Angela Merkel resumes work in office after quarantine
German Chancellor Angela Merkel resumed work in her office on Friday after completing a self-imposed home quarantine, a government spokesman said.
She had been working from home after receiving a vaccination on March 20 from a doctor who was later found to have coronavirus. She has tested negative for the coronavirus multiple times.
Germany has more than 80,000 confirmed cases as of Friday, although they have reported fewer deaths —around 1,000 — than countries with similar cases numbers.
European countries develop new ways to tackle domestic violence during lockdowns
Fears that those affected by domestic violence may be unable to seek help because they are locked in with their abusers during the coronavirus pandemic have prompted governments in several European countries to come up with new ways to help them.
The French government has encouraged victims to discreetly seek help at pharmacies, while the Italian government has launched a new app that will enable them to ask for help without making a phone call.
France, which has been on lockdown since March 17, has already seen a spike in domestic violence. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said last week there was a 32 percent increase in police interventions nationally, and a 36 percent increase in Paris, the capital city.
American in Wuhan warns U.S. over lockdowns
An American who spent more than two months locked down in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus epidemic first emerged, is urging people back home to prepare for a lengthy interruption to their lives.
“Don’t go into this thinking it’s going to be over in a few weeks,” Benjamin Wilson told NBC News from his apartment in Wuhan where he and his family spent eight weeks in confinement.
After initially experiencing problems getting evacuated back to the U.S., Wilson, 38, chose to stay in the city where he has lived for more than 16 years, with his Chinese wife, Li Qin, and seven-year-old daughter Jasmin as it went into lockdown in late January.
Oprah Winfrey to donate $10 million to coronavirus relief in U.S.
Entertainment icon Oprah Winfrey has pledged to donate $10 million to coronavirus relief efforts in the U.S., she announced on Thursday.
Winfrey did not specify where the bulk of her donation would go but confirmed on her social media accounts that $1 million would be donated to America’s Food Fund, to help feed local communities and combat food insecurity during the crisis.
“I know there are many of us looking for ways to help,” she wrote on Instagram. “I am donating $10 million overall to help Americans during this pandemic in cities across the country and in areas where I grew up.”
Crowded in refugee camps, Rohingya in Bangladesh vulnerable to virus
Aid workers are bracing for a possible outbreak of the coronavirus in one of the world’s largest refugee camps in Bangladesh, with officials warning that containing the disease among more than 1 million tightly packed Rohingya will be a daunting task.
With about 103,600 people per square mile living in plastic shacks side by side — which is more than 40 times the average density of Bangladesh — the refugees are dangerously exposed to the virus. Each shack is barely 100 square feet and many are overcrowded with up to 12 people.
There have been no reported cases of infection in the camps yet, but officials remain concerned. Rohingya people fled Myanmar after a military-led crackdown in 2017, and were forced into squalid camps across the border in Bangladesh — a country that is currently under a lockdown until April 11.
Singapore tightens restrictions and closes workplaces, schools
Singapore will close schools and most workplaces for a month starting on Monday, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced on Friday, as part of stricter measures to stop the virus outbreak.
Essential services and key economic sectors will remain open on the island nation.
Singapore’s coronavirus infections — both imported and domestic — have risen sharply in recent weeks and topped 1,000 this week, according to the Singapore Ministry of Health. It reported its fifth death on Friday.
Italy likely to extend lockdown to May 1, official says
Italy’s lockdown is likely to last until May 1, the head of Italy’s Civil Protection Agency, Angelo Borrelli, said at a press conference on Thursday evening.
The country is now in its fourth week of lockdown and the restrictions have now been officially extended until at least April 13. The government is working on a new decree to boost the economy and support businesses severely hit by the emergency, local media reported on Friday.
Italy, the worst-hit country in Europe, has more than 115,000 confirmed cases as of Friday.
African continent faces ‘existential threat,’ health official says
Africa faces a continent-wide crisis from the coronavirus, according to a senior pan-African health official. Dr. John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control, told a press briefing Wednesday that the virus was “an existential threat to our continent,” and posed unprecedented challenges.
As of early Thursday there had been 7,028 COVID-19 cases confirmed across the African Union, as well as 284 deaths, and 561 recoveries by region. Just four of the 54 African Union member states are yet to report any cases.
Nkengasong told the press conference that several African nations could see 10,000 cases each by the end of the month, following the trajectory of the disease in Europe.
The Week in Pictures: Coronavirus tightens its vise around the globe
As coronavirus continues its spread, look through our Week in Pictures to see how it’s impacting people around the globe.
