Here's what you need to know about the
coronavirus right now:
Restarting crucial industries
India is planning to restart some crucial manufacturing to
ease the difficulties of the poor, despite expectations it will
extend a 21-day lockdown beyond April 15, two government sources
said.
Spain lifts restrictions on some businesses on Monday after
shutting down all non-essential operations nearly two weeks ago.
This will allow businesses that cannot operate remotely,
including construction and manufacturing, to reopen. The move
has been criticised by some as risking a resurgence in the
spread of the virus.
A municipal worker sprays disinfectant on his colleague after they cremated the body of a man who died due to coronavirus disease (Covid-19) at a crematorium in Ahmedabad, India. Picture: Amit Dave/Reuters
Patients testing positive again
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday that it
was looking into reports of COVID-19 patients testing positive
again after clinically recovering from the disease.
South Korean officials had reported on Friday that 91
patients cleared of the new coronavirus had tested positive
again. Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, told a briefing that the virus
may have been "reactivated" rather than the patients being
re-infected.
The main opposition United Future Party's candidate Hwang Kyo-ahn waves during his campaign for the upcoming parliamentary elections in Seoul, South Korea. Picture: Ahn Young-joon/AP
Russian border becomes China's new frontline
China's northeastern border with Russia has become its new
frontline in the fight against a resurgence in the epidemic, as
new daily cases rose to a six-week high.
Half of the imported cases from the daily tally involved
Chinese nationals returning home from Russia's Far Eastern
Federal District through border crossings in the Heilongjiang
province.
Junior students wait in line as they practice social distancing on the first day of returning to school following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the country, at a secondary school in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China. Picture: cnsphoto via Reuters
Widespread testing needed
The United States needs to ramp up testing for the
coronavirus as the White House considers when and how to lift
stay-at-home restrictions and lockdowns triggered by the
pandemic, US health experts said on Sunday.
Diagnostic testing determines if somebody is infected with
the virus and antibody testing shows who has been infected and
is therefore immune. Both will be important in getting people
back into the workplace and containing the virus as that
happens, the experts said.
'Ghosts' patrol streets to keep Indonesians indoors
An Indonesian village on Java island has summoned up ghosts
to help it persuade locals to stay indoors during the
coronavirus outbreak.
The ghosts are in fact villagers dressed up as "pocong",
ghostly figures wrapped in white shrouds with powdered faces and
kohl-rimmed eyes.
"We wanted to be different and create a deterrent effect
because 'pocong' are spooky and scary," said Anjar
Pancaningtyas, head of a village youth group that coordinated
with the police on the unconventional initiative.
In Indonesian folklore, "pocong" represent the trapped souls
of the dead.