Covid-19: Brazil’s Pres Bolsonaro defends sacking health minister amid pandemic

Pres Jair Bolsonaro insists coronavirus is a minor problem BRASILIA, April 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro defended his decision to restart economic activity in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, after sacking his health minister over differences in how to tackle the disease. Luiz Henrique Mandetta, the dismissed…

Covid-19: Leaders warn Africa short of funds to fight pandemic

South African president and African Union chairman Cyril Ramaphosa said the coronavirus represents a setback to the continent’s progress WASHINGTON, April 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — International financial institutions and African leaders warned the continent needs tens of billions of dollars in additional money to fight the coronavirus pandemic despite debt freezes…

Covid-19: Horrors revealed at Canada nursing home – unfed and deaths after caregivers fled

Flowers outside the Herron private nursing home in Dorval, west of Montreal MONTREAL, April 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Elderly residents left soiled and unfed after their caregivers fled the premises, 31 deaths in the space of a few weeks. A nursing home in Montreal has become the symbol of the terrible…

Fires near Chernobyl make Kiev air most polluted in world

Haze from nearby wildfires shrouds buildings in Kiev KIEV, April 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Fires around the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant and elsewhere pushed pollution levels in Ukraine’s capital Kiev to the worst in the world on Friday, giving inhabitants another reason to stay indoors on top of the coronavirus lockdown.…

Covid-19: US Pres Trump announces $19 bn relief for farmers amid epidemic

WASHINGTON, April 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Donald Trump announced a $19 billion financial rescue package to help the US agriculture industry weather the staggering economic downturn sparked by measures to defeat the coronavirus. Trump told a press conference the government “will be implementing a $19 billion relief program for our…

Covid-19: WHO says others will revise virus death tolls like China

GENEVA, April 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Health Organization said that many countries would likely follow China in revising up their death tolls once they start getting the coronavirus crisis under control. Wuhan, the COVID-19 epicentre, admitted missteps in tallying its death toll, abruptly raising the city’s count by 50…

Covid-19: The powerful chief of staff to Nigeria’s president Buhari died of virus

Abba Kyari (right) with Pres Buhari ABUJA, April 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Abba Kyari, one of the closest advisers to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, died Friday after contracting the novel coronavirus, becoming the highest-profile casualty of the virus in Africa’s biggest economy. Buhari named Kyari, a former chief executive officer of…

Covid-19: Most sailors on US carrier with coronavirus are asymptomatic

WASHINGTON, April 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Tests on the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier, which was struck by an outbreak of COVID-19, found that two-thirds of sailors who tested positive were asymptomatic, a top military official said. Nearly the entire crew was tested after the coronavirus outbreak forced…

Covid-19: US surpasses 700,000 cases; 36,000 deaths – tracker

WASHINGTON, April 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States on Friday passed 700,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, according to a tally maintained by Johns Hopkins University. With the highest number of cases and deaths of any country in the world, the US had recorded 700,282 cases of COVID-19 and 36,773 deaths as…

Covid-19: Europe’s death toll passes 80,000

PARIS, April 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Coronavirus pandemic keeps taking its toll across Europe, one of the worst-hit regions in the world, as the total number of lives lost has crossed the grim threshold of 80,000. Although Italy and Spain have suffered the most, a slowing of new cases and deaths brings…