UK measures to last at least ‘several months’; Iran temporarily releases thousands of prisoners

Lothar Wieler, the president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin, the National Public Health Institute in Germany, has said the risk to Germans was now ‘high,’ adding that is the highest gradation there is.

He told a daily conference said that 99 per cent of registered cases had so far survived the illness, and although he had “no idea” what the death rate will eventually be, at the moment all evidence points to the fact that only 1/5 of persons infected will be seriously ill.

Four out of five people will suffer only light symptoms or none at all. And according to information based on existing and previous cases, only around half of those who will be infected, actually get sick, “the other half do not notice it at all”, he said.

The RKI is developing various tools to assist Germany’s medical system, including one which monitors intensive bed capacity in order to enable the optimisation of the health system.

Stanley Johnson, father of the UK prime minister, has indicated he would ignore official advice to tackle the spread of coronavirus and still go to the pub.

His comments came a day after Boris Johnson urged everyone to “avoid pubs, clubs, theatres and other such social venues”.

The Prime Minister said the advice was particularly important for people over 70. But Stanley Johnson, 79, said: “Of course I’ll go to a pub if I need to go to a pub.”

Speaking on ITV’s This Morning, he said landlords “don’t want people to be not in the pub at all”.

His comments come as the industry voices concern that the measures could result in mass job losses and permanent pub closures. He suggested his son’s Government would produce a major financial package to support businesses.

This is a pandemic that will open up sinkholes in society and volunteers may have to help out in services from deliveries to education, writes Gaby Hinsliff in the Guardian today.

Referring to the UK – although it’s as relevant to other places as well – she adds:

People whose jobs have vanished from beneath their feet need money to live on but soon they’ll also need a purpose, something to do for months on end.

We will have a vast reservoir of bored, frustrated, depressed citizens whose jobs weren’t essential to survival on one hand, and on the other, a shortage of people to do essential work from social care to food production as others go down sick.

Ministers should be thinking now about how to match them up, in ways that don’t spread infection – if those who have had it do turn out to be immune, should they be trained or organised to fill the sinkholes that will open up in society?

In Scotland, no new jury trials will begin until further notice as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

The Scottish courts and tribunals announced today that no new criminal jury trials would be commenced or new juries empanelled until further notice. The measure follows yesterday’s extraordinary advice that the general public stay at home as much as possible and avoid unnecessary social contact.

In a statement, the Scottish authorities said jury trials that have already commenced would run to conclusion of the trial, if practical to do so.

“It is likely that further measures will be announced in the coming days,” the statement notes.

Saudi Arabia to stage ‘virtual’ G20 summit

Saudi Arabia, the current chair of the group of the 20 most industrialised nations, is to stage a virtual G20 summit in the coming days in a bid to show world leaders have coordinated medical and economic plans to control coronavirus.

Members of the G20, mainly western nations and Japan, held a smaller virtual summit on Monday promising to do whatever it takes to bring the west through the crisis. The G20 also brings in China, India, Brazil, Russia, Korea, Turkey, Australia and South Africa, and other big drivers of the world economy

Iran to free tens of thousands of prisoners

Iran has temporarily freed a total of 85,000 prisoners, including political prisoners, a spokesman for its judiciary said on Tuesday, adding that the prisons were responding to the threat of a coronavirus epidemic in jails.

“Some 50% of those released are security-related prisoners. Also in the jails we have taken precautionary measures to confront the outbreak,” the spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said.

British change in strategy defended

Britain had “no time to lose” in changing tactics in order to prevent thousands of deaths and the NHS being overwhelmed, scientists providing guidance to the UK government have said.

The Imperial College Covid-19 response team – which is one of several scientific teams advising UK ministers – published a paper showing that 250,000 people could die if efforts were focused only on delaying and slowing down the spread of Covid-19.

Separately, England’s deputy chief medical officer, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, could not rule out the strict measures having to last for a year but predicted they would last at least “several months“.

Australians urged by government to come home

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs has advised Australians to return home as soon as possible by commercial means because overseas travel is becoming “more complex and difficult” as countries impose travel restrictions and close their borders.

The new travel advice, issued on Tuesday night, triggered speculation that the Morrison government could be about to impose a lockdown in Australia. But officials told Guardian Australia that was not in contemplation.

EU to close all external borders

The European Union is set to endorse the strictest travel ban in its history – with France joining Italy and Spain in full lockdown – as Donald Trump told Americans to change their behaviour, acknowledging for the first time that beating the coronavirus could take months.

Leaders of EU states were expected on Tuesday to suspend all travel into the passport-free Schengen zone by non-EU nationals for at least 30 days in a bid to instil uniformity across the bloc after some member states, including Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, unilaterally began imposing border checks.

Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas, just announced that the government was going to start an operation to bring home thousands of citizens who have been stranded abroad by the coronavirus.

Global quarantines enforced and cities locked down

More countries and cities around the world followed each other in locking down borders and introducing draconian restrictions on citizens’ movements or enforcing quarantines on new arrivals

They included moves by Vietnam to start mandatory quarantine of all arrivals from the US, Europe and countries from the Asean group. In India, airports and hospitals in Mumbai were ordered to use 14-day ink to stamp the left hand of those who were to be quarantined at home.

In Spain, one of the European countries hardest hit, the virus claimed more than 150 lives in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 491 people, health authorities said Tuesday.

The number of confirmed cases across the country now sits at 11,178 – the first time that known cases in Spain have officially passed the 10,000 mark. Nearly half of the cases are in the Madrid region. Among the latest to test positive were several more players and coaching staff of La Liga’s Valencia.

China reacts angrily to Trump ‘China Virus’ tweet

China has issued an angry reaction to the US president Donald Trump’s characterisation of the disease as “the Chinese virus.” China’s foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the US president should take care of his own matters first and not seek to “stigmatise” China.

Coronavirus upends US presidential primaries.

Three US states will hold their Democratic presidential primaries as scheduled on Tuesday, but an election in Ohio was thrust into chaos when the state defied a judge’s orders and proceeded to delay the election hours before polls open amid concerns over the coronavirus outbreak.

Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are competing again on Tuesday for the opportunity to lead their party in a campaign season suddenly overshadowed by a pandemic that closed borders, shaken the economy and swept every corner of public life.

Research on vaccines and treatments progress

China has authorised clinical trials on its first vaccine developed to combat the new coronavirus, state media reported on Tuesday.

In other developments, US company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc said it had identified hundreds of antibodies that could potentially treat the coronavirus.

Cancellation of Uefa 2020 looms

The postponement of soccer’s Euro 2020 Championship may already have been decided after Uefa last week cancelled its hotel bookings in Copenhagen.

Uefa has called a video conference for today to discuss football’s response to the coronavirus crisis, with all 55 of Europe’s football associations, the European Club Association, European Leagues and the international players’ union Fifpro.

Thailand and Cambodia report new cases

Thailand reported 30 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, raising the total to 177, with 70-80% of them in Bangkok, according to the health ministry. Cambodia reported 12 new cases, bringing the total to 24.