The World Health Organization's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing
Monday "the worst is yet ahead of us" in the novel coronavirus
pandemic. Takeshi Kasai, the WHO regional director for the Western
Pacific, added, "This is not the time to be lax." Driving the news: The WHO's warning came as several countries and regions in Europe, Asia and the U.S. began to ease lockdown restrictions. Per AP,
Kasai said "we need to ready ourselves for a new way of living for the
foreseeable future. And Tedros added, "It’s a virus that many people
still don’t understand." By the numbers: The coronavirus has infected more than 2.47 million people and killed over 170,300 worldwide, per Johns Hopkins.
More
than 651,700 people had recovered from the virus by early Tuesday. The
U.S. has reported the most cases (more than 787,900 from 4 million tests), followed by Spain (more than 200,000).
What else is happening: Virgin Australia, the country's second-largest carrier, has entered into voluntary administration because of COVID-19, the firm said in a statement Tuesday.
Italy reported on Monday the fewest number
of new cases since March 10 — 2,256, taking the total to just over
181,000. There were 454 COVID-19 deaths, compared with 433 the previous
day. The country's death toll stands at just over 24,000.
Iran allowed shopping malls to reopen on Monday, per the New York Times.
Iraq lifted a curfew, enabling some private sector workers to return to work, the Times notes.
Germany reopened some stores, Poland is permitting visits to parks and forests and in Norway students have returned to preschool, the BBC reported Monday.
In Denmark,
where preschool and elementary school students went back last
Wednesday, dental surgeries, hair salons and tattoo parlors reopened
Monday, per the BBC.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a briefing
she's extending by five days level 4 lockdown measures requiring
non-essential workers to stay home. NZ will move to level 3 at 11:59 p.m
next Monday. It has reported 12 deaths and 1,440 confirmed and probable cases.
Brazil's PresidentJair
Bolsonaro addressed a protest calling for an "end to business shutdowns
and quarantine guidelines imposed by governors around the country," the
New York Times reports.
Thousands of Israelisstood six feet apart
in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square on Sunday to protest what they consider the
erosion of democracy under the coronavirus-era government of Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Pakistan has
decided to keep mosques open during the fasting month of Ramadan, which
begins Thursday, as coronavirus cases continue to climb, AP reports.
President Trump's decision last week to withhold money from the WHO could damage the agency's efforts to fight the next pandemic and other health threats.
Over 1 million tests will be dispersed this week across Africa, AP reports.
The big picture: Europeans
and Americans affected by lockdown restrictions are desperate to move
beyond the worst of the crisis and return to something approaching normal. But the WHO has cautioned that moving too fast will undermine progress. Between the lines: Policy responsesto the crisis have been every-country-for-itself and — in the case of the U.S. and China — tinged with geopolitical rivalry.
But the scientific work under way to understand the virus and develop a vaccine has been globalized on an unprecedented scale.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. surpassed 786,900 on Monday night, while total deaths surged past 42,300. What's new: President Trump announced
Monday night he will sign an executive order to temporarily suspend
immigration to the United States in response to the pandemic.
Seema Verma during the coronavirus briefing at the White House on Sunday. Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Nursing
homes are now required to report all novel coronavirus cases directly
to the CDC, and families and patients at the facilities must also be
informed, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma said Sunday. Why it matters: Except for inpatient health care settings, the largest amount of COVID-19 deaths the CDC has recorded has been in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Thousands of residents
have died of the virus in long-term care facilities; however, the
agency had not previously formally tracked the number of cases inside
the homes.
President
Trump speaks during the daily coronavirus briefing at the White House
in Washington, D.C. on Monday. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
President Trump announced in a tweet
Monday night that he will sign an executive order to temporarily
suspend immigration to the United States in response to the novel
coronavirus pandemic. Details: "In light of the
attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs
of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to
temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!" Trump tweeted. The White House did not immediately share any detail about what such an order would state.
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