Coronavirus live news: French ordered to stay inside as White House urges isolation and EU bans non-essential travel

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In a rare bit of good news for the US jobs market, supermarket chains – and Amazon.com – are hiring more workers to meet an increase in demand sparked by consumer response to the coronavirus crisis. US supermarket chains Albertsons, Kroger and Raley’s have sought new hires to staff busy sections and fulfil online orders. They are turning to people in the restaurant, travel and entertainment businesses who are suddenly looking for work.

Amazon.com Inc on Monday said it would hire 100,000 warehouse and delivery workers in the United States to deal with a surge in online orders, as many consumers have turned to the web to meet their needs during the coronavirus outbreak.

With shoppers clearing out shelves in fear of quarantines or product shortages, retailers are racing to keep food and hygienic items in stock and have employees on hand for in-store work or delivery.

“We want those people to know we welcome them on our teams until things return to normal and their past employer is able to bring them back,” Amazon said in a blog post https://blog.aboutamazon.com/operations/amazon-opening-100000-new-roles.

Major shipper United Parcel Service Inc (UPS) said its trucking and air deliveries were still on despite growing government restrictions on commercial activities. It said Monday it was meeting demand with its existing workforce.

Amazon’s headcount fluctuates seasonally, recently peaking for the holiday quarter at 798,000 full and part-time workers. It was not immediately clear how many people Amazon would employ after it hires 100,000 more.

To draw new employees, Amazon said it would add US$2 to its minimum US$15 per hour to US workers’ wages through April.

Moving away from that press conference now, in other Australia news – in case you missed it – actor Tom Hanks has been released from a Gold Coast Queensland hospital after being quarantined with coronavirus, AAP reports.

His wife Rita Wilson remains in isolation after also testing positive to the virus last week.

Hanks is in Queensland filming a Baz Luhrmann biopic about Elvis Presley. Production has ceased for two weeks but he is not believed to have infected any other cast or crew. Singer-songwriter Wilson recently performed in Brisbane and Sydney. Nine Network entertainment editor Richard Wilkins has since also tested positive for the virus, saying he met Wilson twice in the week leading up to her diagnosis.

Hanks issued a statement last Thursday saying he and his wife went to hospital after feeling run down. He said they would comply with all Australian health restrictions relating to the virus.

While in hospital Hanks tweeted his gratitude to the medical staff caring for them. The post, which included a photo of two pieces of toast smothered in Vegemite, sparked a furious social media debate about the correct amount and application of the popular spread.

Wilson asked Twitter to help her compile a music playlist for those in isolation, calling it “Quarantunes”.

On Monday, Idris Alba became the next famous actor to confirm he had tested positive. He recently spent time with Sophie Grègoire Trudeau, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s wife, who tested positive last week.

Still in New South Wales, Australia for the moment, where state chief economist Stephen Walters says:

There can be no doubt that the next 3 to 4 months are going to be a very difficult time for business in New SouthWales. We’ve had 8 years of drought in this state. We’ve had catastrophic bushfires and we’re facing a large economic slowdown for the winter months ahead of us. There are a lot of worried business people out there. As you would know, small business people tend to view their staff as family and they will do everything in their power to keep those staff employed and not have to lay them off but I think we have to be honest and say some of the small businesses are probably not going to make it through to the other side of this.

New South Wales, Australia treasurer Dominic Perrottet says of the state government’s AU$2.3bn package, AU$700 million of which will be invested into health care:

This is an unprecedented response to an unprecedented situation. This is a package today that protects the people of New South Wales. It is targeted. It is timely and it’s temporary, because New South Wales will come through this situation stronger than ever before.

In Australia, New South Wales state premier Gladys Berejiklian is addressing media now on a AU$2.3bn (US$1.4) package the state government is announcing.

Against a backdrop of incredulity and consternation, the Greek Orthodox church has, if reluctantly, decided to suspend daily services after a marathon session of its Holy Synod, citing the need to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.

Emerging from the five-hour meeting, the Church’s spokesman said while Sunday mass could continue, daily liturgies would be halted until the Holy week preceding Orthodox Easter on April 19.

Following the decision, prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who had implored clergy to listen to scientific advice, overrode the ruling in a tweet that made clear services would have to end. Period. “A government decision suspends operations in all areas of religious worship of any religion or dogma,” he wrote. “Churches remain open only for individual prayer. Protection of public health requires clear decisions.”

In a country of little separation between church and state, the tweet came as a surprise to many.

Greek congregations, like most across Europe, are comprised of older people thought to be more susceptible to the disease. As the Church’s governing body, the Holy Synod had steadfastly rejected calls for practices such as Holy Communion to be stopped, saying it would continue to hold services and conduct the sacrament despite public health fears raised by the issue of shared chalices.

To the alarm of scientists, high-ranking metropolitans had invoked religious belief as a bulwark again Covid-19.

Today’s decision was taken only after the government’s chief medical advisor on infectious diseases, professor Sotiris Tsiodras, personally intervened, appearing before the church’s top tier to explain the gravity of the situation.

That, say insiders, paved the way for Mitsotakis to be able to take matters into his own hands.

Hello and welcome to today’s coronavirus liveblog, where we’ll be giving you up-to-the-minute news on the pandemic around the world.

‘Test, test, test,’ is the message of the day from the World Health Organization. The question is: How?

Here is a summary of the latest developments:

• The head of the World Health Organizaion, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, implored governments to test more suspected cases, warning that they cannot fight the pandemic blindfolded. In a strongly-worded attack on governments which have neglected or held back testing, he said: “We have not seen an urgent enough escalation in testing, isolation and contact tracing, which is the backbone of the response.”
• The White House recommended isolation. US President Donald Trump told Americans to avoid any gatherings of more than 10 people over the next 15 days and advising all states with evidence of community transmission to close down bars, restaurants, gyms and other facilities.
• The death toll in Italy from Covid-19 increased to 2,158, with the announcement of another 349 victims in Europe’s worst his country. Spain confirmed 9,191 cases and 309 deaths, making it the second hardest-hit country in Europe after Italy.
• The death toll in the UK increased to 55 people, including the first death in Wales. The latest victims included a 56-year-old, believed to be the youngest in the UK so far.
• Britons were told to avoid pubs, bars and restaurants and to self-isolate if anyone in their family fell ill. The new government advice, something of a U-turn, came during the prime minister’s first daily press conference. Boris Johnson unveiled a series of stringent new restrictions, including a 14-day isolation for all households with symptoms, a warning against “non-essential” contact, and an end to all mass gatherings.
• The G7 nations stressed the importance of international cooperation. A statement released by Downing Street sought to highlight the significance of national governments not looking solely to their own interests – acknowledging that coronavirus is a global pandemic.
• Germany closed places of worship, bars, restaurants, museums and cinemas. Announcing the plan, Chancellor Angela Merkel said: “The more individuals stick to these rules, the quicker we will get through this phase.”
• The actor Idris Elba has become the latest celebrity to contract the virus. Earlier this month he was photographed at an event at London’s Wembley Arena with Sophie Grégoire Trudeau – just over week before she tested positive.
• The European Union has proposed banning all but essential travel for 30 days. Egypt, Canada, and Malaysia have become the latest countries to close airports.
• France has warned of a “fast-deteriorating” situation and Spain has requisitioned its private healthcare sector. Jérôme Salomon, France’s top health official, said on Monday, “There is a real worry the speed of the outbreak could saturate hospitals.”
• Mounting concerns that the pandemic could prompt a global recession have sent financial markets around the world plunging, despite a coordinated effort by central banks to protect growth and jobs.
• Major airlines including Qantas, British Airways, Ryanair, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic announced a dramatic scaling back of their operations on Monday, with cuts of up to 90% of their services.
• The official global death toll from the coronavirus outbreak has now passed 6,500, with the number of deaths and infections around the world now exceeding those in China, where it began. Infections have been reported in 156 countries.
• In the UK, an NHS document leaked to the media suggested that the coronavirus emergency could last up to a year and put 8m people in hospital. This morning, Downing St said the 8m figure was a worst case scenario, rather than what the government expected.
• Passengers on the London Underground network are down by nearly a fifth compared to the same time last year, while numbers on buses were down by 10%.
• The Spanish government has requisitioned its private healthcare sector and given any company that has supplies of protective gear 48 hours to report to health authorities, or face fines.
• The government of Singapore sharply criticised responses to the outbreak by the UK, Switzerland and Japan, saying that “these countries have abandoned any attempt at containing the spread of the virus,” as he announced new travel restrictions.
• New York City will close the largest public school system in the US on Monday, and its bars, restaurants and entertainment venues from Tuesday.
• The states of California, Ohio, Illinois, Massachusetts and Washington closed their bars, restaurants and entertainment venues, too. Food takeout and delivery are still allowed.
• Luxembourg on Sunday followed its neighbours France and Belgium in closing bars and restaurants to try to stem the spread of the coronavirus epidemic.