May 5 coronavirus news

There's new evidence that the coronavirus may have been in France weeks earlier than was previously thought.

Doctors at a Paris hospital say they've found evidence that one patient admitted in December was infected with Covid-19. If verified, this finding would show that the virus was already circulating in Europe at that time — well before the first known cases were diagnosed in France or hotspot Italy.

"Covid-19 was already spreading in France in late December 2019, a month before the official first cases in the country," the team at Groupe Hospitalier Paris Seine in Saint-Denis wrote in a study published Sunday in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents.

The first official reports of Covid-19 in France were reported on Jan. 24, in two people who had a history of travel to Wuhan, China.

Intensive care specialist Dr. Yves Cohen and his hospital colleagues wrote that they decided to check the records of earlier patients, in case the virus had been spreading undetected.

The French team looked at people admitted to the hospital with flu-like illnesses between Dec. 2 and Jan. 16 who were not subsequently diagnosed with influenza. The doctors re-tested samples stored in a freezer for coronavirus.

One sample, taken from a 42-year-old man born in Algeria, who lived in France, tested positive. “His last trip was in Algeria during August 2019,” they wrote. The man had not been to China, and one of his children had also been sick, the team reported.

CORRECTION: This post has been updated to reflect the report from the Paris hospital.

Many of the early Covid-19 cases imported into the UK came from European countries, rather than China, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance said Tuesday.

"They actually came from European imports and the high level of travel into the UK around that time,” he explained -- despite the UK’s initial focus on contact tracing which concentrated on arrivals from China.

The first two cases of coronavirus in the UK were confirmed by England’s chief medical officer, Chris Witty, on January 31.

When asked whether the UK should have imposed a lockdown earlier than March 23, Vallance said: “when you look at everything that happened and the speed at which it happened, maybe days either way would have made a difference.”

Vallance said that the UK has not yet managed to get the reproduction rate of the virus -- known as the R-rate -- down to a manageable number, whereby the virus could be controlled using contact tracing and isolation.

He said the country's lockdown should not be lifted until this outcome is achieved.

The UK must review its lockdown measures by Thursday, but is not expected to announce major changes yet.

Starting on Thursday, the Indian government is preparing to begin a phased evacuation of its citizens stranded in 13 countries. 

In the first week, a total of 14,800 Indians will be flown home on 64 flights from Bahrain, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. Ten flights, each carrying 200 to 300 passengers, will bring back 2,300 Indians on the first day.

Within the Gulf region, India is expected to evacuate the largest number of citizens from the UAE. The Indian Embassy and Consulate in the UAE has received almost 200,000 registrations to bring Indians home. 

Yesterday, the Indian consulate in Dubai issued a statement on Twitter, saying it will operate two flights, one from Abu Dhabi and the other from Dubai, to Kozhikode in southern Kerala state on Thursday. The passenger lists for both Dubai flights will be finalized by officials.

It added the cost of the tickets, quarantine requirements after reaching India, and health requirements to board the flight, will have to be accepted by each passenger. 

All passengers will be required to fill out a “self reporting form” to be handed over to the Health and Immigration Counter upon landing at their destination. The form will include contact details as well as information on any symptoms they have suffered and their medical history. Only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to travel.

The UK's Covid-19 death toll may have been significantly higher than previously thought, with almost 30,000 registered deaths until April 24 (April 26 in Scotland), the latest data released by statistics bodies across the UK reveals. 

A total of 29,998 fatalities in the United Kingdom in that period mention Covid-19 on their death certificates.

According to England’s Office of National Statistics, there were 27,356 deaths in England and Wales up to April 24, while Scotland’s National Records reported 2,272 deaths until April 26, and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) reported 370 deaths until April 24. 

The numbers released by the statistics bodies are considerably higher than the Covid-19 death toll previously announced by the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) which reported 19,506 deaths until April 24 and 20,732 deaths until April 26.

At that point DHSC data did not include patients who died from Covid-19 in non-hospital settings, such as care homes.

The figures from the ONS and the UK’s other statistics bodies are based on deaths registered in that period and include all cases where "Covid-19" was mentioned on the death certificate, whereas those published by DHSC are based on the deaths of people who have tested positive for Covid-19. 

Before coronavirus brought the world to its knees, 2020 was slated to be a crucial year for the European Union and China.

At a showpiece summit in September, the two are set to take a significant step forward in their economic and strategic relationship. As things stand, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to gather EU leaders and China's President Xi Jinping in the eastern German city of Leipzig on September 14.

But China's response to Covid-19 has left a bitter taste in the mouths of European officials. From draconian clampdowns on its own citizens to accusations of spreading misinformation in Europe, this crisis has been a reminder that closer engagement with China comes with risks. 

Indeed, pulling China closer to European values on human rights, climate change and multilateralism is the sort of thing leaders' legacies are made of. And while the Leipzig summit is far from a make-or-break moment in Europe's relationship with China, this level of fanfare has a lot to live up to.

However, there is a real sense in Brussels that the pandemic has led to a reset in European thinking on China.

Blockmans is referring to a communique released by the EU Commission in March 2019, in which it described China as "a systemic rival promoting alternative models of governance".

In the context of coronavirus, that Chinese model of government is concerning EU officials.

"It's all about seeing which [political] system is better at handling the virus. Is it a system that allows personal liberties? Or is it single-party autocracy where you can impose measures without worrying too much," said one EU official working across external affairs.

This lack of trust seems to be taking hold across Brussels. Over the weekend, the EU's Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, said in an interview with France's Le Journal du Dimanche that Europe had been "naïve" in its dealings with China. He went on to acknowledge that China has a "different understanding of the international order."

So, where does this all leave what was supposed to be the year where China and Europe finally got on the same page? At the time of writing, very few believe that the Leipzig summit will be as Merkel and co. first imagined.

On one hand, the EU's calculation on China hasn't changed: It's still desirable not to get squashed between the two great superpowers, China and America. On the other, recent history shows China to be an unreliable partner who divides opinion among EU member states.

Sooner or later, Europe will have to weigh these two realities up and decide exactly how much that diplomatic independence from America is really worth.

Read the full story here.

The pizzerias of Naples are back in business, now Italy has entered the second phase of relaxing its lockdown restrictions.

They can only do take away and home delivery, but it's a small, hopeful step back to normalcy in the city that prides itself as the birthplace of pizza.

As one owner told CNN: "The pizzeria is the Neapolitans' soul, and the pizza maker is an author, an artist." Now, the artists are back at work.

Elsewhere in Italy, pizzerias had continued to provide home delivery throughout the country's lockdown, but the no-nonsense governor of the Campania region, where Naples is located, wasn't willing to take risks in the relatively poor, crowded city, and ordered all pizzerias to close.

Now Napolitani can be reunited with their beloved pizza.

The German state of Bavaria will allow outdoor dining restaurants to reopen from May 18, Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Soeder has announced.

Restaurants will reopen on the condition that distancing requirements and hygiene measures remain in place, Soeder said. Indoor dining will be permitted a week later.

Hotels will open at the end of May for the Pentecost weekend, but without use of saunas, wellness facilities or swimming pools, he said.

"The success is clear, the Bavarian option was the right one," Soeder said.

Bavaria, which borders Austria and the Czech Republic, is an important tourism destination in Germany.

If you're just joining us, here's the latest on the coronavirus pandemic.

US death toll projected to double: An influential coronavirus model often cited by the White House forecasts that 134,000 people will die of coronavirus in the US by August, nearly double its previous prediction. Almost 69,000 have died in the US so far, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally.

Potential vaccines in the works: There are 108 potential Covid-19 vaccines are in development around the world, according to the World Health Organization. Eight of the potential vaccines are approved for clinical trials.

Coronavirus origin questions: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the most likely origin of the coronavirus outbreak was a wildlife wet market. His comments come as intelligence shared among US allies indicates the virus more likely came from a Chinese market and not from a lab, according to two officials.

Unemployment in Spain soars: The number of unemployed people in Spain increased by more than 280,000 in the month of April, as restrictive social distancing measures continued to have an impact on the economy.

Germany's infection rate falls: Germany has recorded another low increase of coronavirus cases over the past 48 hours, with the number of transmitting cases continuing to fall.

UK trials virus tracing app: The UK must review its lockdown measures by Thursday, but is not expected to announce major changes. Britain launched its first test of a coronavirus tracing app today, on a small island off the south coast of England.

Hong Kong to relax restrictions: Hong Kong will begin to relax some social distancing measures from Friday, as the city records fewer cases of coronavirus. The city will increase the number of people permitted to gather at one time from four to eight. Businesses including beauty salons and fitness centers will also be allowed to open.

The World Health Organization says 108 potential Covid-19 vaccines are in development around the world, according to documents posted on its website. 

Eight of the potential vaccines have been approved for clinical trials.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) trial in the US was the first to start testing on human subjects on March 16.

Groups from around the world are in pre-clinical evaluation, including the University of Tokyo, Tulane University, University of Alberta and the University of Pittsburgh. In all, they total 100 groups, up from 96 on April 30th, according to the WHO.