HuffPost reporters around the world are tracking the pandemic and the measures being taken to flatten the curve of transmission.
Read the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic below. (To see the latest updates, you may need to refresh the page. All times are Eastern. For earlier updates on the pandemic, go here.)
Lockdown Set To Continue Despite U.K. ‘Starting To Win This Struggle’ — 4/13/20, 12:40 p.m. ET
U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has suggested lockdown restrictions will not be relaxed imminently despite signs that the U.K. is “starting to win this struggle” with coronavirus.
The minister told the daily Downing Street press conference there were some “positive signs” from the latest data but that “we are still not past the peak” of the virus.
The country’s scientific advisory group is scheduled to meet this week to determine the next step on lockdown, but Raab signaled “we don’t expect to make any change to the measures in place at that point.”
Read more on HuffPost U.K.
— Graeme Demianyk
U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear Oral Arguments Via Teleconference — 4/13/20, 10:10 a.m. ET
The U.S. Supreme Court will resume oral arguments in May by hearing them over teleconference, a court spokesperson announced.
For the first time, it will stream the live audio for reporters covering the cases. The court has long resisted providing live audio or video of its proceedings.
The Supreme Court building has been closed to the public since mid-March, and the justices have been conducting proceedings remotely. Oral arguments have been postponed through the end of April. All but three of the nine justices are over the age of 65, the age group the CDC considers at higher risk for contracting COVID-19.
Among the upcoming cases are a trio of cases involving whether President Donald Trump will have to release his tax returns and other key financial records.
— Marina Fang
U.K. Armed Forces Deployed To Help Ambulance Staff — 4/13/20, 5:15 a.m. ET
Nearly 200 members of the U.K. armed forces are being loaned to the National Health Service to support their work during the coronavirus pandemic.
Personnel from the Army, Royal Air Force and Navy will be sent to work at five ambulance trusts across the U.K. While their responsibilities will vary, their new duties will include driving ambulances and taking calls from the public.
The military has already helped to construct the first specialist COVID-19 NHS Nightingale hospital at the ExCel centre in London.
“Our armed forces always step forward at the appearance of threats to the country and its people,” Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said. “Across the United Kingdom, soldiers, sailors, airmen and women have got the backs of our NHS colleagues as they confront coronavirus.”
Read more on HuffPost U.K.
— Francesca Syrett
South Korea Will Reportedly Ship 600,000 Coronavirus Testing Kits To U.S. This Week — 4/13/2020, 4:28 a.m.
South Korea plans to send 600,000 COVID-19 testing kits to the U.S. on Tuesday, about three weeks after President Donald Trump beseeched the country for help, Reuters reported, citing a Seoul official.
During a phone call on March 25, Trump asked South Korean President Moon Jae-In to send coronavirus test kits to the U.S., South Korean news outlets reported last month.
Reuters said the first shipment of kits is scheduled to leave South Korea aboard a U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency cargo plane on Tuesday night.— Dominique Mosbergen
Spain Loosens Restrictions On Non-Essential Workers — 4/13/20, 4:15 a.m. ET
Some non-essential workers will be allowed to go back to work on Monday as Spain loosens its strict lockdown measures.
While authorities have strongly urged those who can work from home to continue to do so, construction workers and those in the manufacturing industry will be allowed to leave their homes and return to work.
The change comes as HuffPost Spain reported (in Spanish) its lowest daily growth in confirmed coronavirus infections in three weeks, with 4,167 cases reported on Sunday.
Spain’s total number of COVID-19 deaths is 16,972 and its number of confirmed cases ― more than 166,000 ― is second only to the United States.
— Francesca Syrett
Thousands Of Health Care Workers Sickened With COVID-19 In Southeast Michigan — 4/13/2020, 12:08 a.m. ET
Almost 3,000 people employed by health care firms in the Detroit area have contracted the novel coronavirus, BuzzFeed News reported on Sunday. A large portion of those infected were medical staff.
Health care workers in the region described the fear they experience on the job.
“I can honestly say the nervousness is apparent in many of us,” a nurse at Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital who was sickened with COVID-19 told BuzzFeed. “Seeing each other getting sick just increases the anxiety that one of us might be next and bring it home to our family.”
— Dominique Mosbergen
OPEC, Oil Nations Agree To Nearly 10 Million Barrel Cut Amid Coronavirus ― 4/12/20, 6:22 p.m. ET
OPEC, Russia and other oil-producing nations on Sunday agreed to a production cut of almost 10 million barrels ― a tenth of global supply ― in hopes of boosting crashing oil prices amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The group of nations agreed to cut 9.7 million barrels a day beginning May 1, according to the countries’ energy ministers. Mexico was allowed to cut only 100,000 barrels a month, a sticking point in an accord initially reached Friday after a marathon video conference between nations. The deal was reached just hours before Asian markets reopen on Monday.
Efforts to reach an agreement on production cuts had failed in March, sending oil prices crashing. President Donald Trump, a longtime OPEC critic, tweeted on Sunday, “The big Oil Deal with OPEC Plus is done. This will save hundreds of thousands of energy jobs in the United States.”
― Sanjana Karanth
For earlier updates on the pandemic, go here.
Credit: Source link