Key points
US President Donald Trump has thanked India for its decision to increase exports of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, an unproven treatment that Trump has promoted in the fight against the novel coronavirus.
“Extraordinary times require even closer cooperation between friends. Thank you India and the Indian people for the decision on HCQ. Will not be forgotten!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Hundreds of millions of people in India, including in its two largest cities, have been ordered to wear face masks or coverings amid a nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Residents in the capital New Delhi and Mumbai, which have a combined population of almost 40 million, as well as in the most populous state Uttar Pradesh where 200 million live, will have to cover their faces in public spaces.
“Wearing of facial masks can reduce the spread of coronavirus substantially,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said late Wednesday. “Therefore, it has been decided that facial masks will be compulsory for anyone stepping out of their house.”
France is to further extend its lockdown ordered to slow the spread of the coronavirus, with President Emmanuel Macron to again address the nation next week, the French presidency has said.
The confinement order “will be extended” beyond its current limit of April 15, a presidential official told AFP, adding that Macron will address the nation on Monday evening to present the new decisions on the fight against the virus.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday to give the sanctions-hit country a $5 billion emergency loan to combat its novel coronavirus outbreak, AFP reports.
The Islamic republic is battling one of the world's deadliest coronavirus outbreaks which it says has killed close to 4,000 people and infected more than 64,500.
Iran has said it needs what would be its first IMF loan in over half a century to continue fighting the virus. But its arch enemy the United States, which effectively holds a veto at the IMF, is reportedly set to block the loan, arguing Iran will use the funds for military purposes.
Hundreds of monkeys have taken over the streets around India's presidential palace, leading an animal offensive taking advantage of deserted streets as the country remains under a coronavirus lockdown.
With India's 1.3 billion population and tens of millions of cars conspicuous by their absence, stray domestic animals and wildlife has moved to fill the void, while also suffering from the pandemic fallout.
Read more here.
The Netherlands is ramping up testing for the new coronavirus with drive-in locations for healthcare personnel, including one site at an ice rink.
“In the summer this ice rink is not used. This is a very suitable location to test people in a safe and hygienic way,” Derk Burger, of the local health authority GGD told Reuters. He added some 100 people a day were tested at the site.
Last week the Dutch government announced it would ramp up testing capacity from some 4,000 tests a day to 17,500.
At least 20 doctors at a public hospital outside Mexico City have tested positive for the coronavirus, the head of Mexico's social security institute (IMSS) said, in the second major outbreak among health workers in the country.
Coronavirus was first detected at the hospital in Tlanepantla de Baz, in Mexico State just outside the capital, on March 10, IMSS Director Zoe Robledo said at the president's regular news conference.
He said the transmission did not originate inside the facility, and that it had been tracked to three separate cases — one patient and two doctors who did not have contact with each other.
Being overweight is a major risk for people infected with the new coronavirus and the United States is particularly vulnerable because of high obesity levels there, France’s chief epidemiologist has said.
Professor Jean-François Delfraissy, who heads the scientific council that advises the government on the pandemic, said as many as 17 million of France’s 67 million citizens were seriously at risk from the coronavirus because of age, pre-existing illness or obesity.
“This virus is terrible, it can hit young people, in particular obese young people. Those who are overweight really need to be careful,” Delfraissy told franceinfo radio.
Read more here.
30-year-old Junaid Khan has become the first patient in Swat to have recovered from the coronavirus.
But he describes the nine days he spent in isolation recovering from the disease as "the most difficult" period of his life.
Read more about his experience here.
Switzerland plans to ease restrictions now in place to combat the coronavirus starting at the end of April, the government has said, adding the economic damage from the pandemic could be the worst on record.
“The government knows that our people, our families, companies, employees and self-employed people need a vision for the future, and they need it quickly,” President Simonetta Sommaruga told a news briefing.
The government said it would extend existing anti-coronavirus restrictions for another week to April 26, before looking at a gradual loosening of measures that now include border controls, restaurant closures and bans on gatherings of more than five people.
Read more here.
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider has urged religious scholars and prayer leaders to persuade people to offer daily and Friday prayers at homes in the interest of their safety amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“Today I’ve held a detailed meeting with ulema representing different schools of thought and I’ve requested them that in the light of the teachings of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) regarding the sanctity of human life, they should urge people to offer prayers at home until the Covid-19 threat is over," he said.
According to an official handout, Haider also sought help of religious scholars to create awareness among the masses about the significance of precautionary measures against the coronavirus.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s condition is improving and he is able to sit up in bed and engage with clinical staff, finance minister Rishi Sunak said as Johnson remained in intensive care battling Covid-19, Reuters reports.
“The latest from the hospital is that the prime minister remains in intensive care where his condition is improving. I can also tell you that he has been sitting up in bed and been engaging positively with the clinical team,” Sunak said at a daily government coronavirus news conference.
The Gaza Strip has no more coronavirus test kits, Reuters quoted Palestinian health officials said on Wednesday, amid fears of disaster if the illness spreads in the blockaded, densely packed enclave.
“Testing at our central laboratory has stopped, after coronavirus test kits completely ran out,” Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said.
The impoverished coastal strip has for years been under a blockade led by neighbouring Israel, which it says is needed to stop weapons and money reaching its enemy, Hamas.
Gaza has reported 13 cases of coronavirus infection, all of whom are at quarantine facilities. But officials have voiced concern that a shortage of critical equipment and medical supplies could set off a rapid spread amongst the enclave's two million people.
Gilgit-Baltistan's (GB) information minister Shams Mir has said the government will impose a curfew from 11pm to 3pm on Thursdays and Fridays. He added that coronavirus has taken a "dangerous turn" not only in GB but all over Pakistan.
Mir said that the government would take care of poor people including labourers.
Death and infection tolls from the Covid-19 pandemic spreading around the world point to men being more likely than women to contract the disease and to suffer severe or critical complications if they do.
Read more here.
Japan recorded 503 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, its biggest daily increase since the start of the pandemic, as a state of emergency took effect but commuters still crowded some trains into Tokyo despite government calls to stay at home, Reuters reports.
The jump in new Covid-19 cases, including 144 in the capital, underscored the struggle of Japanese authorities to contain the outbreak without imposing a sweeping, mandatory lockdown on the population as most countries overseas have done.
Ethiopia on Wednesday declared a state of emergency to fight the coronavirus pandemic, which has so far infected 55 people and resulted in two deaths, AFP reports.
It is the first state of emergency announced under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who came to power in 2018 and won last year's Nobel Peace Prize in part for expanding political freedoms in the authoritarian nation.
“Because the coronavirus pandemic is getting worse, the Ethiopian government has decided to declare a state of emergency under Article 93 of the constitution,” Abiy said in a statement.
A Florida man faces federal hoax charges for spitting and coughing on police officers and claiming to be infected with the new coronavirus while he was being arrested on domestic violence charges, Reuters reports.
Federal prosecutors in Tampa charged James Jamal Curry, 31, with “perpetrating a biological weapons hoax”, a charge that carries up to a five-year sentence if he is convicted for coughing and spitting on officers from the St Petersburg police during a pair of domestic violence calls.
The Lahore Zoo has asked Punjab's health department to facilitate the screening of its employees for coronavirus after a tiger in a New York City zoo tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week.
The zoo has also asked the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore to conduct a general health checkup and screening tests of the animals.
Read more about the tiger which tested positive for Covid-19 here.
Two new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Balochistan, taking the provincial total to 212, according to Balochistan government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani.
He said 94 test results were received from a laboratory in Quetta out of which only one was positive while 30 reports were received from Taftan out of which one was positive.
A total of 76 people have been discharged from hospitals so far after recovering, Shahwani added.
Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) has constructed disinfection spray machines which will be deployed across the city as part of the government's measures to fight against Covid-19, the board's managing director Asadullah Khan announced.
"We have used disinfectant spray at Shahra-e-Faisal, PECHS, Shahra-e-Quaideen on an experimental level," Khan announced.
Sixteen people in Gilgit-Baltistan's Nagar district have been sent home after recovering from Covid-19 and testing negative, the health department said.
Fifteen of those recovered are women.
The Labour and Human Resources Department of the Sindh government has written a letter to the president of the Employees Federation of Pakistan, reminding him of the provincial government's directives to not lay off any employees during the lockdown, enforced to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Noting that the government has received numerous complaints from workers who have allegedly been laid off, the department's secretary, Abdul Rasheed Solangi, has asked the president to ensure the government's directives are being followed in this regard.
The secretary also requested the head of employees federation to ensure timely payment of salaries to all workers in the province.
The government has issued a notification stating that the validity of visas for foreigners in Pakistan whose visas have expired after March 15 or will expire before April 30 has been extended till April 30.
According to the notification, the step has been taken to "mitigate the spread of the virus through the interaction of the public at large".
Sindh police arrested 321 people across the province for violating section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code and for hoarding masks, sanitisers, gloves etc.
A spokesperson for Sindh Police said that 267 people were arrested in Karachi, one in Hyderabad and 53 in Sukkur.
Britain on Wednesday said it aimed to carry out millions of coronavirus tests in months after criticism that it had moved too slowly on the issue, saying a partnership with private firms would help it hit 100,000 tests a day by the end of April, Reuters reports.
The Department of Health said that a new testing laboratory set-up by AstraZeneca, GSK and Cambridge University would aim to carry out 30,000 tests a day by May, and Thermo Fisher would continue to supply the UK with testing kits and aim to scale up manufacturing.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has urged people to pray at home during Shab-i-Barat, adding that they should offer prayers for the deceased from home on the "night of worship and forgiveness".
He also urged ulemas to explain the importance of Shab-i-Barat on television so people could listen from their homes.
Data gathered from 2 million people in Britain using a new Covid-19 symptom tracker app suggests lockdown measures are slowing the spread of the disease, Reuters quoted researchers as saying.
The rate of new coronavirus symptoms reported in Britain has slowed significantly in the past few days, the King’s College London scientists said.
Read more here.
A delegation of a nine-member medical team from China has shared advice on controlling the spread of Covid-19 with Sindh Chief Minister Murad Shah Ali Shah. Urging the chief minister to ensure social distancing, they said China had imposed strict lockdown which is how it had been able to control the pandemic.
Shah said the government had closed businesses, educational institutions and government offices which is why coronavirus has been "contained but more measures are needed to save our people".
The Chinese delegation assured the chief minister that they would provide expertise and other equipment to the provincial government.
Telenor Pakistan has launched a series of packages designed to assist businesses that have been affected by the lockdown following Covid-19 outbreak.
In a statement released on their website, the telecommunications company said: "In this hour of need, Telenor Business brings Business Continuity Packages to ensure seamless remote connectivity of our corporate clients. Due to the developing Covid-19 situation more and more businesses are shifting to a work from home model. Business continuity packages are aimed at facilitating these companies in settling into this new way of work while ensuring uninterrupted connectivity with a flexible and fast onboarding process."
Many observers of the coronavirus pandemic have been left startled comparing death rates in some of the most developed economies of the world, including Europe and the United States, with those being witnessed in the much less developed countries of South Asia and Africa – where the health systems are also fragile in contrast.
A preliminary study by researchers in New York, released on medRxiv – a site for unpublished medical research – argues there may be a link between countries that mandate the bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, also known as the TB vaccine, and lower mortality and morbidity rates.
Read our full piece here.
A man who stole three face masks from a London hospital during the coronavirus crisis has been jailed for three months, AFP reports.
Lerun Hussain, 34, pleaded guilty to the theft at a London magistrates' court on Tuesday after the theft from King's College Hospital late on Sunday.
Hussain, from south London, was arrested on suspicion of theft and also detained for being in breach of a court order.
Global trade growth is expected to plummet by up to a third in 2020 due to the new coronavirus pandemic, the World Trade Organisation has said, adding the numbers would be “ugly”.
“World trade is expected to fall by between 13 per cent and 32pc in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic disrupts normal economic activity and life around the world,” the WTO said in a statement.
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Lt-Gen Mohammad Afzal has said medical equipment will be sent to hospitals identified by the authority within three days.
He said the NDMA has been sending equipment and PPEs to the provinces.
"Ventilators are short in the international market but we're doing all we can to procure more and more," he told journalists.
Prime Minister Imran Khan says he is "so disappointed" by the police violence against protesting doctors in Balochistan.
He said the frontline healthcare workers are doing jihad against the coronavirus and that they need personal protective equipment and ventilators.
Planning minister Asad Umar says there is a need to bring back Pakistani nationals still stranded in other countries but stressed that the government wants to "ensure that a system is in place to not import Covid-19 from abroad when they arrive".
He said so far, flights that have brought back Pakistanis from abroad have only landed at Islamabad airport. The government is now planning to use other airports as well, he added.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Dr Sania Nishtar has highlighted the salient features of the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme under which Rs144 billion will be disbursed to the poor.
She said:
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Dr Sania Nishtar has said that the federal government will engage provinces in the Ehsaas Cash Programme.
"It is important to provide a level playing field for all provinces so we will engage them in the programme."
President Hassan Rouhani pressed harder for a $5 billion emergency IMF loan Iran has sought to fight the Middle East’s worst coronavirus outbreak, saying the Fund would be guilty of discrimination if it withholds the money.
“I urge international organisations to fulfil their duties ... We are a member of the IMF,” Rouhani said at a televised cabinet meeting. “There should be no discrimination in giving loans.”
Read more here.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has warned people that the coronavirus is not going to go away any time soon. "This is not something that will go away in two or three weeks, this will go on for some time."
The premier said that the country does not have the resources to deal with the pandemic on a large scale and the government would need to take "tough decisions".
Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the Corona Tigers Relief Force will have two main purposes: to identify people who are "most in need of help", and identify people who need to be put under quarantine.
"They will try to find out about people who were unable to register through SMS for the cash disbursement programme, which people have received assistance, which people need assistance."
He added that the lockdown will only succeed if people are provided food at their doorsteps and the relief force would a vital part of doing that.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the "biggest problem" now is how to provide relief to society's weakest section.
He added that the Ehsaas Cash Disbursement Programme will be started from tomorrow in which money will be directly transferred to people in 17,000 areas in the country. Some 12 million families will benefit from the programme, he said.