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 Scanning the infection curve
More than 777,000 people have been infected across the world and
over 37,500 have died, according to a Reuters tally at 0200 GMT on
Tuesday. Health officials around the world are scanning the latest
data in the hope of spotting signs that the curve is starting to
flatten as a result of now-widespread lockdowns.
Australia, for example, with some 4,400 coronavirus cases, is seeing
the rate of growth in new infections slowing from 25-30% a week ago
to an average of 9% over the past three days.
In Spain, the daily infection increase has slowed since the
introduction of lockdown measures, falling to 12% on average in the
past five days from around 20% in the preceding 10 days.
But while these may offer glimpses of a possible slow-down, health
experts everywhere warn that it is too early to restart anything
resembling normal life. Moreover the death toll - which tends to
trail new infections by a few weeks - is still rising: both France
and the United States recorded their deadliest days on Monday.
(For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread, open
https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser.)
The long arm of the law?
Britain's police force, which has long prided itself on being
ultimately answerable to the public and not the state, has been
accused of heavy-handedness when it comes to enforcing social
distancing measures.
Tactics under fire include the use of drones to spy on those taking
walks at beauty spots, or action to stop dog-walkers from driving
their pets to open spaces. There have also been reports that they
have told shops not to sell Easter eggs because they were not
"essential items".
Transport Minister Grant Shapps acknowledged there had been
individual cases where police may have gone "a bit further than they
should have gone" but insisted they were only intervening to enforce
compliance with rules as a last resort.
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G20 pledges to keep markets open, supplies flowing
G20 trade ministers pledged to keep their markets open and ensure a continued
flow of vital medical supplies, equipment and other essential goods. But they
stopped short of explicitly calling for an end to export restrictions that many
countries - including France, Germany and India - have enacted on drugs and
medical supplies.
As air freight capacity plunges and lockdowns mean that businesses are
struggling to find laborers, truck drivers and shipping crews, supply chains are
backing up and all eyes now are on possible disruptions to food supplies.
U.S. spies find it hard to chart spread
U.S. spy agencies are finding serious gaps in their ability to assess the spread
of coronavirus in China, Russia and North Korea, hindering U.S. and
international efforts to manage the crisis.
"We want to have as close an accurate, real-time understanding of where the
global hotspots are and where they are evolving," said Jeremy Konyndyk, an
expert at the Center for Global Development thinktank, who led the Office of
U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance from 2013 to 2017.
"The world is not going to get rid of this thing until we get rid of it
everywhere."
(Compiled by Mark John and Karishma Singh)
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