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:
— Rome’s Colosseum to open after three-month shutdown.
— British PM Johnson invites Putin to online vaccine summit.
— Spain reports slight increase in national death toll.
— WHO warns that 1st wave of pandemic not over; dampens hopes.
___
ROME — The Colosseum will start receiving visitors again after three months of shutdown during COVID-19 containment measures.
To lower the risk of possible contagion at one of Italy’s most popular tourist attractions, tourists must wear protective masks and have their temperatures taken before entering the ancient arena, which re-opens to tourism on June 1.
Entrance times will be staggered to discourage crowding and tickets must be bought online. A reduced-price ticket will be available for afternoon visitors in an effort to encourage Romans to visit the monument at the end of their working day, especially while Italy awaits for tourism from overseas to resume.
Tickets to the Colosseum also allow entrance to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. But tourists to those two sites will no longer be able to wander at will through the sprawling ancient ruins. Instead, they will have to follow fixed paths.
___
LONDON — Health Secretary Matt Hancock is reporting that Britain’s overall number of deaths involving the new coronavirus is at the lowest in six weeks.
Officials also said that for the first time since March 18, there were no such deaths recorded in Northern Ireland on Monday.
Official U.K. figures show an increase of 134 deaths recorded with a positive coronavirus test, bringing the country’s total death toll to 37,048 on Tuesday. That figure rises to 45,231 when taking into account suspected cases and all deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
John Newton, the national Covid-19 testing coordinator, added that the number of coronavirus hospital admissions in England was down to 471, the lowest number recorded.
___
UNITED NATIONS — Two major children’s organizations say the number of children in poor and middle-income countries living below the poverty line could increase by 86 million to 672 million by the end of 2020 as a result of the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
UNICEF and the Save the Children humanitarian and rights organization said in an analysis released Tuesday that nearly two-thirds of all children living in poverty are in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. But they said countries across Europe and central Asia could see a 44 percent increase across the region, while Latin America and the Caribbean could see a 22 percent increase from the coronavirus impact.
UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said the unprecedented socioeconomic crisis from COVID-19 “threatens to roll back years of progress in reducing child poverty and to leave children deprived of essential services.”
To mitigate the impact of the pandemic, Save the Children and UNICEF called for rapid and large-scale expansion of social protection systems and an array of programs, including cash transfers, school feeding, and child benefits to address immediate financial needs.
___
MADRID — Spain’s Health Ministry is reporting a slight increase in its national death toll from the new coronavirus, to 27,117, as it changes the way cases are counted.
Authorities said 35 deaths occurred over the past seven days, though almost 250 other deaths were added to the total.
On Monday, the Health Ministry cut the death toll by almost 2,000 after sifting through and correcting data, and that review is continuing.
The total number of cases rose to 236,259, with 194 diagnosed over the previous 24 hours and 3,222 over the past seven days.
___
ROME — Two northern regions account for far more than half of Italy’s latest confirmed cases of the new coronavirus.
According to Health Ministry figures, Lombardy registered 159 new cases in the 24-hour period ending Tuesday evening, while neighboring Piedmont registered 86 cases. The only other region to have more than 50 cases in the day-to-day tally was Liguria, also in the north.
Italy’s overall number of confirmed COVID-19 infections rose to 230,555 with the addition of 397 cases nationwide. Italy saw one of the lowest day-to-day number of deaths of patients since the first days of the outbreak with 78 more deaths registered.
That brings the nation's count to 32,995 known deaths.
___
BERLIN — Europe’s aviation safety agency is calling on airlines and airports to participate in a new program to help evaluate new coronavirus guidelines in real-life situations.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency said Tuesday that the program will focus on airlines that are fully applying the guidelines flying to airports that are also applying them.
The guidelines were published last week by EASA in conjunction with the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control with the goal of allowing air travel to restart in safe conditions. The guidelines include distancing measures, hand hygiene, mask recommendations and also rely on passengers taking personal responsibility, such as postponing travel if they learn they have been in contact with someone who has COVID-19.
The Cologne, Germany-based agency says participating airlines and airports will sign a pledge to abide by the guidelines, coordinate with national authorities, and design practical solutions when they encounter problems implementing the guidelines.
___
ATHENS — Greek health officials say they are ending their regular live televised briefings on the course of the coronavirus pandemic, which has essentially been brought under control in the country.
Sotiris Tsiodras, the government’s coronavirus task force chief, said Tuesday that while he will retain his duties, from now on the briefings will be written unless some special development dictates otherwise.
Tsiodras announced 10 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours and one more death, bringing the total to 2,892 infections and 173 deaths in a country of less than 11 million.
___
ROME — Italy’s health minister is appealing to citizens to answer the Red Cross call for a blood test to determine if they have antibodies to COVID-19.
Red Cross volunteers began making phone calls Tuesday to a representative sample of people throughout Italy. Minister Roberto Speranza told Sky TG24 TV the goal is to better understand how many people have developed antibodies.
Experts say many people without COVID-19 symptoms in the country where Europe’s outbreak began were likely infected but were never tested. Speranza says the blood test results of 150,000 people can be applied to the entire country.
Speranza says people with antibodies will quickly receive a test for COVID-19 to see if they have an active infection. Italy is considering a tentative lifting of restrictions of travel between regions in the country on June 3.
Scientists have cautioned they don’t know if antibodies guarantee immunity, and if they do, how long such immunity lasts.
___
UNITED NATIONS — A report says Venezuela’s broken health system is “grossly unprepared” to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, warning overcrowding and limited access to water in hospitals and homes make it likely the coronavirus illness will rapidly spread.
The report by Human Right Watch and Johns Hopkins University’s Centers for Public Health and Human Rights and for Humanitarian Health says the massive exodus of Venezuelans and crossing of the country’s borders due to the pandemic is increasing the risk of spread.
The report says on Monday, Venezuela had 1,121 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 10 deaths. But “the real number is almost certainly much higher, given the limited availability of reliable testing, limited transparency, and the persecution of medical professionals and journalists who report on this issue.”
Human Rights Watch and Johns Hopkins urged U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock to lead efforts to address this “humanitarian emergency.”
They called on the Lima Group of mostly conservative-run regional countries seeking to defuse the crisis in Venezuela as well as the United States and the European Union to press Maduro to “immediately open doors to a full-scale, U.N.-led humanitarian response to prevent catastrophic spread of COVID-19.”
___
MOSCOW — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend an online summit on the development of a coronavirus vaccine.
The British Embassy says Johnson has officially invited Putin to attend the Global Vaccine Summit 2020 hosted by Britain on June 4.
The embassy statement indicates the summit will focus on securing the critical support required for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to “continue its vital work and to help ensure that any vaccine developed for COVID 19 is available for the whole world.”
Several Russian labs have been developing anti-coronavirus vaccines and testing on humans was expected to start next month.
___
O’FALLON, Mo. — Leaders in Kansas City and St. Louis are urging people who partied close together at Lake of the Ozarks over the Memorial Day weekend to self-quarantine for two weeks.
Big crowds were reported at swimming pools, bars and restaurants at the popular central Missouri lake. Postings showed people without masks partying and swimming together, seemingly ignoring guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and from the state, to keep at least 6 feet apart.
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page called it “reckless behavior.” He asked the county’s health department to issue a travel advisory, citing concerns raised by residents and employers just as the county was beginning to reopen after weeks of shutdown caused by the virus.
St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, both Democrats, took to Twitter to express their disappointment with the crowds at the lake, which draws from the metropolitan areas on both sides of the state, along with neighboring Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas and Iowa.
“If you were part of a group that didn’t socially distance or wear masks, please, for the health of your family, coworkers and friends, stay home for the next 14 days,” Krewson said in a tweet.
Kansas City Health Director Rex Archer echoed the call for a 14-day self-quarantine.
___
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis will resume reciting prayers and giving his blessing to the faithful in St. Peter’s Square.
The Vatican says starting Sunday, Francis will again appear at his studio window overlooking the vast square for his weekly public appearances that generally draw tens of thousands of people.
Last week, Italy and the Vatican gradually ease lockdown measures. The square was reopened to the public, along with St. Peter’s Basilica. The Vatican says people will be required to social distance and police will make sure those at the noon appointment “respect the necessary inter-personal difference.”
Francis will celebrate Mass to mark Pentecost on Sunday inside the basilica but without the faithful. Italy, an early hotspot of the coronavirus in Europe, has reported more the 32,000 deaths.
___
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s Federal Police raided the official residence of Rio de Janeiro Gov. Wilson Witzel to carry out searches, part of an investigation into the embezzlement of public resources in the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Police didn’t say whether Witzel, a former federal judge, was personally targeted by any of the 12 search and seizure warrants in Rio and Sao Paulo states. An ongoing investigation pointed to irregularities in contracts awarded for the construction of emergency field hospitals in Rio, and involved health officials, police said.
“There is absolutely no participation on my part in any type of irregularity,” Witzel said. He also implied he was the target of political revenge.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has challenged many governors’ measures for containing the spread of the coronavirus, with Witzel a primary focus.
Bolsonaro has accused governors of inciting panic among the population with allegedly excessive stay-at-home recommendations and restrictions on commerce that he says will wreck the economy and produce worse hardship than the virus.
___
Follow AP news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
Looking to avoid the hassle of mudslinging, volatility, and uncertainty? You'd need to be out of the market, which isn’t viable. So where should investors put their money? Find out with this report.
Get This Free Report
