Brazil's largest city of Sao Paulo began fifteen days of lockdown to fight the spread of the coronavirus on Tuesday. This after Brazil's own president, Jair Bolsonaro, has faced fierce criticism for his blasé treatment to combat the threat, which he describes as a quote “little flu.”
By Gwynne Dyer – They teach you in journalism school never to use the phrase “…X has changed the world forever”. Or at least they should. Covid-19 is certainly not going to change the world forever, but it is going to change quite a few things, in some cases for a long time. Here’s eight of them, in no particular order.
A cruise ship with more than 1,800 people aboard - including 42 complaining of flu-like symptoms - was prevented from docking in Chile due to fears over the coronavirus.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro laid to rest a diplomatic spat with China in a call with President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, with the two agreeing to work together to fight coronavirus as Brazil’s largest city went into lockdown.
The first known death of a child due to COVID-19 in the United States was a teenager in previously good health, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said on Tuesday.
South Korea said it will send medical equipment to the United States to fight the coronavirus if it has any spare after an urgent request from US President Donald Trump in which he promised to help Korean firms gain US government approval.
The baile funk dance parties have been called off. Some open-air drug markets are closed for business. Gangs and militias have imposed strict curfews. Coronavirus is coming, and Rio de Janeiro's lawless favelas are gearing up for the onslaught.
Argentina does not plan to resume debt payments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for five years, buying time to pull the economy out of a worsening recession after the coronavirus outbreak led the government to impose a stay-at-home order until the end of March which also put the brakes- on activity
By Nicholas Clapham (*) – The UK government has introduced legislation as part of attempts to manage the coronavirus outbreak, handing the government wide-ranging powers to respond to a variety of emergency situations.
The World Bank and IFC’s Boards of Directors approved an increased US$ 14 billion package of fast-track financing to assist companies and countries in their efforts to prevent, detect and respond to the rapid spread of COVID-19. The package will strengthen national systems for public health preparedness, including for disease containment, diagnosis, and treatment, and support the private sector.