April 24 coronavirus news

Germany’s coronavirus reproduction rate has increased to 0.9 according to the country's centre for disease and control, the Robert Koch Institute, meaning every 10 people with the virus infect an average of nine others.

That’s up from a reproduction rate of 0.7 a week ago, according to the Institute’s Vice President Lars Schaade.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has previously warned that if the number -- also known as the R0 value -- rises above 1, the country’s health system would eventually be overwhelmed.

Yesterday she expressed concern that some German states were moving to ease coronavirus restrictions too soon, saying it could undermine the results that have been achieved.

New cases slowing down: Germany now has 150,383 coronavirus cases and 5,321 related deaths, the Robert Koch Institute said on Friday.

The country reported 2,337 new cases in the past 24 hours -- a slight slowdown, after three straight days of new infections accelerating.

Three southern Sydney beaches closed for a second time, only five days after being reopened, according to a statement from the Randwick City Council.

The beaches of Clovelly, Coogee and Maroubra were shut at 1pm Friday after “people failed to use beaches for exercise only.”

The three beaches will reopen Saturday and Sunday between 6am to 9am for exercise only, according to the council. The situation will be reassessed on Monday.

On Wednesday, Waverly Council, home to Bondi beach, announced Bondi and Bronte beaches would reopen starting next Tuesday (April 28) for swimming and surfing.  All land-based activities on the beach, such as jogging, sunbathing, and social gatherings, will continue to be suspended.

In March, Bondi beach closed down after thousands of beachgoers ignored the advice from officials to avoid large gatherings and practice social distancing. 

Singapore recorded 897 new coronavirus cases as of 12 p.m. local time on Friday amid a second wave of infections centered around migrant worker dormitories.

Among the new cases, the vast majority are work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories, while 13 are Singaporean citizens or permanent residents, the country's Ministry of Health said in a statement.

The country's cases spiked dramatically at the start of April, and authorities traced the increase to clusters of cases in the dormitories. About 200,000 migrant workers live in 43 dormitories, where cramped conditions and shared facilities make it easy for a highly infectious virus to spread.

Singapore passed the threshold of 10,000 cases earlier this week. Friday marks the first time the country has reported fewer than 1,000 daily new infections since April 19.

The dormitories are now all under lockdown, with nobody in or out. Authorities have taken residents showing symptoms to quarantine, and are monitoring residents still inside the dorms.

Global stocks slumped on Friday after a study into a potential coronavirus treatment was halted following inconclusive results.

South Korea's Kospi Index fell 1.4% in afternoon trade, while Japan's Nikkei 225 slid 0.9%. China's Shanghai Composite was down about 1%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dipped 0.4%.

Dow futures were slightly lower, after the index closed in the green Thursday. S&P 500 futures dropped 0.3% and Nasdaq futures were down about 0.5%.

Asia's major indexes were already struggling this week as countries released dismal economic data and as an historic oil price crash roiled markets.

Now, they're poised to close out their first week in negative territory since early April after drug maker Gilead said it terminated a trial of Remdesivir early, and thus had no conclusive findings about its effectiveness in treating Covid-19. Shares in the company closed down 4.3% on Wall Street on Thursday.

Read more here.

The coronavirus pandemic continues to see case number rise by the thousands every day, as countries work to halt the spread of the virus. But in some nations, including the United States and Czech Republic, plans are in place to ease restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the virus, despite health experts' warnings.

Here's what's happened since our last catch-up:

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock says he understands the economic pressure to remove coronavirus restrictions, but he won’t allow changes until it's safe to do so.

Some countries have begun to ease restrictions or set out time frames for when some measures will be relaxed.

The Scottish government has published its framework for deciding when to ease restrictions, saying it would be prepared to move ahead of the rest of the UK if it made sense to do so.

Malaysia has extended its nationwide lockdown order for an additional two weeks, now lasting through May 12, according to state news agency Bernama.

The restrictions were set to end on April 28.

The lockdown was first announced on March 18. Essential services were exempt, like health care, transportation and the food industry.

Malaysia has recorded 5,603 coronavirus cases, including 95 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced the extension yesterday evening, on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims, in a national address on television.

Muhyiddin called the lockdown a sacrifice by the people, saying national efforts had paid off in reducing the number of new cases reported daily, according to Bernama.

So many people in Sweden have been exposed to the coronavirus that the country will likely be in a better place to withstand a second wave of infections, said state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell.

Sweden has taken a relatively relaxed approach to coronavirus-related restrictions when compared with other European countries.

Tegnell estimated an immunity level of between 15% to 20% had been reached in the Stockholm population, which he said would "slow down the spread (of a second wave)."

But he cautioned that it wouldn't be enough to achieve herd immunity, and that there's still a lot unknown about immunity to the disease.

Sweden has reported 16,755 cases of the coronavirus, including 2,021 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Asked whether the death toll would have been lower if Sweden had implemented tighter restrictions, Tegnell replied, "that’s a very difficult question to answer at this stage. At least 50% of our death toll is within the elderly homes and we have a hard time understanding how a lockdown would stop the introduction of the disease into the elderly homes."

Last week, a mother in India infected with Covid-19 gave birth to a baby girl. The mother had to be kept in isolation, and saw her baby for the first time after delivery via video conferencing.

The baby was born in Aurangabad, a city in the western state of Maharashtra. When the family arrived at the hospital, the mother and her two sons tested positive for coronavirus, but her husband tested negative, according to Dr. Sundar Kulkarni, a surgeon at Aurangabad Civil Hospital.

The mother had gestational diabetes and hypothyroidism, making the birth a "challenge," said Kulkarni -- but "when we delivered a healthy baby it was quite a memorable moment for us."

Nurses have been using a breast pump to extract the mother's milk and feeding it to the baby. The family can be reunited after the mother tests negative for two consecutive days.