily counts: China, where the outbreak started, reported 16 new coronavirus cases at the end of the day Saturday, its lowest daily increase since March 17.

Venezuela may postpone elections: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro wants the country’s top court to postpone the parliamentary elections scheduled for December this year until January 2021. Maduro said the pandemic is the priority and it would be irresponsible to carry out elections in that environment.

Japan cases spike: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases has topped 10,000 in Japan. In recent weeks, Japan's coronavirus cases have spiked -- dashing hopes that the government's initial virus response had succeeded. 

Opening up the US: The US CDC released new details on how communities can contain the virus, as part of the White House Task Force’s plan to "get and keep America open." Meanwhile, President Donald Trump says the response to the coronavirus “should not be a partisan witch hunt" but attacked three Democratic governors, who he said "have gotten carried away" with social distancing. Protesters gathered in several US states to oppose stay-at-home orders. 

International advocacy group Global Citizen, together with Lady Gaga, announced nearly $128 million in commitments to supporting healthcare workers in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, the organization tweeted early Sunday.

“$127.9 million for COVID-19 relief. That is the power and impact of One World: #TogetherAtHome,” Global Citizen tweeted, following the live broadcast.

The “One World: Together at Home” concert took place on Saturday and was a collaboration between the World Health Organization and Global Citizen, to encourage people to take action against the spread of the coronavirus by staying home.

The event featured dozens of celebrities and performances from top musicians, including Elton John, Billie Eilish, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, and Lady Gaga.

The show was hosted by Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert.

Lady Gaga responded to Global Citizen’s tweet, saying: “I am so humbled to have been a part of this project."