COVID19: GLOBAL UPDATES

Here are the latest updates on coronavirus sourced from some major publications in several countries.

The NY Times (USA)
Senators and White House strike deal on $2 trillion stimulus package:
New York: Rushing to deliver government aid amid a spiraling public health and economic crisis, senators and Trump administration officials reached an agreement early Wednesday on a sweeping, roughly $2 trillion stimulus measure.
The deal would send direct payments and jobless benefits to individuals, as well as money to states and businesses devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Guardian (UK)
UK sees biggest daily rise in coronavirus deaths with a further 87

London: The UK has seen its biggest daily rise in deaths from coronavirus, with a further 87 fatal cases including 21 in one London hospital trust alone. The rise represents an almost 26% increase in 24 hours, taking the UK’s total death toll from 335 to 422.
The latest daily figures include 21 deaths at London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust. The trust runs Northwick Park hospital which declared a “critical incident” last week after running out of critical care beds. It asked nearby hospitals to look after patients as it could not cope with the Covid-19 patients it was receiving.

Le Monde (France)
Pollution and CO2 emissions in France see drastic reduction
Paris: Containment has had at least one beneficial effect for Ile-de-France residents: even if they cannot really benefit from it, the air they breathe is less polluted. According to an initial assessment published Wednesday March 25 by Airparif, air quality has improved from 20% to 30% in the Paris area. The agency compared the levels of pollutants found the week of March 16 to a week in normal March.

Tehran Times (Iran)
Rouhani claims number of coronavirus patients, deaths decreasing
Tehran: President Hassan Rouhani claimed on Tuedsay that the number of patients and deaths related to coronavirus is decreasing and this is promising.
Speaking at a meeting of the National Task Force for Combating Coronavirus, the president said the number of the coronavirus-related patients being admitted at hospitals in different provinces is declining and the death toll is also slowing.

ANSA IT (Italy)
New infections down again in Italy, but deaths back up
Rome: The number of new coronavirus infections fell for the third straight day Tuesday to 3,612, compared to 3,780 Monday and 3,957 Sunday, but the number of victims rose again, to 743 in a single day compared to 601 yesterday and 651 on Sunday, Emergency Commissioner and Civil Protection Chief Angelo Borrelli said Tuesday.
Italy registered a record increase of 793 COVID-19 deaths on Saturday. The Italian coronavirus death toll is now 6,820.

The Local (Spain)
Spanish army discover bodies of abandoned elderly in care homes
Madrid: Spanish soldiers deployed to help fight the new coronavirus outbreak have found elderly patients abandoned, and sometimes dead, at retirement homes, as an ice rink inside a Madrid shopping mall was turned into a temporary morgue to cope with a surge in cases.
The army has been charged with helping to disinfect retirement homes in Spain, one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic. 
Dozens of deaths from COVID-19 have been recorded at facilities across the country.   
“We are going to be strict and inflexible when dealing with the way old people are treated in these residences,” Defence Minister Margarita Robles said in an interview with private television channel.

Dawn (Pakistan)
Pakistan seeks clarity about Saarc’s Covid-19 fund
Islamabad: Pakistan wants the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation’s (Saarc) Covid-19 Emergency Fund to be administered by the bloc’s secretary general and is seeking clarity about its utilisation. The fund was announced by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Saarc leaders’ March 15 video conference on coronavirus pandemic and pledged $10 million for it.
The emergency fund is meant to assist countries in the region to deal with the pandemic. However, nothing was said about the administration of the fund and modalities for its utilisation.

Arab News (Saudi Arabia)
King Salman to chair extraordinary virtual summit of G20 leaders
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman will chair an extraordinary virtual summit of G20 leaders on March 26 to advance the global coordinated response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
As well as the leaders of the G20 group, the heads of state of Jordan, Spain, Singapore and Switzerland will also participate in the summit.
In its capacity as sitting president of the Gulf Cooperation Council states, the UAE will participate as well.

China Daily (China)
As outbreak slows to trickle, big cities see divorce filings pour in
Beijing: Registration offices in major cities have been overwhelmed by divorce applications since they resumed services this month following a slowdown in domestic novel coronavirus infections. The deluge of applications has prompted many to suspect that the self-quarantine rules－which limit the time people spend outside their homes to curb infections－have taken a toll on faltering marriages, although some divorce lawyers suggest that the month that follows the Lunar New Year is traditionally a turbulent period for couples.