May 5 coronavirus news

Evacuation of Indians stranded abroad will begin May 7, according to the country's Ministry of Home Affairs.

All Indian embassies and high commissions are preparing lists of "distressed Indian citizens" and non-scheduled commercial flights will be arranged for them.

Two special flights are being operated out of the United Arab Emirates to the southern Indian state of Kerala, according to the Indian consulate in Dubai.

Stranded citizens: India banned all international flights in and out of the country in March before initiating a nationwide lockdown, effectively stranding thousands of its citizens overseas.

The special evacuations come as India is attempting to reopen the country. All domestic and international airlines are prohibited from running regular passenger flights until May 17.

A total of 46,433 coronavirus cases, including 1,568 deaths have now been recorded in India, according to the country's health ministry.

Some 1,275 inmates in Texas have tested positive for Covid-19, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice reported Monday. 

At least 22 prisoners are presumed to have died from the virus, TDCJ said in a news release. An additional 12 deaths are under investigation.

In total, 461 TDCJ employees, staff or contractors have tested positive, the statement said.  

TDCJ said it is continuing to test inmates who are asymptomatic but may be vulnerable to Covid-19 based on age or health conditions. 

Virus hot spots: Across the US -- and in other countries around the world -- prisons and jails have become hotbeds for coronavirus. Close confinement is likely fueling the spread. But it's not just a major health problem -- there's also safety concerns, with violence erupting in several facilities.

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Hong Kong had just begun letting its guard down in late February when it was hit by a second wave of the novel coronavirus.

After a brief period of low case numbers, new infections spiked dramatically, prompting a series of additional stringent restrictions.

That second wave now appears to have largely passed. Hong Kong hasn't had a case of local transmission in more than two weeks. 

In total, Hong Kong has recorded only 15 new cases since April 20, all of which were people with recent travel history. That brings the city's total to 1,041 cases and four deaths. Of those total cases, 900 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospital.

What Hong Kong did: The coronavirus first emerged in mainland China in December, and jumped the border into Hong Kong on January 24. By then, it had already made its way to several other countries. 

Hong Kong closed borders and began social distancing just a week or so after recording its first case. But this three-month stretch of working from home, business closures and service suspensions has dealt a massive blow to both the city's economy and the mental health and wellbeing of residents.

Now, with the second wave mostly contained, many are itching to get back to pre-pandemic life. 

But the city's leader, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, and other health experts are cautioning people not to let their guard down too soon, as they did in February. With the virus still wreaking havoc on the rest of the world, it's too soon to celebrate, she warned.

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Fifteen children in New York City have been hospitalized with symptoms compatible with a multi-system inflammatory syndrome that might be linked to Covid-19, according to a health alert issued Monday evening by the New York City Health Department.   

The patients, aged 2 to 15, were hospitalized from April 17 to May 1.

Several tested positive for Covid-19 or had positive antibody tests. Some of the patients experienced persistent fever and features of Kawasaki disease or features of toxic shock syndrome. 

Kawasaki disease causes inflammation in the walls of the arteries and can limit blood flow to the heart. It is usually treatable and most children recover without serious problems, but it can be deadly.  

At least five of the cases required a ventilator and more than half of the patients required blood pressure support. So far, no fatalities have been reported among the New York City patients. 

Doctors on alert: British pediatrics specialists recently warned that a small number of children were becoming ill with Kawasaki disease that could be linked to coronavirus. 

The Paediatric Intensive Care Society UK warned about a small rise in the number of cases of critically-ill children, some who had tested positive for Covid-19, presenting "overlapping features of toxic shock syndrome and atypical Kawasaki disease with blood parameters." 

There have been similar reports in Italy and Spain.

In the US, a team at Stanford Children's Hospital reported a case with similar features. 

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

Alvin Yau is exhausted. Like other residents in Hong Kong, he hasn't had a break in nearly a year, ricocheting from one crisis to the next.

When Hong Kong was consumed by anti-government, pro-democracy protests last year, the 25-year-old banking analyst found himself constantly on edge, unable to sleep at night, and so overwhelmed he once burst into tears in the middle of the street.

The political chaos began calming somewhat in December -- but only weeks later, the first reports emerged of a mysterious new virus across the border in mainland China. 

The novel coronavirus has since exploded into a global pandemic, infecting more than 3.5 million people globally and killing more than 251,000. In Hong Kong, there have been more than 1,040 cases -- relatively low due to months of stringent quarantine measures and closed borders.

But the pandemic dealt a second blow to a population already devastated by six months of violent unrest -- and now, experts warn it could culminate in a mental health crisis.

Yau certainly feels the toll.

It's a common sentiment: In a survey by Hong Kong University between March and April, more than 40% of respondents showed symptoms of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or any combination of the three.

These numbers may be even higher, in reality, due to under-reporting; many Hong Kongers are reluctant to talk openly about or disclose mental illness due to deep-rooted social stigma and insufficient mental health education.

Activists and educators have been working for years to break down this stigma, but they say the fight has taken on a new urgency, as people buckle under the weight of two back-to-back crises with no immediate relief in sight.

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Nike is donating 30,000 pairs of shoes -- specifically designed for healthcare workers -- to health systems and hospitals in cities across the United States.

The company went to OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland, Oregon, to study those in the profession. They took into account the challenges of those on the job -- including long hours on their feet and liquid spills -- and the comfort needed for long shifts.

Nike partnered up with Good360, a non-profit specializing in efficient distribution of product donations, to help deliver the shoes to workers in Chicago, Los Angeles, Memphis, and New York City, and within the Veterans Health Administration, according to Nike.

The company said healthcare workers in New York City and Los Angeles will also receive about 95,000 pairs of soccer socks offering mild compression.

"The effort is led by messages of gratitude to healthcare professionals," Nike said in its release. "From one athlete to another, Nike athletes recognize the physical and mental resilience of healthcare athletes."

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New Delhi authorities have imposed a 70% tax on the retail price of alcohol, referring to the levy as a "special corona fee" according to an order issued Monday by the Delhi government.

Any resident of India's capital city will have to pay the tax to purchase alcohol after social distancing measures were violated on Monday, as liquor stores reopened after five weeks. 

Chaos ensued after liquor shops opened for the first time in five weeks on Monday in Delhi, with scores of people queuing up outside stores without adequate social distancing, according to a senior district official. 

India has been under a nationwide lockdown since March 25. The country has reported a total of 46,433 coronavirus cases, including 1,568 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that the most likely origin of the coronavirus outbreak was a wildlife wet market as he called for an independent review into the origins of the pandemic.

Two leading theories: Morrison's comments follow recent claims from the Trump administration that the novel coronavirus originated from a laboratory, despite scientists in both China and the West saying the virus likely originated in bats.

A senior official in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) acknowledged Monday night that the US has evidence to support both leading theories of where the Covid-19 outbreak originated.

One theory is that the virus came from an accident in a lab in Wuhan, China, and the other is that the outbreak started in a market in the city.

The official also noted the outbreak "does not appear to have been purposeful.”

In a statement Thursday, the ODNI said that the "Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the Covid-19 virus was not man-made or genetically modified."

Scientists in China and the West have pointed to research indicating that the virus is likely to have originated in bats and jumped to humans from an intermediate host -- just like its cousin that caused the SARS epidemic in 2002 and 2003.

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