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World
SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 2020
Europe
BERLIN (AFP) - Germany said yes-
terday a month-long lockdown had
brought the coronavirus pandemic
under control, announcing plans
to manufacture 50 million masks
a week ahead of the irst steps to
loosen restrictions.
Smaller shops will be allowed to
reopen fromMonday and some chil-
dren could soon return to school
within weeks, even as harder-hit
European countries such as France
and Britain prolong restrictions.
Europe remains in the “eye of
the storm”, the World Health Orga-
nization (WHO) warned on Thurs-
day, accounting for over 90,000 of
more than 140,000 deaths world-
wide according to an AFP tally.
However, infection numbers in
Germany “have sunk signiicantly”
and the outbreak is “under con-
trol”, Health Minister Jens Spahn
told reporters yesterday. Each dis-
ease carrier in Germany was infect-
ing less than one other person - the
person-to-person rate dropping to
0.7 - according to data from the
Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for dis-
ease control on Thursday.
So far almost 134,000 people
have been infected and 3,868 have
died. The igures justiied a irst eas-
ing of the lockdown with a review
after two or three weeks, Chancellor
Angela Merkel said on Wednesday.
But the veteran leader warned
there was “little margin for error”
and that “caution should be the
watchword, not over-conidence”.
Measures agreed between
Merkel and state premiers on
Wednesday included reopening
shops of up to 800 square metres
from next week.
Meanwhile, some pupils will re-
turn to classrooms fromMay 4, with
a focus on those soon to sit exams.
Other elements of the wide-
ranging restrictions will remain in
effect, including a ban on gather-
ings of more than two people in
public and on large public events.
Regional leaders have made
their own tweaks to the centrally-
agreed rules, with Bavarian leader
Markus Soeder arguing to retain
tough restrictionswhileNorth Rhine-
Westphalia premier Armin Laschet
pushes to loosen even faster.
Polls show much of the pub-
lic stands behind strict infection
control, but business is pushing
hard for a dependable roadmap for
exiting lockdown.
Some companies, like car gi-
ant Volkswagen, have already an-
nounced their own step-by-step
plans for reactivating production in
Germany charts lockdown
exit with virus ‘under control’
Germany in the coming weeks.
Preparations to reopen facto-
ries included “a comprehensive
catalogue of measures to protect
workers’ health,” Volkswagen brand
Chief Operating Oficer Ralf Brand-
staetter said Wednesday.
As Germany prepares to allow
public life to resume, Health Min-
ister Spahn said the country would
produce up to 50 million masks a
week from August.
Some 40 million would be sur-
gical masks and 10 million would
be the sought after FFP2 masks,
which offer more protection.
But so far Germany has not aped
neighbouring Austria by introduc-
ing a nationwide requirement for
people to wear masks in public.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn. PHOTO: AFP
MOSCOW (AFP) - The Russian gov-
ernment has authorised the use of
an anti-malarial drug to treat coro-
navirus patients despite interna-
tional concerns over its safety and
effectiveness.
The government published an or-
der late Thursday allowing the use of
hydroxychloroquine on patients after
China donated more than 68,000
packs of the tablets to Russia.
The order was published after
President Vladimir Putin had a phone
conversation with Chinese leader Xi
Jinping on Thursday evening.
It said the drug would be distrib-
uted to hospitals that are caring for
patients who have tested positive
for coronavirus or are suspected of
having it.
It said the drug’s safety and ef-
fectiveness will be monitored by
the state health watchdog.
Hydroxychloroquine has been
used for decades against malaria
and is being tested worldwide
against the virus along with another
anti-malarial drug, chloroquine.
Hydroxychloroquine has shown
early promise against COVID£19 in
small-scale studies in France and
China to reduce virus levels among
people badly infected.
United States (US) President
Donald Trump has touted it as a
coronavirus treatment and in the US
a limited emergency-use authorisa-
tion has been granted to the drug.
Russia said yesterday it had re-
corded 32,008 coronavirus cases,
including a record 4,070 in the last
24 hours, with oficials warning that
Moscow was two to three weeks
away from a peak in infections.
Oficial igures showed more
than half of the new cases were
registered in Moscow and the sur-
rounding region. So far 273 deaths
have been recorded in Russia, in-
cluding 41 in the last 24 hours.
Moscow, Europe’s largest city
with some 12 million inhabitants,
has been under lockdown since
the end of March but oficials have
complained that many residents
are louting coninement rules.
Deputy Mayor Anastasia Rakova
warned the city “will face dificult
weeks” ahead.
“The peak in morbidity should
arrive in the next two to three
weeks,” she said in a video released
on social media.
Under coninement rules that
Muscovites have to observe until at
least May 1, they are only allowed
to leave their homes to go to work,
walk their dogs, take out trash or
visit their nearest shop.
This week city authorities tight-
ened the lockdown by introducing
a digital permit system, requiring
that anyone travelling by car or
public transport obtain a pass.
Russia has carried out more
than 1.7 million coronavirus tests,
though there have been concerns
about their reliability.
Russia to treat virus cases with anti-malaria drug
COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Denmark
will begin to open up more busi-
nesses next week as it further
eases virus restrictions, oficials
announced yesterday.
Following late-night nego-
tiations between the main politi-
cal parties, the government an-
nounced a deal for extending the
irst phase in the country’s return
to normality.
“No one wants to keep Den-
mark closed for a day more than
strictly necessary. But we must
not move faster than what al-
lows us to still keep the epidem-
ic under control,” Prime Minis-
ter Mette Frederiksen said in a
Facebook post.
Denmark began reopening
schools for younger children
on Wednesday after a month-
long closure to combat the
COVID£19 pandemic, becoming
the irst country in Europe to
do so. Hairdressers and several
other establishment will start to
reopen from Monday, and driv-
ing schools will start giving
lessons again.
Danish courts will also start to
hear more cases after being limit-
ed to handling only critical ones.
The World Health Organiza-
tion’s (WHO) European ofice urged
countries to make sure suficient
safeguards were in place before
starting to ease restrictions.
If countries could not ensure
certain criteria, WHO regional
director for Europe Hans Kluge
urged them to “please rethink”.
Earlier this week Finland
lifted a travel blockade on the
Helsinki region.
Austria, Italy and Spain have
also allowed some businesses
to reopen.
Denmark further eases
coronavirus restrictions
LONDON (AFP) - Britain’s Prince Wil-
liam yesterday revealed his concern
for his father Prince Charles after
he contracted coronavirus - and his
worries for his grandmother Queen
Elizabeth II.
Charles, 71, the monarch’s el-
dest son and heir, tested positive
for COVID£19 last month but recov-
ered after a week in isolation at his
home in Scotland.
“I have to admit, at irst I was
quite concerned, he its the proile
of somebody, at the age he is at,
which is fairly risky,” his oldest son
Prince William told the
BBC
.
“But my father has had many
chest infections, colds and things
like that over the years and so I
thought to myself if anybody is go-
ing to be able to beat this, it is go-
ing to be him.” In the end Charles
had only mild symptoms, the
37-year-old said.
The Queen, 93, and her hus-
Prince William admits virus fears for Charles, Queen
band Prince Philip, 98, have been
staying at Windsor Castle near
London since the outbreak be-
gan.
“Obviously I think very carefully
about my grandparents,” William
added. “We are doing everything
we can to make sure they are iso-
lated away and protected from this
but it does worry me.”
Britain’s Prince Charles and Prince William during their visit to the Defence
Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) in Loughborough, central England.
PHOTO: AFP
MADRID (AP) — Spain said there
are now 19,478 deaths of patients
who tested positive for the new
coronavirus, nearly 350 more
than the number reported one
day earlier, and 188,068 con-
irmed infections with over 5,000
new ones.
Health authorities are re-
shufling the way to track
the pandemic’s impact in the
country with new guidelines to
count the dead, while an effort
to make more tests is counting
hundreds of patients cured or
without symptoms that weren’t
recorded before.
The government said that it’s
following World Health Organi-
zation guidance and insists on
counting only those who die hav-
ing tested positive for the virus,
whether they show symptoms
or not and no matter where the
death takes place.
The Director of the Health
Emergency Coordination Cen-
tre, Fernando Simón, said that
an effort to rein in a diversity of
data from 17 Spanish regions
is leading to corrections in
past statistics.
“If the data is distorted it be-
comes dificult to take scientiic
decisions,” Simón has said in a
televised press conference.
Spain is mulling how to
safely implement an incremen-
tal way out of one of Europe’s
strictest lockdown imposed in
mid-March to spread the impact
of the new virus.
Spain uses new guidelines
to count virus deaths