Coronavirus live news: Trump steps back from briefings as global deaths pass 200,000

The G20, a group of rich and emerging economies, on Sunday launched an international initiative to accelerate access to health tools needed to fight the new coronavirus, Reuters reports.

The finance minister of Saudi Arabia, the current G20 chair, said the group is still working to bridge an estimated $8 billion funding gap to combat the pandemic.

“The G20 will continue reinforcing global cooperation on all fronts, and most importantly, on closing the immediate health financing gap,” the minister, Mohammed al-Jadaan, said in a statement launching the “Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator” initiative.

He added that “the international community is still facing extraordinary uncertainty about the depth and duration of this health crisis”, the statement said.

Saudi Arabia earlier this month pledged $500 million to support global efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic. In the statement, it repeated its call on all countries, non-governmental organizations, philanthropists and the private sector to help close the financing gap.

State media in Saudi Arabia are reporting that the curfew will be partially lifted for all regions starting Sunday, but that a 24-hour curfew will be maintained in Mecca, according to Reuters.

Some economic and commercial activities, including retail stores, will be reopened during Ramadan, from 29 April to 13 May.

Confirmed cases of coronavirus infection in Panama reached 5,538 on Saturday, a rise of 200 from the previous day, while related deaths increased by five to 159, the health ministry said.

Director of epidemiology Lourdes Moreno presented the Central American country’s latest figures at a news conference.

The US Treasury Department said on Saturday it has released US$9.5bn in additional funds from the Payroll Support Program to US air carriers, bringing to $12.4bn the total provided to the airline sector hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reports.

In total, the government has disbursed grant funds to 10 major airlines and 83 smaller carriers.

Congress approved $25 billion in grants for payroll assistance for passenger airlines. Treasury required major airlines receiving more than $100 million in assistance to repay 30% in low-interest loans over 10 years and issue warrants equal to 10% of the loan amount.

Airlines may still need more money as US air travel demand has fallen by 95% and shows no sign of improving.

On Friday, President Donald Trump said the U.S. government could pre-buy airplane tickets at a steep discount of 50% or more for travel for the next four or five years. “You infuse them with some cash. And in the meantime, we’re flying the people of our country for … a fraction of the cost,” he said.

Airlines for America, a trade group representing major U.S. airlines, declined to comment.

Mexico’s health ministry on Saturday reported 970 new cases of coronavirus infection and 84 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 13,842 cases and 1,305 deaths.

The government has said the real number of infected people is likely considerably higher than the confirmed cases.

A special train possibly belonging to the North Korean ruler, Kim Jong-un, has been spotted at a resort town, according to satellite images reviewed by a Washington-based North Korea monitoring project, amid conflicting reports about Kim’s health and whereabouts, Reuters reports.

The monitoring project, 38 North, said in its report on Saturday that the train was parked at the “leadership station” in Wonsan on 21 April and 23 April. The station is reserved for the use of the Kim family, it said.

Though the group said it was probably Kim’s train, Reuters has not been able to confirm that independently, or whether he was in Wonsan.

“The train’s presence does not prove the whereabouts of the North Korean leader or indicate anything about his health but it does lend weight to reports that Kim is staying at an elite area on the country’s eastern coast,” the report said.

Speculation about Kim’s health first arose due to his absence from the anniversary of the birthday of North Korea’s founding father and Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il-sung, on 15 April.

North Korea’s state media last reported on Kim’s whereabouts when he presided over a meeting on 11 April.

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of coronavirus news from around the world with me, Helen Sullivan.

You can get in touch directly on Twitter @helenrsullivan with news, tips, questions and comments.

As the number of people who have lost their lives in this pandemic passes 200,000, the US president, Donald Trump, has declared his own White House press briefings “not worth the effort” after comments he made about using disinfectant to cure coronavirus were met with shock and ridicule.

The number of people who have died in the US currently stands at 53,449 according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Here are the developments from the last few hours:

• The global death toll has surpassed 200,000. The number of confirmed deaths in the coronavirus pandemic increased to 202,368 on Saturday, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally. The figures for infections are likely to underestimate the true scale of losses of life due to suspected under-reporting and differing testing regimes.
• Boris Johnson will return to work on Monday and is “raring to go”, a Downing street spokeswoman has confirmed. The prime minister has been recovering in his country residence after spending three nights in intensive care in April. He returns to face a dilemma over whether to ease the coronavirus lockdown, as leading scientists warn that the number of new cases remains much too high.
• German police arrested dozens of protesters in Berlin on Saturday for flouting the coronavirus lockdown measures they were demonstrating against. About 1,000 people turned out for the rally, which has become a weekly event in the German capital. Saturday’s protest attracted mainly far-left activists but there were also rightwing supporters and members of other fringe groups.
• Paraguayan authorities have laid out details of a plan to begin lifting the country’s total quarantine. The health minister Julio Mazzoleni announced at press conference on Friday that a new “intelligent quarantine” will begin on 4 May. It will gradually reintroduce public freedoms and economic activities through a four-stage plan set to run until early July.
• The UK’s biggest steel producer needs about £500m in government support to see it through the coronavirus crisis, according to the Welsh MP Stephen Kinnock. Tata Steel has reportedly approached the UK and Welsh governments for a bailout after its big European customers halted production. The company employs 8,385 people across the UK including more than 4,000 workers at the Port Talbot steelworks in south Wales.
• Spain could lift more lockdown restrictions and allow adults out to exercise from 2 May if efforts to contain the spread of the virus continue to pay off, the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has said.