Cincunri Sakia

Kamis, 16 April 2020

Shinzo Abe Expands State Of Emergency To All Of Japan : Coronavirus Live Updates - NPR

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the state of emergency will last until May 6, adding that the goal is for residents to limit contact with others by up to 80%. Franck Robichon/AP hide caption

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Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a nationwide state of emergency, expanding the one put in place less than two weeks ago that covered Tokyo and six other prefectures as the deadly coronavirus continues to spread.

The prime minister also announced plans to give stimulus funds of 100,000 yen, the equivalent of about $930, to each of Japan's 120 million citizens to lessen the economic hardship of the faltering Japanese economy.

Japan's first modern state of emergency was put into place early last week. It was limited to Tokyo, as well as Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures and Osaka, Hyogo and Fukuoka.

This latest declaration now applies to all 47 of Japan's prefectures.

"I decided to put all prefectures under the state of emergency to curb infections in respective areas and especially to keep the movement of people to a minimum heading into the Golden Week holidays," Abe said at a meeting of a government task force on the coronavirus response, according to Kyodo News.

Abe added the goal is for Japanese residents to limit contact with others by up to 80%, Kyodo News reported.

The emergency order is in effect until May 6.

Earlier this week NPR reported the governor of Hokkaido prefecture, Japan's northernmost main island and the largest prefecture by total area, declared a state of emergency after seeing a spike in confirmed coronavirus cases.

That announcement was made less than a month after officials in Hokkaido moved to lift a similar emergency after there were reports that spread of the virus was subsiding. The area is popular among Japanese and international tourists.

Major Japanese-based global brands are beginning to wind down production. Toshiba will close all its factories and offices in the country from April 20 through at least May 6, according to NHK World-Japan. The move is expected to impact some 76,000 employees.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Toyota said it will close many of its Japanese factories for several days in April and May.

The paper also reports tourism to the country fell by a staggering 93% in March after the government restricted entry for most international travelers.

Late last month, the International Olympic Committee postponed the Summer Olympics to 2021 because of the coronavirus. They had been slated to start in July in Tokyo.

Nationwide, more than 9,000 people in Japan are confirmed to have the virus, NHK reported. "More than a quarter of all the confirmed infections in Japan have been reported in Tokyo," the broadcaster added. "Officials announced 149 new cases in the capital on Thursday."

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2020-04-16 17:50:39Z
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UK extends coronavirus lockdown measures by at least three weeks - CNBC

A pedestrian walks past closed-down shops on an empty Regent Street in London on April 2, 2020, as life in Britain continues during the nationwide lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Tolga Akmen

Britain is extending its coronavirus lockdown measures by at least another three weeks, Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said Thursday.

The government's decision to prolong its shelter-in-place restrictions followed a meeting with scientists earlier in the day. Raab, who is deputizing for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said the rate of Covid-19 infections has not slowed enough to justify lifting the shutdown.

"Any change to our social-distancing measures now would risk a significant increase in the spread of the virus," Raab said at the government's daily press conference. "That would threaten a second peak of the virus and substantially increase the number of deaths."

Restrictions on public life have been in place in the U.K. since March 23. People have been told to stay at home, with the exception of limited shopping — for essential food and medical supplies — and exercise.

Raab outlined five things the government wanted to see before looking to adjust the lockdown measures currently in place. They are as follows:

That the U.K.'s National Health Service is protected so it's able to cope with the epidemic.
Evidence of a sustained and consistent fall in daily deaths from the virus.
Reliable data showing the rate of infection is decreasing to "manageable levels."
Testing and personal protective equipment in hand.
Confidence that any adjustments to current measures risk a second peak of infections.

"Now is not the moment to give the coronavirus a second chance," Raab said.

The number of people who have died in U.K. hospitals after testing positive for the virus now stands at 13,729, an increase of 861 from the previous day. The country has reported over 100,000 infections.

The Office for Budget Responsibility warned earlier in the week that the shutdown could cause U.K. gross domestic product to shrink by 35% in the April to June period. Its projections were based on the assumption that the shutdown lasts for three months, followed by another three-month period during which restrictions are partially lifted.

Other European countries, such as Spain and Italy, have already begun gradually easing their lockdown measures. In Spain, construction and factory workers have started returning to work, while some regions in Italy have reopened bookstores and children's clothes stores.

Germany has also announced that it will wind back some of its restrictions. Small shops will be allowed to reopen from April 20, while schools will open their doors on May 4, giving priority to students that have to take exams. Mass gatherings, however, will remain banned until August 31.

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2020-04-16 17:05:09Z
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Shinzo Abe Expands State Of Emergency To All Of Japan : Coronavirus Live Updates - dineshr

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the state of emergency will last until May 6, adding that the goal is for residents to limit contact with others by up to 80%.

Franck Robichon/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Franck Robichon/AP

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the state of emergency will last until May 6, adding that the goal is for residents to limit contact with others by up to 80%.

Franck Robichon/AP

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a nationwide state of emergency, expanding the one put in place less than two weeks ago that covered Tokyo and six other prefectures as the deadly coronavirus continues to spread.

The prime minister also announced plans to give stimulus funds of 100,000 yen, the equivalent of about $930, to each of Japan’s 120 million citizens to lessen the economic hardship of the faltering Japanese economy.

Japan’s first modern state of emergency was put into place early last week. It was limited to Tokyo, as well as Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures and Osaka, Hyogo and Fukuoka.

This latest declaration now applies to all 47 of Japan’s prefectures.

“I decided to put all prefectures under the state of emergency to curb infections in respective areas and especially to keep the movement of people to a minimum heading into the Golden Week holidays,” Abe said at a meeting of a government task force on the coronavirus response, according to Kyodo News.

Abe added the goal is for Japanese residents to limit contact with others by up to 80%, Kyodo News reported.

The emergency order is in effect until May 6.

Earlier this week NPR reported the governor of Hokkaido prefecture, Japan’s northernmost main island and the largest prefecture by total area, declared a state of emergency after seeing a spike in confirmed coronavirus cases.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Toyota said it will close many of its Japanese factories for several days in April and May.

The paper also reports tourism to the country fell by a staggering 93% in March after the government restricted entry for most international travelers.

Late last month, the International Olympic Committee postponed the Summer Olympics to 2021 because of the coronavirus. They had been slated to start in July in Tokyo.

Nationwide, more than 9,000 people in Japan are confirmed to have the virus, NHK reported. “More than a quarter of all the confirmed infections in Japan have been reported in Tokyo,” the broadcaster added. “Officials announced 149 new cases in the capital on Thursday.”

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2020-04-16 17:13:36Z
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Coronavirus: UK set to announce lockdown extension - BBC News

Lockdown restrictions in the UK will continue for "at least" another three weeks as it tackles the coronavirus outbreak, Dominic Raab has said.

The foreign secretary told the daily No 10 briefing that a review had concluded relaxing the measures now would risk harming public health and the economy.

"We still don't have the infection rate down as far as we need to," he said.

It comes as the UK recorded another 861 coronavirus deaths in hospital, taking the total to 13,729.

Strict limits on daily life - such as requiring people to stay at home, shutting many businesses and preventing gatherings of more than two people - were introduced on 23 March, as the government tried to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Ministers are required by law to assess whether the rules are working, based on expert advice, every three weeks.

Mr Raab, deputising for Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he recovers from the illness, said: "There is light at the end of the tunnel but we are now at both a delicate and a dangerous stage in this pandemic.

"If we rush to relax the measures that we have in place we would risk wasting all the sacrifices and all the progress that has been made.

"That would risk a quick return to another lockdown with all the threat to life that a second peak to the virus would bring and all the economic damage that a second lockdown would carry."

Mr Raab said the review concluded that the measures were working, but there was evidence the infection was spreading in hospitals and care homes.

He said five conditions needed to be met before the lockdown was eased:

Making sure the NHS could cope
A "sustained and consistent" fall in the daily death rate
Reliable data showing the rate of infection was decreasing to "manageable levels"
Ensuring the supply of tests and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) could meet future demand
Being confident any adjustments would not risk a second peak

He said he could not provide a definitive timeline, but said the prime minister's warning at the outset of the epidemic that it would take about three months to come through the peak still applied.

"We know it is rough going. Every time I come to this lectern and read out the grim toll, I walk away and think of their sons and daughters going through this right now, their brothers, sisters, grandchildren, all those left behind," Mr Raab said.

"It makes this government focus even harder on what we must do and I know together, united, we must keep up this national effort."

'Way out is staggered, gradual and cautious'

It isn't a surprise. But it is hugely significant for every single person in this country. The lockdown measures will go on for at least another three weeks.

Ministers from devolved administrations across the UK have agreed that as a united way forward. The PM's deputy, Dominic Raab, said that we've sacrificed too much to ease up now.

And while ministers in Westminster have been very reluctant to talk about a future exit strategy - for fear it could distract from its core "stay at home" message - the foreign secretary did nod to how we could, in future, see measures relaxed in some areas while potentially strengthening them in others.

That may not sound like a lot of detail but it is possible to start tentatively piecing this exit strategy puzzle together. It's important to say things could change as more information comes to light.

But, as things stand, it seems that the route out of this will be staggered, gradual and cautious.

The government's clear and ongoing priority will be to avoid overwhelming the NHS. Increased testing will be an essential part of tackling the infection. And meanwhile the country, and indeed the world, waits for what appears to be the ultimate way out - a vaccine.

The announcement in the UK comes after a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee, involving the first ministers of Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

In Scotland, a further 80 people have died in hospitals. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the lockdown should continue because "we are not confident enough that the virus has been suppressed sufficiently".

Wales recorded another 32 deaths, with First Minister Mark Drakeford saying it is "still too early to change course".

Northern Ireland saw its highest daily toll, with a further 18 deaths in hospitals, and England recorded another 740 deaths.

The tallies for individual nations can differ from the UK-wide total, because they are calculated on a different timeframe.

Some countries across Europe which introduced lockdown measures before the UK are now beginning to ease them, including Austria, Italy and Germany.

However, they continue to require some social distancing measures, which reduce close contact between people and prevent large gatherings.

Not 'back to normal'

Earlier, a scientist advising the government, Prof Neil Ferguson from Imperial College, said a "significant level" of social distancing would be needed until a vaccine was found.

Prof Ferguson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that easing the lockdown after another three weeks would require "a single-minded emphasis" in government on "scaling up" testing and contact tracing.

Contact tracing aims to identify and alert people who have come into contact with a person infected with the virus, so they can be isolated and avoid passing on the infection themselves.

And he said the UK was not likely to be "back to normal" when restrictions were relaxed, with social distancing measures expected to be required in some form until a vaccine became available.

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2020-04-16 16:27:04Z
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Explainer: Why are some South Koreans who recovered from the coronavirus testing positive again? - Reuters

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean health officials are investigating several possible explanations for a small but growing number of recovered coronavirus patients who later test positive for the virus again.

FILE PHOTO: Couples enjoy a view of Seoul while practicing social distancing, behind an observation deck which has been cordoned off as part of efforts to avoid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), atop Mt. Namsan in Seoul, South Korea, April 7, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

Among the main possibilities are re-infection, a relapse, or inconsistent tests, experts say.

South Korea had reported 141 such cases as of Thursday, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

RE-INFECTION OR RELAPSE?

Although re-infection would be the most concerning scenario because of its implications for developing immunity in a population, both the KCDC and many experts say this is unlikely.

Instead, the KCDC says it is leaning toward some kind of relapse or “re-activation” in the virus.

A relapse could mean that parts of the virus go into some kind of dormant state for a time, or that some patients may have certain conditions or weak immunity that makes them susceptible to the virus reviving in their system, experts said.

A recent study by doctors in China and the United States suggested the new coronavirus can damage T lymphocytes, also known as T cells, which play a central role the body’s immune system and ability to battle infections.

Kim Jeong-ki, a virologist at the Korea University College of Pharmacy, compared a relapse after treatment to a spring that snaps back after being pressed down.

“When you press down a spring it becomes smaller, then when you take your hands off, the spring pops up,” he said.

Even if the patients are found to have relapsed rather than to have been re-infected, it could signal new challenges for containing the spread of the virus.

“South Korean health authorities still haven’t found cases where the ‘reactivated’ patients spread the virus to third parties, but if such infectiousness is proven, that would be a huge problem,” said Seol Dai-wu, an expert in vaccine development and a professor at Chung-Ang University.

LIMITS OF TESTING

Patients in South Korea are considered clear of the virus when they have tested negative twice in a 48-hour period.

While the RT-PCR tests used in South Korea are considered generally accurate, experts said that there are ways they could return false or inconsistent results for a small number of cases.

“RT-PCR tests boast an accuracy of 95%. This means that there still can be 2-5% of those cases that are detected false negative or false positive cases,” Kim said.

Remnants of the virus could remain at levels too low to be detected by a given test, Seol said.

FILE PHOTO: A medical staff member in protective gear prepares to take samples from a visitor at a 'drive-thru' testing center for the novel coronavirus disease of COVID-19 in Yeungnam University Medical Center in Daegu, South Korea, March 3, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo

On the other hand, the tests may also be so sensitive that they are picking up small, potentially harmless levels of the virus, leading to new positive results even though the person has recovered, Kwon Jun-wook, deputy director of KCDC said at a briefing on Tuesday.

The tests could also be compromised if the necessary samples are not collected properly, said Eom Joong-sik, professor of infectious diseases at Gachon University Gil Medical Centre.

(This story adds missing words in paragraph 5)

Reporting by Sangmi Cha; Additional reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Writing by Josh Smith. Editing by Gerry Doyle

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2020-04-16 15:23:08Z
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'Captain Tom,' 99, raises $15m for NHS as he completes garden challenge - CNN

Moore walked the last 10 lengths of his garden on Thursday morning, aided by a walking frame.

Soldiers from the 1st Battalion Yorkshire Regiment gave Moore a guard of honor as he completed the final lap.

Moore began the fundraiser on April 8, initially hoping to raise £1,000 for NHS Charities Together, which raises funds for UK hospitals, including for staff, volunteers and patients affected by the coronavirus crisis.

More than 648,000 individual donations had been made to his JustGiving page at the time of writing, topping £12.7 million ($15.8 million).

War veteran, 99, raises $6 million by walking laps of his garden

Ellie Orton, chief executive of NHS Charities Together, said Moore was a "true inspiration" and thanked those who had donated.

"What he has achieved in bringing people together, and highlighting the appeal, has been remarkable," Orton said in a statement.

Originally from Yorkshire, northern England, Moore now lives with his daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren in Bedfordshire, southeast England, following the death of his wife in 2006.

Moore, who will turn 100 later this month, trained as a civil engineer before being enlisted in the British Army during World War II, where he served in India, Indonesia and Britain. He later became the managing director of a concrete manufacturer.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Thursday he was "inspired" by Moore's efforts.

"He has served his country in the past and he's serving his country now," Hancock told BBC Breakfast TV Thursday. "We all need a bit of cheering up sometimes."

Captain Tom Moore, pictured here as a young man, has completed the challenge.

Moore's daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, told CNN earlier this week that her father had been exercising daily following a recent partial hip replacement and she suggested he challenge himself to do it daily in order to raise funds.

Ingram-Moore told CNN that her father was "a hard worker and a grafter" and that he had been "floored" by the donations.

In a statement from the UK's Ministry of Defence, Maj Ian Atkins, officer commanding the troops in the guard of honor, said: "The soldiers, standing apart and yet together in support of Captain Tom, couldn't be prouder to count him as one of their own, and we thank him from the bottom of our hearts for his service to the country, and now his achievements in the name of the NHS.

"The British Army, the NHS and the whole nation has been behind him every step of the way."

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2020-04-16 14:24:46Z
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