April 10 coronavirus news

Top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci says antibody tests, which show who has already been infected with the coronavirus, will be available soon. 

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases, said testing of people who currently have the coronavirus and antibody tests will be done in parallel.

Fauci also said the prospect of Americans carrying certificates of immunity to prove they have tested positive for the antibodies to the coronavirus might "have some merit under certain circumstances." Immunity certificates are being discussed in the White House coronavirus task force meetings, Fauci said.

"It's one of those things that we talk about when we want to make sure that we know who the vulnerable people are and not."

Fauci declined to give a concrete date when the US can reopen businesses and begin to relax restrictions. “The virus kind of decides whether or not it's going to be appropriate to open or not,” he said. “I would want to see a clear indication that you are very, very clearly and strongly going in the right direction. Because the one thing you don't want to do is you don't want to get out there prematurely and wind up back in the same situation,” he added.

Fauci said that Americans should still practice social distancing guidelines during Passover and Easter. He predicted there will be many deaths in the next week, but “deaths tend to lag behind what the driving elements of the outbreak are,” and there should be fewer hospitalizations and intubations. 

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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is “just beginning his recovery” from Covid-19 and continues to be in “very good spirits” after being moved out of the intensive care ward, his official spokesman said Friday.

Johnson will be taking the advice from his medical team, the spokesman said, but will not be going to the Prime Minister’s countryside retreat Chequers.

The Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will continue to stand in for Johnson, who entered intensive care on Monday and left the unit on Thursday.

The Spanish Government is working to introduce a preliminary version of a universal basic income as soon as possible, to help Spaniards face the economic fallout of the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country. 

“This [health] crisis has placed on the table the urgency of a universal basic income, that it is essential and fundamental to guarantee dignity and a minimum purchase power for many Spanish families that are in a desperate situation,” the second deputy Spanish Prime Minister, Pablo Iglesias, said in an interview with national broadcaster TVE on Friday.

“There are people who cannot take advantage of unemployment benefits or furloughs. There are people that have difficulties, today, to go to the supermarket and buy the essential products their family need.”

“It is essential and fundamental to help families that are in a desperate situation,” Iglesias, who is also the Minister for Social Rights, added.

According to reports in Spanish media, this temporary universal basic income would be of around $550 (€500) per month.

Iglesias went on to say it could take a few months to implement a proper universal basic income system in a country such as Spain, which has different benefit systems across each region, so the government in Madrid will put forward plan that will serve as a “bridge” in the meantime. 

“This is an urgent matter that we in government are working on and that we hope we can implement as soon as possible,” Iglesias said. “This ‘bridge’ universal basic income is essential.” 

Spain has previously announced a €200 billion ($216 billion) aid package, amounting to about 20% of the country's GDP, as it tackles the economic impact of its coronavirus outbreak -- the deadliest anywhere in Europe.

The nation registered an increase in unemployment of 302,265 people in March compared to the previous month, according to Spanish Labor Ministry data.

France's flagship aircraft carrier the Charles de Gaulle has 50 confirmed coronavirus cases on board, the French Defense Ministry said in a statement Friday. 

A medical team arrived on board on April 8, according to the Defense Ministry.

The flagship carrier is in the Atlantic, with an anticipated return to the French city of Toulon on April 23.

If you've been having bizarre dreams during the pandemic, you're not alone.

Those who are sharing their #pandemicdreams on Twitter are either amazed at the peculiarity of their dreams or distressed by plots that center on death, fear and strange new worlds.

"In my dream, I called an Uber, but a hearse showed up instead. Not liking these #pandemicdreams," posted Sarah Schachner on Twitter on March 23.

According to experts, these cryptic responses are normal. Our brains' way of understanding the stressful information we take in during the day can manifest in nightmares.

Or we might dream of past chapters in life that were less stressful.

"This [pandemic] is something that they've never experienced before," said sleep medicine expert Dr. Meir Kryger, professor of pulmonary medicine and clinical professor of nursing at Yale School of Medicine.

"And it's possible that their brains are trying to find a time when things weren't like that. It's like when sometimes people are trying to fall asleep and they can't turn their minds off. They will try to think about a time when things were better."

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Hungary's restrictions on movement have slowed the spread of coronavirus but the "real test" has yet to come, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday in an interview with state broadcaster Kossuth Radio.

According to the Hungarian Government website, "[Orban] said he regards the containment effort as successful in as much as that they have slowed down the spread of the epidemic, and as a result, they have gained time. However, 'the great trial, the real test is yet to come.'" 

"In the context of the epidemic, Mr Orban also said he can see that there are countries which are “already heading towards the exit”; however, in Hungary he 'cannot yet see the light at the end of the tunnel.'"

Orban said when infections peak in Hungary, the nation will need about 8,000 intensive care beds and ventilators, adding that in "peace time" Hungary has about 2,000 ventilators. 

The populist leader was last week given powers to rule by decree after a vote in Hungary's Parliament, a move criticized by international human rights watchdogs.

Hungary has 1,190 confirmed cases of coronavirus, including 77 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Spain has recorded another 605 deaths from coronavirus in the past day, a stark toll that nonetheless shows that the country's outbreak is slowing.

Spain's daily death toll rose by 4% on Friday, the lowest increase recorded since the virus arrived in Spain. The increase was 4.7% on Thursday.

“We have reached the peak and now the de-escalation begins," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in Parliament on Thursday.

The total number of deaths in the country is now 15,843, data from the Spanish Health Ministry released on Friday shows.

The number of active cases rose from 85,043 to 85,511 -- an increase of 468, the lowest since March 11.

Despite the progress, Spain extended its state of emergency until at least April 26 on Thursday. "The last thing we should allow is a step backwards," Sanchez said in a near-empty Parliament, warning that relaxing measures could cause the virus to "rebound."

The pace at which Covid-19 spread around the globe left governments and international institutions paralyzed. But few experienced the scale of the whiplash currently being felt in Brussels.

The European Union began this year reinvigorated, having seen off the threat of Brexit with a unity of purpose that typically eludes it when faced with such existential challenges. Its new leadership team, under Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, was fired up with a vision for the EU as a global leader in climate sustainability and democratic standards.

What a difference a few months and a global pandemic make. The only issue world leaders have the capacity to deal with right now has dragged the EU back into the quicksand of its own dysfunction.

From a sluggish political response to the crisis to bitter internal rows about how to mitigate the economic effects of coronavirus, member states have turned against one another, and in on themselves.

On Tuesday night, Mauro Ferrari -- the EU's chief scientist -- resigned from his position at the head of the European Research Council. In a statement to the Financial Times, Ferrari described his frustration at the EU's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

"I have been extremely disappointed by the European response to Covid-19 ... I arrived at the ERC a fervent supporter of the EU [but] the Covid-19 crisis completely changed my views."

He's not alone in thinking the EU's immediate reaction to the crisis had been slow off the mark. "From day one, the EU was fighting an uphill struggle, as it rushed to piece together a pan-European response to a healthcare crisis with no real authority to do so," says Andrea Renda, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies.

Read more here.

War-ravaged Yemen has reported its first confirmed case of Covid-19, weeks after the World Health Organization warned of the virus’s “catastrophic” consequences for the country.

The novel coronavirus case was reported Friday in the country’s Hadhramaut governorate, the internationally-recognized government’s National Higher Committee to Counteract the Coronavirus Epidemic said in a tweet. 

On Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition to fight Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels declared a two-week ceasefire. It said it was heeding calls from the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres for end of hostilities in the country in order to pave the way to a coronavirus response. 

Coalition spokesperson Turki al-Malki also said the temporary ceasefire would usher in talks for a permanent resolution to the five-year conflict. 

An outbreak could be "catastrophic": In March, a WHO representative told CNN that the spread of coronavirus in Yemen would “have a tremendous impact” on a health system works at “less than 50% capacity” due to the country’s conflict. 

“As a result, (the coronavirus) would be catastrophic in an environment in Yemen,” WHO Yemen Representative Dr Altaf Musani told CNN. 

“Points of entry, vulnerable people, migrants, refugees, displaced individuals -- all of this is why we have gone for a moderate to high-risk assessment of the country,” he said. 

Yemen is also has the world’s largest cholera epidemic and has outbreaks of seasonal diseases such as Malaria and Dengue. 

“Yemen has the largest case-load of needs in terms of scale and severity which we as humanitarians deliver on,” he said. “Dengue, cholera, complicated births and mental health issues associated with five years of conflict creates a dangerous storm that can come together and add another layer of vulnerability to Yemen.” 

There are 700 ICU beds in Yemen, including 60 for children, and 500 ventilators, according to a March statement by Save the Children. 

Around 80% of Yemen’s 30.5 million people are in need of aid, the charity added.