A charter flight is expected in Montevideo on Thursday, April 9 to pick up and fly home to Australia most of passengers and crew on the “Greg Mortimer”, the cruise vessel stranded off the coast of Uruguay for the last two weeks because 128 people on board have tested positive for Covid 19.
Manufacturing giant 3M said it has an agreement with the Trump administration that will allow the company to continue to export N95 protective masks to Canada and Latin America amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Authorities in Germany have fallen victim to a multi-million-euro fraud involving masks much needed in the coronavirus pandemic, prosecutors said on Tuesday. North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state and one of the hardest hit, paid 14.7 million euros for some 10 million masks in March only to discover they did not exist, according to prosecutors in Traunstein, Bavaria.
A former choirboy who accused Australian Cardinal George Pell of molesting him said on Wednesday he accepts the top Vatican acquittal, but urged survivors of child sex abuse to keep coming forward.
Boris Johnson has spent a second night in intensive care as he continues to receive treatment for coronavirus. Mr Johnson is being kept in St Thomas' Hospital in London for close monitoring, Downing Street said. The PM is comfortable, he's stable, he's in good spirits, said health minister Edward Argar on Wednesday.
Another COVID-19 parody song has appeared, this time by Cuban-American singer Gloria Estefan. She posted a video of the song on her Instagram inspired by her 1989 hit Get On Your Feet. This time, however, instead of getting on one’s feet, Estefan is encouraging others to “Put On Your Mask”.
The US ambassador to Brazil on Tuesday denied reports that the US government took over Chinese supplies of medical equipment that were ordered by Brazil to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
China last year became the world leader in international patent filings, unseating the United States which had held the top spot for more than four decades, the UN said on Tuesday. A record 265,800 international patent applications were filed last year, a hike of 5.2% from 2018, the World Intellectual Property Organization said in its annual report.
Discussions are underway on enabling wider access to some patented drugs and medical supplies during the coronavirus pandemic, the head of the UN's intellectual property agency said on Tuesday.
US President Donald Trump sharply criticized the World Health Organization on Tuesday, accusing it of being too focused on China and issuing bad advice during the coronavirus outbreak.