Coronavirus live news: global deaths near 95,000 as Boris Johnson leaves intensive care

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Meanwhile in Zambia, the national broadcasting body on Thursday revoked the license of a private TV channel after it refused to air public messages about coronavirus, claiming it was still due payment by the government for past services.

Prime Television, a popular pro-opposition channel, told authorities last month that it would not air information about Covid-19 unless it was paid for government-commissioned campaign messages during elections in 2015 and 2016.

The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) cancelled its licence with “immediate effect” on Thursday, citing “the interest of public safety, security, peace and welfare”.

Prime Television director Gerald Shawa declined to comment on the IBA’s decision.

President Edgar Lungu on Thursday extended a March 25 ban on public gatherings and non-essential business operations for another two weeks, advising Zambians to observe social distance and limit movements.

Unlike most of his regional counterparts, Lungu has refrained from imposing a complete lockdown for the time being.

Religious leaders around the globe Thursday urged people to celebrate Good Friday and Easter from the safety of their homes.
Governments warned that the hard-won gains against the scourge must not be jeopardized by relaxing social distancing over the weekend. Across Europe, where Easter is one of the busiest travel times of the year, authorities set up roadblocks and otherwise discouraged family gatherings.

Amid widespread restrictions on public gatherings, major religious denominations are holding virtual services where members can watch on TV, online or on their phones. Others are arranging prayer at drive-in theaters, where people can stay in their cars.

Other churches plan to move ahead with Easter, especially in states like Texas, where the governor declared religious gatherings essential services. A Houston church has installed hand-washing stations and rearranged the 1,000-person sanctuary to hold about 100 people with 6 or more feet (2 meters) between them.

Pope Francis will celebrate Easter Mass in a nearly empty St. Peters Basilica instead of the huge square outside. In England, the Archbishop of Canterbury will deliver his Easter sermon by video.

A staggering 16.8 million Americans lost their jobs in just three weeks in a measure of how fast the coronavirus has brought world economies to their knees.

Numbers released Thursday by the US government showed that 6.6 million workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, on top of more than 10 million in the two weeks before that.

That amounts to about 1 in 10 American workers the biggest, fastest pileup of job losses since the world’s largest economy began keeping records in 1948.

During the Great Recession it took 44 weeks — roughly 10 months — for unemployment claims to go as high as they now have in less than a month, AP reports.

And still more job cuts are expected. The US unemployment rate in April could hit 15% a number not seen since the end of the Great Depression.
The US, the Federal Reserve announced it will provide up to $2.3 trillion in loans targeted toward both households and businesses.

The head of the International Monetary Fund warned that the global economy is headed for the worst recession since the Depression.

The United Nations labor organisation said the equivalent of 195 million full-time jobs could be lost in the second quarter, while the aid organisation Oxfam International estimated half a billion people worldwide could be pushed into poverty.

Hello and welcome to today’s live coronavirus coverage with me, Helen Sullivan.

In good news, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has left intensive care and is now in a ward at St. Thomas’ Hospital. A spokesperson said that Johnson is “in extremely good spirits.”

The pandemic continues to take an enormous toll, with close to 95,000 deaths worldwide, and 16.8 million jobs lost in the US alone.

We’ll be bringing you the latest developments throughout the day. Below are the main stories from the past few hours:

• The global death toll reached 94,850, as the US overtook Spain’s total casualties. The US has now overtaken Spain with 15,774 deaths. Spain has lost 15,238 lives, according to Johns Hopkins University, but the daily death toll fell to 683 after two consecutive days of rising above 740. The toll in France passed 12,000.
• Boris Johnson was moved out of intensive care. The UK prime minister has been moved out of intensive care, according to Downing Street. A spokesperson said: “The prime minister has been moved this evening from intensive care back to the ward, where he will receive close monitoring during the early phase of his recovery.”
• 16.8 million Americans have lost their jobs in the last three weeks as the coronavirus pandemic brings the US economy to a standstill. 6.6 million of those jobs were lost in the last week alone.
• The US economy ‘could reopen in May’. The US treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said the American economy could start to reopen for business in May despite experts’ emphasis on prolonged physical distancing measures to defeat the coronavirus.
• Eurozone finance ministers have reached an agreement on an emergency rescue package aimed at responding to the economic adversity triggered by coronavirus.
• The World Health Organization warned the US and other countries about the risk of human-to-human transmission of Covid-19 as early as 10 January, and urged precautions even though initial Chinese studies at that point had found no clear evidence of that route of infection. Donald Trump has attempted to blame the WHO for the pandemic, pointing to a WHO tweet on 14 January saying “there was no human-to-human transmission”.
• Pope Francis presided at a scaled-down Holy Thursday mass in an empty St Peter’s Basilica. He spoke from a secondary altar behind the main one he normally uses and the occasion was attended by only two dozen people, including a few aides, nuns and a scaled-down choir.
• Bangladesh imposed a “complete lockdown” in its Cox’s Bazaar district, which is home to over a million Rohingya refugees from neighbouring Myanmar.
• The official death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in Iran passed 4,000, the country’s health ministry reported on Thursday, after 117 more people were confirmed to have died from the disease in the past 24 hours.
• South Africa extended its lockdown by a further fortnight. South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa had imposed a 21-day lockdown on the country’s 56 million inhabitants on 27 March, enforced by the police and the army.
• Concern is growing in China over asymptomatic cases of Covid-19. According to the People’s Daily, a state council body has ordered reporting and monitoring of those not showing symptoms despite carrying the virus to be stepped up.
• The UK and Ireland are expected to extend current lockdown measures over the Easter weekend. It comes as deaths in the countries continue to grow.