Democrats close to deal with Republicans on US coronavirus response bill

Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the US Senate, has said he is close to reaching a deal with Republicans on a new coronavirus response bill.

“We’ve made very good progress and I’m very hopeful we can come to an agreement tonight or early tomorrow morning,” Mr Schumer said in an interview on CNN.

Steven Mnuchin, the US treasury secretary, has given a similar assessment on the progress of the bill, which would significantly expand the Small Business Administration’s loan programme to small businesses.

Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi, the US House speaker, said earlier on Sunday she believed lawmakers were very close to a deal on the funding.

Experts in Hungary expect the coronavirus epidemic to peak on 3 May, prime minister Viktor Orban said in a video posted on his official Facebook page on Sunday.

Mr Orban, who was visiting a hospital in the town of Ajka west of Budapest, said that by then Hungary would have 5,000 ventilators, up from just over 2,000 now. He said that figure would later rise to 8,000, which would be enough to treat all Covid-19 patients who need to be put on the machines.

“The number (of ventilators) will go up to 8,000 and then anything can happen. That is enough, even at a time of war,” Mr Orban told a doctor in the video.

As of Sunday, Hungary had 1,916 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 189 deaths.

The crisis has presented Mr Orban with the toughest challenge to his decade-long rule. His response – to rule by decree indefinitely, after receiving parliament’s authorisation, to tackle the outbreak – has drawn criticism from the European Union.

Health authorities added that the number of confirmed cases has risen to 120,067.
 

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe faces another “deeply unsettling” couple of days as the wait continues to find out if her temporary release from a prison in Iran has been extended.

The British-Iranian mother was temporarily freed from Evin prison in Tehran in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s furlough was extended by two weeks in late March, and she was scheduled to return to prison on Saturday.

When her family had not received a decision by Saturday on whether or not her furlough is to be extended, they were told to return to the Prosecutors Office in Iran on Sunday – but have now been told to come back on Tuesday.

Her husband Richard Ratcliffe said: “Nazanin’s father and lawyer were separately told to come back on Tuesday. No news on clemency, no news on furlough extension.

“The president announced today that non-dangerous prisoners on furlough have it extended for another month.

“According to her lawyer, this means furlough has been automatically extended for non-political prisoners.

“For political prisoners like Nazanin, the extension needs to be confirmed by the Prosecutors Office in co-ordination with the prison – and will be allowed for those only with a record of good behaviour, not speaking out in the media etc.”

Read her analysis below:
 

Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith has backed the government in its efforts to prepare for coronavirus amid reports it initially overlooked the threat of the pandemic.

Labour have accused Boris Johnson of being “missing in action” after the prime minister missed five emergency meetings on coronavirus at the start of the crisis.

The government has also been accused of missing a series of opportunities to try and lessen the impact of the outbreak in February and March.

“The reality about this is that the world did not realise the extent of the pandemic in China because it is quite clear now that China suppressed and hid information, for whatever reasons we may yet discover,” Mr Duncan Smith, speaking to Sky News, said in defence of the government.

“And that the World Health Organisation, which has serious questions to answer, did not tell the rest of the world that this was a pandemic that was more than likely to spread.”

He added: “There are questions, yes, that will be asked, but later on, not now.
“We have no idea who is leaking this information, whether they are disgruntled or not, we don’t know.

“But the reality is, questions will be asked, but it is right to ask them once we have completed this process, got on top of this and then managed to get the country back up and running.”

While the official toll sits at 219 as of 3 April, the National Care Forum (NCF) suggests the true number may have reached 4,040 by 13 April, rising to 7,337 when factoring in those transferred to hospital.

The NCF compiled data from 47 of its 115 member organisations, which together provide for 7.4 per cent of the UK’s care home population, and extrapolated this to provide an estimate for the entire UK.

There were at least 2,500 coronavirus fatalities in the final week alone – nearly twice as many than during the whole of the previous month, according to NCF’s projections – which are very similar to those made independently on Saturday by leading industry body, Care England.

President Vladimir Putin said that Russian authorities had the coronavirus crisis under full control and that everything would work out with God’s help – even as the country registered a record daily rise in cases on Sunday.

Russia reported 6,060 new infections, bringing its nationwide tally to 42,853. The official death toll of 361 remains relatively low compared with other countries with a similar number of cases.

In a video message to congratulate Christians on the Orthodox Easter, Mr Putin said the religious festival would strengthen Russians’ hope and faith because the resurrection of Christ was a powerful symbol of rebirth and a reminder that life goes on.

“All levels of power are working in an organised, responsible and timely way,” he said.

“The situation is under full control. All of our society is united in front of the common threat.”
 

Two dozen crew members of a Taiwanese naval ship have tested positive for coronavirus after returning from a nearly two-month training mission that took them to the Pacific island nation of Palau.

Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control said Sunday that 21 more cases had been identified from a refuelling ship, on top of three reported Saturday. More than 700 officers and sailors from the refuelling ship and the two warships that took part in the mission are in quarantine for 14 days.

The CDC said that a Taiwanese student returning from the United States had also tested positive. That brought the total for Sunday to 22, an upward spike for the self-governing island. New cases had fallen to single digits in the past week, including three days in which none were reported.

France’s national health agency has said the number of virus patients in intensive care dropped for the 10th day in a row, while the number of overall virus cases in hospital has fallen for three consecutive days.

Health officials say confinement is “stopping the viral spread”.

The total number of people to have died from Covid-19 in France is up to 19,323, with nursing home deaths amounting to more than one third of the total.

The total number of deaths among people known to have been infected with the coronavirus increased to 3,684, while the number of confirmed infections rose by 1,066 to 32,655.

Hundreds of people denouncing pandemic lockdown measures opposed by president Jair Bolsonaro have taken to the streets across a number of major cities in Brazil.

Protesters in lorries, cars and on motorcycles honked horns on the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and the capital of Brasilia, calling for governors to resign over measures that have forced most businesses to close for weeks.

Mr Bolsonaro has been a fierce critic of the states’ stay-at-home measures, arguing that the economic harm could be more damaging than the illness. The protests took place a day after he fired his health minister, who had been promoting isolation measures.

In Rio de Janeiro, about 100 vehicles took part in the gridlock, cruising down Atlantica Avenue, along the iconic and temporarily shut down Copacabana beach.

Mr Bolsonaro has meanwhile reiterated his intention to start reopening the economy.
 

The Pope left the Vatican for the first time in more than a month to say Mass in an almost empty church a few blocks away to mark Divine Mercy Sunday.
 

In his homily at the Mass, he said the recovery could not leave anyone behind and that now was the time to heal injustice around the world because it undermined the health of the entire human family.
 

“Now, while we are looking forward to a slow and arduous recovery from the pandemic, there is a danger that we will forget those who are left behind,” the Pope said in his homily in the church of Santo Spirito in Sassia, Rome.
 

“The risk is that we may then be struck by an even worse virus, that of selfish indifference. A virus spread by the thought that life is better if it is better for me, and that everything will be fine if it is fine for me,” he said.
 

Some shook hands. Others hugged. More than a hundred people rubbed elbows and shoulders, their signs and flags touching, their faces unmasked. Mr Litrell held his 6-year-old daughter as those surrounding him chanted to reopen the US economy outside the state Capitol building in Austin, Texas.

“I don’t fear a potential pathogen,” he said of the fast-spreading coronavirus that has compelled most governors to shut down their states, including the closing of nonessential businesses. “I think there’s potential pathogens around us all the time, and for the most part, we’re healthy.”

Support for businesses during the coronavirus pandemic must come faster if people’s livelihoods are to be saved, the government has been warned.

The government’s furlough scheme, which allows employees to get 80 per cent of their salaries up to a maximum of £2,500 a month, was extended on Friday for at least another month, as many employees are forced to stay at home to help slow the spread of coronavirus.

Adam Marshall, director general at the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC), said the situation for so many firms is “extremely difficult”.

Asked about the consequences of support not coming through fast enough, he told Sky News: “Well, the cost here is in terms of people’s livelihoods.

“We’re seeing for example about 66 per cent, two-thirds of businesses, telling us that they’re going to use the furlough scheme in order to try to get some support for their employees so that they don’t have to make them redundant or lay them off.

“That’s a really big number, and unless some of that cash flows through from the furlough scheme quickly when applications open tomorrow, a lot of businesses are going to face difficulty paying wages and paying suppliers.

“So the human cost as well as the economic cost could be big if we don’t see support moving more quickly to the frontline.”
 

Those most at risk from coronavirus, like those with existing health conditions, pregnant women, or the elderly, will be prioritised on three flights leaving Auckland and two from Christchurch, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said.
 

The first plane is expected to depart on Friday and flights will continue to run every second day, with alternating departures from Auckland and Christchurch, the FCO said.
 

Services are being part-funded by the Government’s £75 million scheme to organise flights from countries where commercial services have been halted due to the pandemic.
 

However tickets back from New Zealand will cost £800 per person. Travellers able to prove financial hardship may be able to get an emergency loan from public funds.

Iran has extended furloughs for prisoners for another month, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday, as the Islamic Republic endeavours to stem the spread of the new coronavirus in its crowded jails. 

Iran’s reported temporary release of 100,000 prisoners since February – including prisoners of conscience and dual and foreign nationals – was welcomed by the United Nations on Friday as a good step, but one that must be expanded.

“Furloughs of those prisoners, who pose no threat to the society, have been extended until May 20,” Mr Rouhani said in a televised cabinet meeting.

However, a letter by UN human rights experts said “most prisoners of conscience, human rights defenders, conservationists and dual and foreign nationals” remained imprisoned in Iran.

Mr Rouhani said mosques and holy sites in Iran would remain closed until at least 4 May, as the Middle East’s worst-hit country tries to contain the outbreak.