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 Pelosi wants COVID-19 deal 'now'
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that
Democrats in Congress are willing to cut their coronavirus relief
bill in half to get an agreement on new legislation.
"We have to try to come to that agreement now," Pelosi said in an
online interview with Politico. "We're willing to cut our bill in
half to meet the needs right now.”
A senior House Democratic aide said Pelosi was reiterating a
standing call by Democrats for the White House and Republicans to
meet them "half way" on coronavirus relief.
The Democratic-led House passed legislation with more than $3
trillion in relief in May. Democrats offered this month to reduce
that sum by $1 trillion, but the White House rejected it.
Mass testing in UK
Britain plans to bring in regular, population-wide testing for the
novel coronavirus so it can suppress its spread and limit
restrictions that have crippled one of the worst-hit countries in
the world.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the government was carrying out
trials of a range of new, faster tests that can give instant results
and hoped to roll them out towards the end of the year.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government has been heavily
criticised for its handling of the pandemic, with critics saying it
was too slow to go into lockdown and too slow to roll out testing to
know how far the virus had spread.
Church outbreaks spread in South Korea
South Korea reported its highest daily rise in novel coronavirus
cases since early March as outbreaks from churches around the
capital spread, prompting a warning of a nationwide wave of
infections.
The 297 new infections mark the sixth straight day of triple-digit
increases in a country that has managed to blunt several previous
outbreaks.
At least 166 of the new infections are linked to the Sarang Jeil
Church, taking the number of cases from it to 623.
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Some members of the church, which is run by a radical conservative preacher, are
reluctant to come forward and get tested, or to self-isolate, officials have
said.
Part of NZ lockdown illegal
A New Zealand court found the first nine days of a hard lockdown put in place by
the government this year requiring people to isolate at home was justified, but
unlawful, as an order imposing stay-at-home restrictions was not passed until
April 3.
"In the end, the measures taken by the government worked to eliminate COVID-19,
save lives and minimise damage to our economy," Attorney General David Parker
said after the ruling.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday she would increase the number of
defence personnel at quarantine facilities and borders to beat any spread of the
virus, as five new cases in the community were reported.
A warning from the Pope
Rich countries should not hoard a coronavirus vaccine and should only give
pandemic-related bailouts to companies committed to protecting the environment,
helping the most needy and the "common good", Pope Francis said on Wednesday.
"It would be sad if the rich are given priority for the COVID-19 vaccine. It
would be sad if the vaccine becomes property of this or that nation, if it is
not universal and for everyone," Francis said at his weekly general audience.
The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that any nation that hoards
possible vaccines while excluding others would deepen the pandemic.
"The pandemic is a crisis and one never exits from a crisis returning to the way
it was before," Francis said.
(Compiled by Linda Noakes and Karishma Singh; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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