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Germany cautiously restarts its economy, allowing small shops to open.
Across Germany, smaller stores were allowed to open their doors for the first time in nearly a month on Monday, as part of initial measures to ease restrictions imposed in March as the coronavirus outbreak took hold.
Stores no larger than 8,600 square feet were allowed to open, but customers are required to maintain a safe distance. Car dealerships, bicycle shops and bookstores are allowed to resume business, regardless of size. Germany has recorded 141,672 coronavirus infections, with 4,404 fatalities, but the rate of infection has been steadily slowing in recent days and the country’s health system has been able to cope with the strain.
Germany’s 16 states are allowed to set their own regulations within a wider national framework. Some are allowing zoos to reopen, and three areas are requiring people to cover their mouths and noses on public transportation or inside stores. Only the eastern state of Saxony has allowed churches to begin holding services again, and some states are allowing schools to hold final exams for high school seniors.
Germans are still required to maintain a distance of at least five feet from one another at all times until the end of April, when Chancellor Angela Merkel is to meet with state governors to reassess the situation. Regardless of the outcome of that meeting, all large gatherings have been banned until the end of summer.
Brazil’s president cheers a protest that called for military rule.
President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil on Sunday enthusiastically addressed demonstrators in Brasília who demanded an end to business shutdowns and quarantine guidelines imposed by governors around the country.
The protest, one of several held across the country, included calls for the armed forces to shut down Congress and the Supreme Court and a return to military rule. Leaders in those branches of government have been highly critical of Mr. Bolsonaro’s handling of the coronavirus crisis and broadly agree that quarantine measures are necessary to avert a public health calamity.
“Everyone in Brazil must understand that they are subject to the will of the people,” Mr. Bolsonaro told demonstrators in the capital, speaking from the back of a pickup truck.
The president has played down the threat the virus poses to Brazilians and argues that the restrictions imposed in mid-March by most governors stand to be far more damaging to people’s livelihoods and their health than the virus. Last week, Mr. Bolsonaro fired his health minister, who had defended strict social isolation measures to prevent the health system from being overwhelmed by an influx of patients with Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.
As of Sunday, Brazil had 38,654 diagnosed coronavirus cases and 2,462 confirmed deaths.
Anti-quarantine caravans were also organized in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, where Mr. Bolsonaro’s supporters drove around honking and waving Brazilian flags.
Former allies of Mr. Bolsonaro say he is endangering lives by encouraging large gatherings.
“This increases the risk of mass infection and that the public health system will be unable to absorb the volume of patients, increasing the number of deaths,” Senator Sérgio Olímpio Gomes, who until recently was one of Mr. Bolsonaro’s strongest allies in Congress, said in a video released by his office on Sunday.
Mr. Bolsonaro has long hailed Brazil’s 21-year military dictatorship as a golden era. But his unambiguous endorsement of protesters calling on the military to take full control of the government prompted vehement condemnations.
“It’s frightening to see demonstrations calling for the return of a military regime 30 years after democracy was restored,” Supreme Court Justice Luís Roberto Barroso said in a statement. “Dictatorships come with violence against adversaries, censorship and intolerance. Good people who love Brazil do not want that.”
Fearing a new outbreak, China warns its citizens in Russia to stay there.
The Chinese authorities have issued harsh warnings for any Chinese citizens trying to flee the spreading coronavirus infections in Russia by returning to their homeland: Stay in Russia, and if you have already returned, don’t lie about your travels or symptoms.
The warnings have come after the Chinese government became alarmed this month by more than 100 coronavirus cases among Chinese people who had crossed from Russia, especially into Suifenhe, a northeastern border town. China is trying to stamp out such imported infections that could cause a flare-up of cases while it tries to begin an economic recovery.
The government ordered a lockdown of Suifenhe, and said it would open a temporary hospital in the town for possible infections. The Chinese authorities also announced that land border crossings with Russia would be closed to travelers, even Chinese citizens trying to return home.
To emphasize the warnings, the Suifenhe office for fighting the coronavirus outbreak on Sunday issued a notice warning people not to violate isolation orders, hide symptoms of possible infection, or lie about their travel history and contacts with infected people. It offered rewards of up to 3,000 renminbi, or about $424, for people who gave information on violators of the rules.
China’s ambassador to Russia, Zhang Hanhui, said in an interview with the Chinese television broadcaster CCTV on Friday that “bringing back the virus is morally reprehensible.” He said that some returnees had lied by saying that they were forced back because Russian authorities had made it impossible to stay.
“Such behavior is despicable,” he said, accusing such returnees of undermining relations between the two countries, which are both aligned in their antipathy to the United States. Many of those returning Chinese people were traders.
Some online commenters in China, fearing a surge in infections, welcomed Mr. Zhang’s tough words. But others saw his interview as unfairly vilifying fearful Chinese citizens trying to exercise their right to return to their own country. In the interview, Mr. Zhang made clear he was referring to people who had returned before border crossings became illegal, undercutting his suggestion that they were lawbreakers.
“When the crossings between the two countries were open, what was the crime in Chinese citizens rushing through when they could pass through normal travel checks?” said one online comment, by an author who said he was a longtime Chinese resident in Russia. “We cannot create an atmosphere that Chinese people returning from Russia are a menace to China because some happen to bring back the virus.”
U.S. Ambassador in Kenya ignites outrage over virus criticism.
Comments from the top United States diplomat in Kenya have caused an uproar after he said that only a small part of the country’s population was adhering to rules aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus.
In a Twitter post on Sunday, the ambassador, Kyle McCarter, wrote, “Only a fraction of the wananchi are wearing masks and social distancing,” using the Swahili word for citizens.
“None of us know the magnitude of this Wuhan flu,” he continued, “but we must take basic known wise precautions. It is only for a short time.”
The comment sparked outrage, with some noting that social distancing was an unimaginable luxury for poor people living in overcrowded and cramped conditions. Others also questioned how he came to his conclusion given that Nairobi was on partial lockdown and movement in and out of the city was banned. Mr. McCarter doubled down writing in a follow-up post, “The further you get from Nairobi the less compliance there is. Trust me.”
When Twitter user Allan Ogera questioned him on the number of masks the United States has donated to Kenya, Mr. McCarter retorted, “You would not be able to test in Kenya if not for USA marafiki,” which means ‘friends’ in Swahili.
Some social media users also criticized the ambassador’s decision to call the coronavirus “Wuhan flu,” saying he was “trying to please” President Trump who nominated him for the post in 2019 and who has insisted on calling the coronavirus the “Chinese virus.” The disease is thought to have first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
Kenya has 270 confirmed coronavirus cases, according to the latest figures, and a total of 14 deaths. To curb the spread of the virus, authorities have mandated the wearing of masks, imposed a nationwide dusk to dawn curfew, closed the biggest shopping district in the capital and introduced partial lockdowns in four out of the country’s 47 counties.
A remote region in Russia orders a lockdown on information.
Amid growing evidence that the pathogen had already breached Komi’s feeble defenses, the local authorities moved vigorously last week to contain the crisis: The police summoned critics of the regional government to ask how they knew about an outbreak in a hospital at a time when officials in Komi were insisting nobody had been infected.
The police intervention was carried out at the behest of Komi’s health minister, who was fired last week for mishandling the pandemic. It highlights one of Russia’s biggest obstacles as it struggles to control the spread of the virus in its vast and often ramshackle hinterland: a lumbering bureaucratic machine geared first and foremost to protecting officials, even after they lose their jobs, not safeguarding the public or its health.
President Vladimir V. Putin, in an address to the nation to mark Orthodox Easter on Sunday, assured Russians, “The situation is under total control.”
Shortly after he spoke from his country retreat, however, the health authorities reported more than 6,000 new infections across Russia, by far the biggest one-day rise yet, bringing the total to nearly 43,000. More worrying, more than two-thirds of these new cases were outside Moscow, which had previously accounted for the bulk of new infections.
After three days of claiming there had been no new coronavirus cases, Komi, with a population of under a million, on Tuesday reported 97 new infections. That made it Russia’s third most-infected area after Moscow and St. Petersburg — large cities with far more people and much better hospitals. Komi has since been overtaken by the Nizhny Novgorod region, but has the highest per capita rate of infection after Moscow.
Salons are among the small businesses to reopen in Denmark.
After five weeks of forced closures, Danish hairdressers will face a rush of overdue root touch ups and bang trims when they reopen on Monday. Salons are among the small businesses able to open their doors again this week, after parliament unanimously decided to add them to Denmark’s gradual easing of restrictions, which began last week with the reopening of schools for elementary-aged students.
The authorities cautioned that the businesses could remain open only if they enforced hand-washing, sanitized their facilities and maintained a distance from their clients as much as possible. While the latest steps were welcomed by many Danes, some business owners and employees also voiced concern for their safety.
Tattoo artists, driving instructors and physiotherapists whose work requires close contact are also among the businesses allowed to open, sparking concerns over a lack of specific guidelines and access to protective equipment.
The easing of restrictions comes after day cares and schools reopened last week, allowing the country’s youngest to return to some semblance of normalcy, though under strict hygiene and social distancing rules. More schools and day cares will reopen this week.
Authorities expect the further loosening of distancing measures will increase coronavirus infections, but not to critical levels. Hospital admissions in the country have decreased from a peak of 535 on April 1 to 319 on Sunday. Denmark had increased its ventilator capacity to 1,260, well above the current need, which on Sunday saw just 93 Covid-19 patients requiring them.
When pet owners fall ill with coronavirus, what happens to their animals?
Thousands of animals have been left behind amid the pandemic — from Wuhan, China, where the pandemic originated, to Israel and India.
In Spain, which is enduring one of the world’s biggest and deadliest outbreaks, animal shelters are working to find foster homes for the abandoned pets whose owners were suddenly taken to hospitals.
The fates of pets often hang on word of mouth: a neighbor asking around if somebody can help, an emergency worker trying to locate a relative. Typically, if the owner has a chance of recovery, the new arrangement is temporary.
The demand to adopt dogs and cats has surged during the lockdown, but the intensity of the country’s outbreak is raising some ethical and practical questions for animal protection workers.
They are concerned that the rush to adopt pets may not always be in the animals’ best interests and in some cases have started to put limits in place.
Shelter administrators are wondering how committed the adoptive owners are to keeping their new pets — or whether they will then abandon them after the emergency passes. Because dog walking is one of the few activities exempt from Spain’s stringent lockdown, animal shelter workers worry that this drove up the demand for adoptions.
But Spain’s animal welfare associations are split over the issue, with some reasoning that any caregiver is better than none at all.
Antibody tests are being rushed to market amid concern about their reliability.
Companies around the world are rolling out blood tests for coronavirus antibodies, widely heralded as crucial tools to assess the reach of the pandemic, restart the economy and reintegrate society.
But for all their promise, the tests are already raising alarms.
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has allowed about 90 companies, many based in China, to sell tests that have not gotten government vetting, saying the pandemic warrants an urgent response. But the agency has since warned that some of those businesses are making false claims about their products; health officials, like their counterparts overseas, have found others deeply flawed.
Most tests now available mistakenly flag at least some people as having antibodies when they do not, which could foster a dangerously false belief that those people have immunity. In fact, while higher levels generally mean a stronger physiological response, it is unclear what levels might be needed for immunity to the new coronavirus — or whether any immunity would be lasting.
There are several kinds of tests on the market. The easiest to administer — and the most unreliable — are rapid tests, which can give results in minutes. Most are manufactured in China. Reports of countries that quickly bought millions have just as swiftly been followed by accounts of poor performance. The World Health Organization recommends against their use.
For example, Britain recently said the millions of rapid tests it had ordered from China were not sensitive enough to detect antibodies except in people who were severely ill. In Spain, the testing push turned into a fiasco last month after the initial batch of kits it received had an accuracy of 30 percent, rather than the advertised 80 percent. In Italy, local officials have begun testing even before national authorities have validated the tests.
Germany, which has emerged as a model among Western democracies in its efforts to curb the spread of the virus, is pursuing one of the most ambitious antibody studies, striving to test its entire population. It is more optimistic than other countries because it has made its own antibody tests.
Chile will issue ‘immunity cards’ to people who have recovered from the virus.
Chile is set to become the first country to issue “immunity cards” to those who have recovered from the coronavirus, allowing holders to return to work, despite questions about whether those who have recovered are in fact immune, how long any immunity might last, and the accuracy of antibody tests.
“We have to learn to live differently,” Dr. Paula Daza, the under secretary in Chile’s health ministry, said on Sunday, adding that Chileans must “gradually resume our lives.”
Anyone can apply for the cards, which will be issued starting Monday. To qualify, Chileans have to take a test that shows they have antibodies for the novel coronavirus. Those who have had the disease must be free of symptoms for at least 14 days — or 28, if they have a compromised immune system.
Under those criteria, 4,338 people are eligible, Dr. Daza said.
But critics have questioned the notion that recovered patients are not contagious and immune to re-infection, and raised doubts about the tests’ accuracy.
Chile has imposed quarantines that remain in place across parts of the capital, Santiago, and in other regions of the country. It has also tested more people for the virus than any other Latin American country, identifying 10,088 coronavirus cases, and 133 deaths.
The health minister, Jaime Mañalich, has reiterated that “the worst is yet to come,” with the number of cases expected to peak in May. The flu season, which is fast approaching along with winter in the southern hemisphere, is likely to strain Chile’s public health system further.
Nonetheless, the government has announced that public sector employees will also return to their offices starting Monday.
“The message coming from the government is contradictory,” said Dr. Jorge Jiménez de la Jara, who served as Chile’s health minister upon the country’s return to democracy in 1990.
“We don’t know what is going to happen from here, but there certainly needs to be clearer, more coherent communication, because this latest decision to certify immunity is based on weak scientific evidence,” he said.
Zimbabwe is extending its lockdown for two weeks but letting mines reopen.
Zimbabwe’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, extended a nationwide lockdown on Sunday for an additional two weeks but said that mines in the country could reopen, citing “the need to keep the economy running.”
The lockdown, which began on March 30, was supposed to end at midnight on Sunday. In a televised address from the statehouse in the country’s capital, Harare, Mr. Mnangagwa said that the extension was needed to choke the spread of the virus and “prepare for worse times which are lurking ahead.”
As of Sunday, Zimbabwe, with a population of about 16 million people, had conducted 2,226 tests, recording 25 cases and three deaths. Mr. Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe would need to increase its testing capacity before the lockdown could be lifted.
But faced with starvation amid spiraling food prices, some in Zimbabwe saw the extension in dark terms.
“I have no food now,” said Marian Gumbo, 46, who lives in Warren Park, a high density suburb in Harare. “I’m just a street vendor selling tomatoes and vegetables, and with the lockdown extended, it means my starvation with my family has also been extended.”
Mining is a big business in Zimbabwe, accounting for roughly 16 percent of the country’s G.D.P., according to the country’s mines ministry. But only some mines had been given permission to operate during the lockdown.
In Sunday’s announcement, Mr. Mnangagwa also said the “government is acutely aware of the need to keep the economy running, albeit at subdued levels.”
“With this objective in mind, government has decided to allow the mining sector to resume or scale up operations, even then within parameters set by the World Health Organization regarding social distancing and other public health safety measures,” Mr. Mnangagwa said.
Reporting was contributed by Melissa Eddy, Abdi Latif Dahir, Megan Specia, Daniel Victor, Andrew Higgins, Ernesto Londoño, Raphael Minder, Seth Schiesel, Jeffrey Moyo, John Bartlett, Martin Selsoe Sorensen, Steve Eder, Megan Twohey and Apoorva Mandavilli.
