Covid -19 - US may never restore funding to World Health Organization

Coronavirus news: US may never restore funding to World Health Organization, says Mike Pompeo


Unemployment in US up by 4.4 million to a total of over 26 million; world has ‘a long way to go’, warns WHO chief; Iran reports lowest new daily infections for a month

German states lifting lockdowns too quickly, warns Merkel

US unemployment applications reach over 26m

Clashes predicted over trillion-euro aid as EU meets online



The US may never restore funding to the World Health Organization, the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has said. Before Donald Trump announced last week that he was freezing donations to the UN health body, the US was its largest donor. China, meanwhile, has stepped up support.

Deaths from malaria could double across sub-Saharan Africa this year if work to suppress the disease is disrupted by Covid-19, the WHO has said. If countries fail to maintain supplies of treated nets and antimalarial medicines, up to 769,000 people could die, marking a return to mortality levels last seen 20 years ago.

Another 4.4 million Americans filed for unemployment, adding to a total of more than 26 million since the pandemic shut down the US and large parts of its economy. Millions more are expected to file in the coming weeks as there is a backlog of claims.

The UK reported 616 more deaths in hospital from Covid-19, taking the total to 18,738, according to statistics published by the UK’s department for health and social care. Wednesday’s daily figure was 759.

A potential treatment for coronavirus has flopped in its first proper clinical trial, according to draft results accidentally published online by the World Health Organisation. Remdesivir had earlier shown promise when given to patients in the US.

The Muslim world is preparing for Ramadan under lockdown. This year mosques will remain closed for evening prayers and feasting will be confined to family homes during the month of fasting, which begins on Friday

France is to unveil its lockdown exit plan next week, its president, Emmanuel Macron, has said. Restaurants, bars and cafes will not open immediately, and travel restrictions within the country are expected to remain in place for a while yet. France has been in lockdown since mid-March.

Greece is extending lockdown measures by a week, to 4 May. The country has been in lockdown since 22 March and has announced 2,408 confirmed cases and 121 deaths, with 55 people remaining in intensive care.

Bank of England has warned of the worst slump ‘in centuries’. The virus and the lockdown have caused both a supply shock and a demand shock, said a policy-maker at the world’s oldest central bank, with some sectors being much worse hit than others.

Indonesia has banned all domestic air and sea travel until June, to prevent thefurther spread of the coronavirus, Indonesia has ordered a ban on air travel until 1 June, while travel by sea will be prohibited until 8 June.

Sweden on Thursday said it had had recorded more than 2,000 deaths from Covid-19 in the country, while revising earlier statements about when the capital Stockholm was believed to have passed the peak of infections, AFP reports.

The country’s public health agency said it had recorded 16,755 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, and 2,021 deaths. It also corrected a report it published earlier this week on Stockholm, the epicentre of the Swedish epidemic.

The report, based on statistical modelling, initially said the capital region passed the peak of simultaneous infections on 15 April with 86,000 people believed to be have been infected. But on Thursday it revised the date to 8 April, with some 70,500 believed to have been infected.