Guests wearing surgical masks walk past a projection screen before a showing of "Trolls World Tour" at the Four Brothers Drive In Theatre, May 15, 2020, in Amenia, New York, during the coronavirus pandemic. (John Minchillo / AP)
WASHINGTON / BERLIN / BRASILIA / ROME / QUITO / MOSCOW / LIMA / PARIS / PANAMA CITY / KAMPALA / CAPE TOWN / ATHENS / BRATISLAVA — Less populated areas of New York, Virginia and Maryland took their first steps towards lifting lockdowns on Friday, part of a patchwork approach to the coronavirus pandemic that has been shaped by political divisions across the United States.
Construction and manufacturing facilities in five out of 10 New York state regions were given the green light to restart operations, although New York City, the country’s most populous metropolis, remained under strict limits.
Statewide, the outbreak is ebbing. Coronavirus hospitalizations in New York declined to 6,394, a third of the level at the peak one month ago, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Friday. The number of new coronavirus deaths was 132 on Thursday, the state’s lowest daily total since March 25, he told a news briefing.
The US House of Representatives narrowly approved a US$3 trillion bill crafted by Democrats to provide more aid for battling the coronavirus and stimulating a faltering economy rocked by the pandemic
US President Donald Trump announced on Friday two men will lead his administration's new effort for COVID-19 vaccine development.
Former pharmaceutical executive Moncef Slaoui and Army General Gustave Perna, the commander of United States Army Materiel Command, will lead "Operation Warp Speed," the new project to accelerate the vaccine development process for COVID-19.
The new project is a "historic partnership" of federal agencies, Trump told a noon briefing in the White House Rose Garden.
Trump said he is hopeful a COVID-19 vaccine can be developed by the end of the year.
The US House of Representatives on Friday narrowly approved a US$3 trillion bill crafted by Democrats to provide more aid for battling the coronavirus and stimulating a faltering economy rocked by the pandemic.
By a vote of 208-199 Democrats won passage of a bill that Republican leaders, who control the Senate, have vowed to block despite some Republican support for provisions aimed at helping state and local governments.
Republican Trump has promised a veto if it were to reach his desk.
However, the Democrats’ measure could trigger a new round of negotiations with congressional Republicans and Trump, who have been talking about the need for new business liability protections in the age of coronavirus or additional tax cuts.
Democrats oppose both of those ideas.
Following the vote, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced that May 27-28 would be set aside for voting on some sort of coronavirus-related bill if one is ready by then.
ALSO READ: US faces the great divide on reopening
He provided no details on the contents of such a bill.
The US economy has suffered a devastating blow from the coronavirus outbreak. Some 36.5 million people - or more than one in five workers - in the United States have filed for unemployment since the crisis began.
Russia
Russia reported 9,200 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday, down from 10,598 new cases reported the previous day.
Russia’s coronavirus taskforce said the overall number of cases nationwide stood at 272,043. It added that 119 people had died over the last 24 hours, bringing the official death toll from the virus to 2,537.
Moscow began testing thousands of randomly-chosen residents for coronavirus antibodies on Friday under a mass screening programme authorities hope will help them determine when it is safe to lift the city’s lockdown restrictions.
ALSO READ: Russia overtakes Italy and UK after record rise in virus cases
The Russian capital of 12.7 million is in its seventh week of a shutdown and has shouldered the brunt of Russia’s outbreak, which has seen more than a quarter of a million people infected nationwide according to official figures.
Under the programme, around 70,000 residents will be invited every several days to undergo a free blood test at one of 30 different clinics across the city, Sobyanin said. They will be tested for the new coronavirus as well as for coronavirus antibodies.
People will be selected at random and invited by text message or by email. The test is voluntary. Those willing to undergo it will have to register online, officials say.
Moscow city authorities hope to develop an antibody testing system that will allow them to process 200,000 tests a day by the end of the month, Moscow’s mayor said.
In this picture taken on May 13, 2020, a woman wearing a sanitary mask walks at St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy. Venetians are rethinking their city in the quiet brought by the coronavirus pandemic. (ANTONIO CALANNI / AP)
Italy
Italy’s government on Saturday approved a decree which will allow travel to and from abroad from June 3, in a major development as it moves to unwind one of the world’s most rigid coronavirus lockdowns.
More than 31,600 Italians have died of COVID-19 since the outbreak came to light on Feb 21, the third-highest death toll in the world after that of the United States and Britain
The government will allow free travel across the country from that same day. Some regions had pushed for a swifter rollback, but Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has insisted on a gradual return to normal to prevent a second wave of infections.
More than 31,600 Italians have died of COVID-19 since the outbreak came to light on Feb 21, the third-highest death toll in the world after that of the United States and Britain.
In a bid to contain the contagion, Italy was the first European country to impose nationwide restrictions in March, only sanctioning an initial relaxation of the rules on May 4, when it allowed factories and parks to reopen.
READ MORE: Italy starts slow return to normality, fears resurgence of virus
Germany
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 620 to 173,772, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Saturday.
The reported death toll rose by 57 to 7,881, the tally showed.
Slovakia
Slovakia lifted a quarantine on the last of five Roma settlements that were closed off in April to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, a member of the European Parliament and the country’s permanent crisis committee said.
The crisis committee decided to lift the quarantine after testing all inhabitants and moving 16 infected people and their families to a temporary quarantine centre, which was already housing 26 infected people and their relatives.
Quarantines in one settlement ended on April 25 and in another three on May 1.
As of Thursday, Slovakia had reported 1,480 confirmed coronavirus cases and 27 deaths. The country has fewer cases than its neighbours and has recorded one of the lowest death tolls per capita in Europe after the government moved quickly to impose tough restrictions in the early days of the outbreak in Europe.
Greece
Greeks flocked to the seaside on Saturday when more than 500 beaches reopened, as the country sought to walk the fine line between protecting people from COVID-19 while reviving the tourism sector that many depend on for their livelihoods.
People swim at Kavouri suburb of Athens, on May 15, 2020. Greece has so far managed to contain its outbreak at low levels of deaths and critically ill people, and authorities have been anxious to sustain this as they gradually lift lockdown measures, a process which began nearly two weeks ago . (PETROS GIANNAKOURIS / AP)
For many people, it was their first foray into a big public venue since Greece began easing its lockdown earlier this month, and it also coincided with the first heatwave of the year.
No more than 40 people were allowed per 1,000 square metres, while umbrella poles had to be four metres apart, with canopies no closer than one metre, according to a government-issued manual, complete with diagram.
Greece has reported a fraction of the COVID-19 cases of neighbouring countries - more than 2,800 infections with 160 deaths. From May 4, it began a phased-in easing of the lockdown that had been in place since mid-March.
France
With 104 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, France saw its death toll of the epidemic rising to 27,529 on Friday while the number of patients hospitalized for the infection fell below 20,000, the Health Ministry data showed.
In total, 141,919 cases of infection have been confirmed in France, 563 more than Thursday evening's
In detail, 17,342 people died in hospitals, and 10,187 in nursing homes and other medico-social establishments. 19,861 people are now hospitalized for COVID-19 infection, a figure that has been falling steadily for several weeks.
Among the hospitalized, 2,203 people remain in intensive care, down by 96 compared to the previous day.
In total, 141,919 cases of infection have been confirmed in France, 563 more than Thursday evening's. And 60,448 people considered to be cured have been able to leave the hospital since the start of the epidemic.
Ecuador
As the coronavirus outbreak in Ecuador’s largest city of Guayaquil begins to stabilize, the government is bracing for worsening spread in the highland capital Quito, where at least six people have died in the streets in the past month.
Guayaquil was at the center of one of Latin America’s worst outbreaks of the novel coronavirus in March and April. Cemeteries ran out of space and families stored relatives’ dead bodies in their homes or on the streets as the virus strained the health system’s capacity to collect them.
But authorities’ attention is now turning to Quito, whose 2.8 million residents are under a strict lockdown to contain the virus’ spread. The local government said in a statement on Friday that between April 4 and May 13 it had picked up the bodies of six people who had died in the streets, in addition to seven bodies from homes and two from nursing homes.
The government said on Thursday night that 135 of the 164 intensive care beds in the city’s public hospitals are occupied, and that it plans to install some 80 more.
Peru
The Peruvian Ministry of Health reported on Friday that the country had registered 3,891 new cases of the novel coronavirus disease in the last 24 hours, bringing the national total to 84,495 cases, with 2,392 deaths.
The ministry said that there are currently 7,085 hospitalized patients, 851 of which are on ventilators in the intensive care units.
Additionally, the ministry reported that Lima continues to be the region with the highest number of infections, with 54,901 cases to date.
Peru, which is currently under a state of emergency that includes quarantine measures and a curfew, entered this month into Phase 1 of economic revival, which will include the gradual reopening of a number of sectors.
Panama
Panama has extended by one month to June 22 its ban on international flights due to the coronavirus outbreak, the country’s aviation autority said on Friday.
The Panama Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement the suspension was due to concerns about “public health”.
Uganda has reported 43 new cases of COVID-19, taking its total to 203, the east African country's health ministry said on Friday
Uganda
Uganda has reported 43 new cases of COVID-19, taking its total to 203, the east African country's health ministry said on Friday.
The ministry said in a statement that the 43 cases have tested positive for the virus of the 1,838 samples collected from cross-border truck drivers in the past 24 hours.
The new cases include 17 Ugandans, 14 Kenyans, five Tanzanians, four Eritreans, two Burundians and one with unknown nationality.
All 720 community samples have tested negative for COVID-19, said the statement.
Of the 203 confirmed COVID-19 cases, at least 63 have recovered and no deaths have been registered, according to the ministry.
South Africa
South Africa on Friday recorded 785 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the highest number in the 24-hour cycle since the country reported its first case in early March, said Health Minister Zweli Mkhize.
According to his daily update, the total number of the confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa has risen to 13,524, with a further nine COVID-19 related deaths, bringing the country's total deaths to 247.
To date, 421,555 tests have been conducted, with 18,537 done in the past 24 hours, the minister said.
The Western Cape province remains the epicenter with 7,798 confirmed cases, to be followed by Gauteng with 2,210, the Eastern Cape with 1,662, and KwaZulu-Natal with 1,482.
