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:
— Trump hopeful to have virus vaccine on market by end of year or shortly after
— New York to open some beaches by Memorial Day weekend
— FDA investigates virus test used at White House for false negatives.
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LONDON -- British Health Secretary Matt Hancock says all care home residents and staff in England will have been tested for the coronavirus by early June, following days of criticism of the government over the scale of the epidemic in care homes.
The government said another 384 people who tested positive for COVID-19 have died in all settings, including care homes, taking the total to 33,998. That’s the highest death toll in Europe and second only to the U.S.
Government scientists also said their estimate for the reproduction rate of coronavirus — the so-called R value — has increased modestly as a result of the spread of the virus in care homes.
The R measures how many people on average one infected person transmits the disease to. Because of lag factors involved in measuring infections, it’s based on what occurred two to three weeks back. The R is thought to have risen to between 0.7 and 1 from the previous range of 0.5 and 0.9
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island sued Friday, seeking the release of dozens of detainees at a federal lockup where a lawyer says the coronavirus is spreading “uncontrollably.”
The number of detainees testing positive has more than doubled in recent days at the Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls from 15 to 38, the ACLU said. Ten staff members have also tested positive.
The lockup holds as many as 770 inmates in the custody of agencies including the U.S. Marshals Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but it’s not clear how many are currently there. The ACLU argues detainees can’t follow social distancing guidelines in small cells.
“The alarming news is that COVID-19 is spreading uncontrollably at the Wyatt,” lawyer Deborah Gonzalez said. Spokespeople for ICE and the lockup declined to comment on the lawsuit but said additional testing and monitoring is possible. Three ICE detainees were already released after a prior ACLU lawsuit.
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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday that he’s hopeful to have a coronavirus vaccine on the market by the end of the year or shortly thereafter.
Moncep Slaoui, a former pharmaceutical executive who Trump has tapped to serve as the administration’s virus czar, said that early trial data suggests that “a few hundred million doses of vaccine” will be delivered by late 2020.
Trump, speaking at a Rose Garden event, reiterated that he wants to see states move forward with reopening their economies.
“We are back, vaccine or no vaccine,” Trump said.
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BRUSSELS — The European Union and Spain say they are convening a donor conference this month in support of refugees and migrants from Venezuela as the coronavirus pandemic deepens their plight.
Venezuela is gripped by a deepening political and economic crisis under President Nicolás Maduro. Refugee agencies have said that the number of people fleeing the country could reach 6.5 million by the end of 2020. Most stay in Latin America and the Caribbean
In a statement Friday, the EU said the aim of the May 26 event is to “mobilize resources to support the displaced population and the main host communities, tackle the aggravated situation created by COVID-19, and facilitate greater commitment and coordination of the key actors.”
The EU fears the crisis is being ignored but hopes that around 40 countries as well as UN agencies and world financial institutions will take part.
Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya says “the international community cannot remain aloof from the drama of the Venezuelan exodus. It is necessary to act without further delay.”
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NEW YORK -- After two months of strict limits on business and social distancing, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo welcomed the first loosening of restrictions in many parts of the state Friday and announced that beaches would be allowed to open in time for the Memorial Day weekend.
State and municipal beaches throughout the state will be allowed to open the Friday before the holiday, but with limits, the Democrat said.
Capacity will be limited to no more than 50 percent of normal, with parking limited to trim crowds. Group activities will not be allowed. Picnic areas and playgrounds will stay closed. Employees need to wear masks.
It will be up to local governments, Cuomo said, to decide whether to allow municipal beaches to reopen. If they do, they must follow the state’s rules.
“If there is a problem, and the locals do not enforce those regulations, we will close those beaches,” Cuomo said.
Beaches in New Jersey and Connecticut will also be open for the holiday weekend, and Cuomo said part of the rationale for reopening was to prevent New Yorkers from flocking to those states as the weather warms.
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NEW YORK -- New York City will spend $55 million to provide 74,000 free air conditioners to low-income older adults who may be cooped up inside their apartments all summer because of the coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday.
“Knowing that low-income seniors are the most vulnerable, we’re going to start an initiative right away to get them air conditioners,” de Blasio said.
Other measures aimed at helping New Yorkers survive summer in the era of social distancing will include setting up air-conditioned cooling centers in facilities such as gyms and libraries and opening fire hydrants safely.
“This is all about protecting New Yorkers and helping them through the summer,” de Blasio said.
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LONDON -- Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has confirmed that the lockdown restrictions in his country will start to be eased from Monday.
Varadkar said in a tweet that it is “safe to proceed” with the first stage in the government’s plan to ease the restrictions.
Earlier this month, the Irish government set out a road map of how to reopen society. Each one of the five stages will be staggered three weeks apart.
From Monday, groups of up to four people, who can be family or friends, may meet outdoors within 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) of home. And some workers, such as those in construction, can return to their jobs, while the rules on exercise have been relaxed. And garden centers, as well as other primarily outdoor retail businesses, will be able to reopen. Social distancing rules have to be observed in all cases.
Ireland is widely seen as having controlled the virus relatively well. The government has said that 1,506 people who tested positive for COVID-19 have died.
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ROME — Italy registered an increase of 789 COVID-19 infections from Thursday to Friday as the country anxiously waits to learn if partial easing of lockdown restrictions earlier this month has triggered any uptick in contagion rate.
Other Health Ministry figures released on Friday evening indicated the number of patients needing intensive care in hospitals has continued to steadily decline. Currently 808 people with coronavirus infections occupy ICU beds in Italy.
Early in the outbreak, ICU units were overwhelmed in the north, Italy’s epicenter for coronavirus cases, helping to sharply drive up the number of deaths. Italy’s known death toll by Friday evening stood at 31,610, after 242 deaths were registered in the last 24 hours. Overall, Italy has registered 223,885 cases since the nation’s outbreak began in late February.
On May 4, the government loosened some lockdown rules, including allowing citizens to frequent public parks and to visit family members throughout their home region. Epidemiologists have said that it would take roughly 14 days to assess whether the regained partial freedom of movement might send Italy’s infection rate climbing again. Meanwhile, more restrictions are expected to be lifted or loosened throughout the country starting next week.
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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency is pushing back on reports it confiscated or diverted shipments of personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor calls such reports “absurd.” The agency has been coordinating the emergency import of millions of surgical masks, respirators, and other protective equipment and distributing the gear around the country.
Gaynor says FEMA doesn’t have the legal authority to seize or divert PPE shipments.
He blamed the reports on vendors playing customers against each other to get the best price. The FEMA administrator says they will quote a price to a buyer and then claim FEMA seized the shipment after finding someone willing to pay a higher price for scarce materials.
Gaynor says in a conference call, “FEMA has become a convenient scapegoat for malicious actors who are unable to deliver on the promises they have made or are engaging in illegal activity.”
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SAO PAULO — Brazil’s health minister, who took office less than a month ago, resigned on Friday.
It’s part of the upheaval in the nation’s battle with the COVID-19 pandemic and President Jair Bolsonaro’s pressure to prioritize the economy over health-driven lockdowns.
Nelson Teich’s resignation was confirmed by the Health Ministry. The oncologist, a former health care consultant, took the job on April 17 under pressure to align the ministry’s actions with the president’s view that the economy must not be destroyed by restrictions to control spread of the virus.
Bolsonaro fired Teich’s predecessor, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, after disagreements over efforts to contain the coronavirus. Mandetta was one of Brazil’s most popular ministers.
Officials say more than 13,000 people have died of COVID-19 in Brazil, though experts say the figure is significantly higher due to insufficient testing. Analysts say the peak of the crisis has yet to hit Latin America’s largest nation.
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BERLIN — A county in western Germany that recorded a large number of COVID-19 infections among slaughterhouse workers will be allowed to reopen restaurants and cafes Monday after authorities decided to separate those cases from the region’s overall tally.
North Rhine-Westphalia state’s top health official says without the slaughterhouses cases, the Coesfeld county had fewer than eight infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the past week. That’s below the threshold of 50 when tighter restrictions are needed.
Karl-Josef Laumann says the 268 confirmed COVID-19 infections involving mostly migrant workers from Eastern Europe would be considered a “local outbreak incident” that didn’t affect the rest of the county.
The slaughterhouse cases prompted calls for a reform of labor laws to prevent workers in the meat industry from being housed and transported in cramped conditions.
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Follow AP news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.
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