The Latest: Cyprus extends flight ban until May 28

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.

TOP OF THE HOUR:

— Restart or re-stop? Economies reopen but chaos abounds.

— Cyprus extends flight ban until May 28.

— Kosovo's prime minister self-quarantines after possible exposure.

— Londoners urged to wear masks on Tube, avoid riding whenever possible.

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NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cyprus has extended a ban on all inbound and outbound flights for another two weeks until May 28 as part of its efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Cyprus’ Transport Ministry said Monday only cargo flights, inbound flights of empty aircraft intending to fly out those wishing to depart the island nation and emergency and humanitarian flights are exempt.

Cyprus first imposed a flight ban on March 21 amid a strict lockdown. Cyprus authorities said airports could again open after June 9 depending on how the pandemic is unfolding domestically and abroad.

Authorities are still trying to come up with ways of safely bringing back travelers to the tourism-reliant country. Cyprus has been conservatively estimated to lose 60% of its annual tourist arrivals this year.

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PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo’s prime minister says he has quarantined himself at home waiting for test results after he may have been exposed to the coronavirus.

Albin Kurti said Monday he has confined himself at his apartment after meeting with a ministry official who had close contacts with a person confirmed positive with the virus.

Kurti said he would stay home until the test result is known and would “exert the duties in distance but with the same commitment.”

Kosovo has eased some of its lockdown measures, but its borders are still closed and most businesses are shut.

As of Monday, the Balkan state had 28 known deaths from COVID-19 and 884 confirmed cases.

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DHAKA, Bangladesh — Health authorities in Bangladesh have reported 1,034 new positive cases and 11 deaths from the coronavirus in the latest 24-hour period, raising the total number of infections to 15,691.

Nasima Sultana, additional director general of the Health Directorate, said the death toll stood at 239. The first case of infection in Bangladesh was reported on March 8.

The number of new infections since Sunday was the highest in a day in the South Asian nation of 160 million people with a weak healthcare system. Bangladesh is testing suspected cases of COVID-19 in only 37 laboratories across the country, but experts said authorities should increase the number of testing facilities to understand the depth of the crisis in the country.

There is a forecast that the number of infections could peak at the end of this month and it could reach up to 50,000 cases.

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LONDON — Travelers on the London Underground are being urged to wear face coverings as the government outlines plans to ease the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

The city's transport authority urged people to “re-imagine” the way they travel and to stay off public transport unless absolutely necessary. Walking and cycling are being encouraged, together with a push to shop locally.

Social distancing rules will mean public transport will operate differently than before the start of the pandemic. That means the system will only be able to carry around 13% to 15% of the normal number of passengers on the Tube and bus networks — even after the service returns to normal. Demand will have to be reduced by 85%.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan says the public “will all have to continue playing our part in reducing demand on services by working from home if we possibly can. Please avoid public transport wherever possible.”

The comments come Prime Minister Boris Johnson prepares to set out details for a plan to ease the lockdown that began March 23.

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LONDON — New research by Britain’s national statistics agency shows that social care workers have significantly higher death rates involving COVID-19 than the working population as a whole.

The Office of National Statistics also said that compared with people of the same sex and age in England and Wales, men working in lower-skilled occupations — including security guards, taxi and bus drivers, chauffeurs and chefs — had the highest rate of coronavirus-related death. The research noted that the risks among doctors and nurses were not significantly different from the general population.

It said for social care workers, who provide services to at-risk adults and children, the rate of death is 23.4 deaths per 100,000 males. For female care workers the figure is 9.6 per 100,000.

That contrasts with the rate of coronavirus-related deaths among all working men — 9.9 deaths per 100,000 — and for all working women, at 5.2 deaths per 100,000.

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LONDON — The United Kingdom justice secretary says jury trials in England and Wales are set to resume next week for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown began March 23.

Robert Buckland says in statement that the courts are ready to take “first steps” towards the resumption of jury trials. He says a limited number of trials will take place and be conducted while observing social distancing rules.

He says these “will also help us to understand how it might be possible to conduct trials more widely as the situation with coronavirus develops.”

Any person taking part — including victims, witnesses, jurors, and legal professionals — will be recognized as having an essential reason to leave their home.

Throughout the pandemic, some 90% of the courts have continued to largely function virtually, though some priority courts and tribunals heard matters physically. Those matters did not include jury trials.

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VIENNA — The first charted train transporting care workers from Romania has arrived in the Austrian capital of Vienna.

The 80 Romanians arriving Monday are slated to help elderly people who need 24-hour care.

They now have to stay in a hotel at the Vienna airport to be tested for COVID-19. Once cleared, they’ll be allowed to travel to their final destinations in Austria.

Austrian EU minister Karoline Edtstadler says it took several weeks of negotiations to organize the train corridor to bring in the care workers.

She says: “it wasn’t quite so easy to get all the necessary permits for the trains - especially inside Romania. Now the time has come, and I expect that this opportunity will be used.”

Many care workers who have been stuck in Austria for weeks can now take this train to go back to Romania. Another train bringing more workers to Austria is expected for Thursday.

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ATHENS, Greece — Police in Greece have intervened to ease crowding conditions outside offices of the country’s main power utility which reopened Monday.

Hundreds gathered outside the offices to pay their bills, worried that power would be cut off to their homes.

The state-controlled Public Power Corporation is urging customers to use online payment methods or newly-expanded call center services, but many elderly customers still pay their bills directly in cash.

The utility is currently undergoing a major reorganization after being threatened with financial collapse last year, largely due to bills left unpaid during the 2010-2018 financial crisis and austerity imposed during international bailouts.

PPC offices closed on March 23 as part of broader lockdown measures.

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — As Denmark continues its reopening of society, shopping malls were allowed to reopen.

Also on Monday, nearly 200 children from the fourth and fifth grade of a Copenhagen school gathered in the fan section of a soccer stadium that belongs to one Denmark’s top football clubs to sing the national anthem. The event to take the children out from the classes was organized by FC Copenhagen.

Restaurants and cafes are scheduled to reopen as of May 18 at the same time as schoolchildren from fifth grade and up are to return to classes. Last month, lower classes and preschool returned.

Museums, zoological gardens and amusement parks have been ordered to remain shut. However, Copenhagen’s famed downtown Tivoli Gardens, the amusement park that inspired Walt Disney to create his theme parks, has been able to open its doors to children from the capital’s kindergartens and preschools so they can play.

Gatherings of more than ten people are still banned.

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BERLIN — An emergency field hospital for COVID-19 patients has officially opened in the German capital, but so far there are no patients.

The clinic opened Monday on the site of Berlin’s convention center has a capacity of 500 beds that can be doubled if required.

But since Germany has managed to sharply lower the rate of infection since building began four weeks ago, the capital’s 50 hospitals have proved more than sufficient for treating all coronavirus patients.

Berlin’s top health official, Dilek Kalayci, said the clinic would serve as a “reserve hospital,” noting that the experience of Spain, Italy and New York had shown even well-equipped medical systems could become overloaded in a pandemic.

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SEVILLE, Spain — Spain is reporting Monday the lowest numbers of coronavirus-related fatalities and infections in weeks, as half of the country steps into a softer version of the country’s strict lockdown.

There were 123 deaths in the past 24 hours, the lowest since March 17, bringing the country’s total death toll to almost 27,000. With nearly 400 new COVID-19 cases confirmed by the most reliable laboratory tests, the overall number of recorded infections rose to about 268,000.

Top health official Fernando Simón says figures show “in a clear and evident way that we are in the last phase of virus transmission,” but has warned against complacency because the experience of other countries, including South Korea and Germany, shows the risks of sudden rebounds.

Although Madrid and Barcelona remain in a stricter lockdown, roughly half of 47 million Spaniards are allowed from Monday to socialize with up to 10 people at the same time, shop in small establishments and enjoy a meal or a coffee in restaurants and bars with outdoor seating.

Hotels are also allowed to open as long as they don’t mix guests in public areas. But with people not allowed to travel outside of their provinces and few flights scheduled from overseas, Seville’s Doña María Hotel Manuel Domínguez says the business prospects were bleak.

“Unfortunately this year’s business is lost already, it’s going to be catastrophic,” says Domínguez.

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ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s government plans to repatriate its 110,000 citizens who have been stranded in the Middle East and other countries since flights operations were suspended to contain the spread of coronavirus in March, adviser to prime minister on national security said.

Moeed Yusuf said special flights are being arranged to bring all those Pakistanis who want to return home.

He said all those Pakistanis who test negative upon their return will be allowed to go home but those testing positive will be quarantined at government facilities. Yusuf told a news conference that about 20,000 Pakistanis have already been repatriated from various countries.

He said the government will try to repatriate 10,000 Pakistanis every week and that the majority of those who wished to return home are stranded in the Middle East. His comments came as Pakistan reported another 28 deaths and nearly 1,500 cases of coronavirus, raising overall cases to almost 31,000 with close to 700 fatalities.

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PARIS — Cars began slowly filling Paris’ wide Champs-Elysees Avenue in a sleepy start to post-confinement life in the French capital after two months of strict lockdown.

Shoppers and gawkers timidly walked down sidewalks, packed with crowds in pre-coronavirus times. Only half the shops on the famed avenue were expected to open Monday.

The notorious traffic jams of the Paris region were distinctly absent on the first day of deconfinement. Authorities have encouraged businesses to continue allowing employees to work from home and are promoting bicycles and other “soft” transport.

Still, people wearing required masks filled Paris’ St. Lazare station, a hub for western suburbs. Stickers marked train seats and floors to ensure social distancing, but in the station lobby crowds pressed together and scores of people were shoulder-to-shoulder reaching for masks being handed out.

In a busy commercial district of southern Paris the only businesses opening early were real estate office, without clients.

French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire stressed the importance of revving up the stalled economy by returning to work. Visiting a construction site in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, west of Paris, he said that “we’re living a very brutal recession.” The only responsible thing to do, he said on BFMTV, is to “get back to work.”

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