Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her family must wait for another day to find out if her temporary release for a prison in Iran has been extended.
The British-Iranian mother was temporarily released from Evin prison in Tehran in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s furlough was extended by two weeks in late March, and she was scheduled to return to prison on Saturday.
Caroline Hawley(@carolinehawley)
No news for Nazanin and her family today. So another stressful day in limbo, waiting to hear if she’ll have to go back to jail. Amnesty International says: “There should be no question of her being sent back to Evin Prison – not in a few weeks’ time, not ever.” pic.twitter.com/moWnzF0nto
The Free Nazanin Campaign said on Twitter that her family had not yet received a decision on whether or not her furlough is to be extended, and were told to return to the Prosecutors Office in Iran on Sunday.
“Nazanin’s family spoke with the Prosecutors Office today for an update on whether her furlough is to be extended beyond this weekend, or if she will have to return to prison,” the tweet said.
“They were told to come back tomorrow for an answer.”
Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been living in relative isolation at her parents’ house in Tehran while the country gets to grips with the outbreak.
Free Nazanin(@FreeNazanin)
Nazanin’s family spoke with the Prosecutors Office today for an update on whether her furlough is to be extended beyond this weekend, or if she will have to return to prison. They were told to come back tomorrow for an answer.
She has to wear an ankle tag during the furlough, and can only go within a 300-metre range of her parents’ home.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport while travelling to show her young daughter, Gabriella, to her parents in April 2016.
She was sentenced to five years in prison over allegations, which she denies, of plotting to overthrow the Tehran government.
She was later afforded diplomatic protection by the UK government, which argues that she is innocent and that her treatment by Iran failed to meet obligations under international law.
Twickenham has become the latest major sports stadium in Britain to be given a role in the fight against the coronavirus, reports AFP.
The headquarters of English rugby union, located in south-west London, will host a drive-through coronavirus testing facility that is part of the British government’s nationwide effort to increase testing for thousands more NHS staff and other key workers.
“This new service will help end the uncertainty of whether NHS and social care staff and other key workers need to stay at home, meaning those who test negative will be able to return to work,” said health minister Lord James Bethell.
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday he would ask parliament for a third 15-day extension of the lockdown imposed to curb one of the world’s worst outbreaks of the new coronavirus, taking the restrictions up to 9 May.
Sanchez said he wanted to relax restrictions on children, who would be allowed out of their homes after 27 April, though that allowance would be “limited and subject to conditions to avoid contagion”. He did not go into further details.
Spain has begun to ease a strict lockdown imposed on 14 March and this week opened up some sectors of the economy, including manufacturing. But most people are still confined to their houses except for essential outings including shopping for food.
The UK government is arranging a repatriation flight on Wednesday to bring back nationals in Sierra Leone, PA Media reports.
British tourists, short-term visitors and their direct dependents in Sierra Leone will be able to book tickets for the special flight on Wednesday for £600 per person, but only those who are normally resident in the UK will be eligible to travel.
The flight will leave Freetown International Airport at 6.55pm on 22 April, arriving at Stansted Airport in the early hours of 23 April.
Passengers travelling from Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, must report to the Sea Coach terminal in the Aberdeen area of the city between 12pm and 3pm on Wednesday.
Some 5,000 people are or have been repatriated from India on 21 previously announced flights operating from 8-20 April.
A church in Bergamo that served as a temporary morgue at the height of Italy’s coronavirus epidemic “is finally empty”, the mayor said Saturday.
Where dozens of coffins once stood, nothing but flowers are left to be seen in a photograph tweeted by mayor Giorgio Gori that symbolises the easing of a crisis that has killed over 23,000 people in Italy.
Bergamo is in the wealthy northern region of Lombardy, which accounts for over half Italy’s virus victims.
Italy’s coronavirus emergency czar Domenico Arcuri said Saturday that five times as many people had died in the region during the epidemic than had been killed in Milan during World War II bombings.
“We are living through a great tragedy, which we have not yet overcome,” he said, describing the nearly 12,000 Lombardy dead as an “astounding” figure.
About 20 workers in Afghanistan’s president Ashraf Ghani’s palace have tested positive for the coronavirus, two officials told AFP on Saturday, but so far, there is no indication the president himself has been infected.
“Twenty-odd people are infected with COVID-19 in the presidential palace. However, it is (being) kept under wraps to ensure no panic is caused,” one government official said.
A second official confirmed the number and said an additional 12 people from the president’s administrative office had also contracted the virus.
Ghani’s spokesman Sediq Sediqqi declined to comment and referred questions to the health ministry, which also would not comment, saying it did not disclose the identity of its patients.
Kabul is currently on a coronavirus lockdown, which authorities recently extended for three weeks, and all government offices are shut.
Afghanistan has officially reported only 933 cases of coronavirus, including 33 deaths.
France registered 642 more deaths from coronavirus infections on Saturday, bringing the total to 19,323, the fourth-highest tally in the world, although the number of people in hospital declined for a fourth day running.
France’s public health authority said in a statement that the total number of people in intensive care units also fell for the 10th day in a row, to 5,833 – the lowest level since March 31.
The figures show that the numbers of infections and deaths remain at a high level but having reached a plateau a week ago the curve is beginning to go noticeably downwards.
Unlike in the UK, deaths in care homes are included in the figures.
France has been in virtual lockdown since March 17 as part of efforts to curb the outbreak.
Morocco will extend lockdown measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus for another month until May 20, the government said on Saturday.
The decision was made by the government council as the number of confirmed cases rose to 2,685, including 137 deaths and 314 recoveries., Reuters reports.
Lockdown conditions imposed on March 20 mean people are only allowed to go out to buy food or medicine and to staff some key jobs. Morocco has made wearing masks mandatory with those who fail to do so risking jail terms and fines.
Schools, mosques, non-essential shops and entertainment venues have all been closed.
The country has been paying wages to those unable to work and deferred taxes and loans for small businesses to ease the economic pain related to the lockdown measure.
Turkey’s confirmed coronavirus cases have risen to 82,329, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Saturday, overtaking neighbouring Iran for the first time to register the highest total in the Middle East.
An increase of 3,783 cases in the last 24 hours also pushed Turkey’s confirmed tally within a few hundred of China, where the novel coronavirus first emerged. Koca said 121 more people have died, taking the death toll to 1,890.
A total of 1,822 people have recovered from coronavirus so far, and the number of tests carried out over the past 24 hours came to 40,520, the minister said.
The interior ministry also said it was extending restrictions on travel between 31 cities for a further 15 days starting at midnight on Saturday.
The coronavirus death toll in Spain, one of the world’s worst-hit countries by the pandemic, has topped 20,000 after 565 new fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours.
The number of the total dead from Covid-19 in the country hit 20,043 on Saturday. The rise was slightly lower than Friday, when an additional 585 deaths were recorded. The number of overall coronavirus cases rose to 191,726 on Saturday from 188,068 on Friday, the country’s health ministry added.
UK’s Covid-19 hospital death toll surpasses 15,000
In the UK, the official Covid-19 death toll has passed 15,000 – with 888 new fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours. It means as of 5pm on Friday, of those hospitalised in the UK who have tested positive for coronavirus, 15,464 people have died.
Robert Jenrick, the local government secretary, said during the UK’s daily briefing that a significant consignment of PPE is due to arrive from Turkey on Sunday, which will include 400,000 gowns.
Bangladesh garment workers pack streets to demand wages during coronavirus lockdown
Hundreds of workers in Bangladesh have taken to the streets in defiance of physical distancing rules to demand unpaid wages during the Covid-19 shutdown.
The country, which is the world’s second-largest clothing producer after China, is predicted to lose about $6bn (£4.8bn) of export revenues this financial year as retailers and brands across the world cancel orders.
The government sent troops out into the streets to help enforce a shutdown on travel and restrictions on gatherings.
New York daily death toll at two-week low
Deaths in New York State rose by 540 on Friday, the lowest daily death tally since the beginning of April.
Andrew Cuomo, the state’s governor, said new hospital admissions stayed around the 2,000-patient mark, which he said was still an “overwhelming number”.
Meanwhile, Cuomo said “this is no time for division” and that the pandemic was the “greatest challenge since world war two” following an attack on Twitter by US president Donald Trump.
Some shops in Iran have reopened as country’s daily death toll fell to 73
Iran allowed some businesses in the capital Tehran to reopen on Saturday as the country’s daily death toll from coronavirus fell to 73, its lowest in more than a month.
So-called low-risk businesses – including many shops, factories and workshops – resumed operations in Tehran, a week after reopening in the rest of the country, state television said.
Croatia extends its lockdown for another 15 days
Croatia is extending its coronavirus lockdown for another 15 days, but a minister says the country is exploring the possibility of gradually easing restrictions.
Shops, bars, restaurants and schools were closed a month ago, with public transport also stopped, leaving open only food stores, pharmacies and petrol stations. People have only been allowed to leave their homes to buy essentials, seek medical treatment, go for a walk or do an exercise, but not in a group and avoiding social contact.
The New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, said “this is no time for division,” during his daily briefing on Saturday, following an attack on Twitter by Donald Trump, the US president.
He also announced the daily death toll for New York was at two-week low.
Andrew Cuomo said this was ‘no time for politics’. Photograph: Matthew Cavanaugh/Getty Images
He said the pandemic was the “greatest challenge since world war two” and that it is as “tumultuous a time as we have ever seen,” adding “it is no time for politics.”
On Friday, Cuomo fired back at criticism from Trump over whether the state had requested too much federal help during the pandemic.
In one tweet, Trump had said the Democratic governor should spend more time “doing” and less time “complaining.”
Following this Cuomo said: “First of all, if he’s sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work.”
Deaths in New York State rose by 540 on Friday, the lowest daily death tally since April began.
Cuomo also said new hospital admissions stayed around the 2,000-patient mark, which he said was “still an overwhelming number.”
He said that contact tracing would require “an army,” and he called on the federal government to coordinate the ramping up of testing.
Iran allowed some businesses in the capital Tehran to reopen on Saturday as the country’s daily death toll from coronavirus fell to 73, its lowest in more than a month.
An Iranian shopkeeper wearing protective gear watches the street from a clothes stall at the Grand Bazaar market in Tehran, on Saturday. Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images
So-called low-risk businesses – including many shops, factories and workshops – resumed operations in Tehran, a week after reopening in the rest of the country, state television said.
People shopping in Tehran on Saturday. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Television footage showed health inspectors visiting shops and reminding a baker that he was required to wear a mask despite working near a hot oven. Other inspectors were seen controlling stores where employees handed out gloves to customers.
Iranians wearing protective gear shop on a street by the Grand Bazaar market in the capital, Tehran. Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images
Pakistan has taken the decision to lift restrictions on congregational prayers at mosques, but a host of safety conditions have been put in place to avert the further spread of coronavirus, the government announced on Saturday.
The south Asian nation, the second most populous Muslim country in the world, imposed the restrictions less than a month ago, allowing only three to five people at mosques for prayers.
The decision to lift restrictions, taken in a meeting between Pakistani president Arif Alvi and religious leaders, comes less than a week before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in which the size of congregations typically increases, Reuters reports.
“Mosques are given permission conditional to taking due precautions,” a statement following the meeting said, adding that it was mandatory for mosque visitors to wear masks.
Pakistan has registered 7,638 cases of coronavirus and 143 deaths, with health experts warning that congregations pose the biggest threat to the limited healthcare infrastructure of the country of more than 200 million people.
According to the statement, worshippers will have to maintain a two-metre (6ft) distance from each other instead of the usual Muslim practice of praying shoulder-to-shoulder and mosque administrations will disinfect premises regularly.
The government had been under pressure to reverse the congregation restrictions, and clashes between mosque attendees and police had been reported in Karachi, the country’s largest city. Earlier this week renowned clerics threatened to violate the restrictions, saying prayers were essential for Muslims and should be allowed as long as safety measures were observed.
While the government has reversed the restrictions, the statement warned that it reserved the right to review the matter if guidelines were violated.
It is thought that Pakistan could see a peak in the spread of coronavirus in mid-May.
Hi, this is Nicola Slawson in the UK. I’m taking over the reins of the live blog now.
Please do share any thoughts, insight or news tips with me via any of the channels below. I might not have time to respond to all of you but I will certainly try and read them. Thank you.
Hundreds of workers in Bangladesh have taken to the streets in defiance of social distancing rules to demand unpaid wages during the Covid-19 shutdown.
The country, which is the world’s second-largest clothing producer after China, is predicted to lose about $6bn (£4.8bn) of export revenues this financial year as retailers and brands across the world cancel orders. It has sent troops out into the streets to help enforce a shutdown on travel and restrictions on gatherings.
But crowds of workers poured onto the streets in the port city of Chittagong on Saturday, saying they were still waiting for last month’s wages. Police talked to one factory owner who had promised to make the payments by 28 April, a local officer told Reuters.
Last month Bangladesh’s government launched a $588m package to help companies in the garment sector pay staff during the pandemic, but manufacturers have said it is not enough.
Bangladesh reported 306 new cases of coronavirus and nine more deaths on Saturday, taking the total to 2,144 confirmed cases and 84 fatalities. Though the official figures are relatively low compared to other countries, health officials have warned that the infection could still spread fast through the surrounding south Asia region, home to a fifth of the world’s population where millions live in packed slums with fragile public health systems.
Neighbouring India reported 991 new confirmed cases and 42 deaths from the virus on Saturday, taking the total number of reported cases to 14,378 and fatalities to 480.
At least five people have died, including a young girl, and several others were injured in a stampede when government officials in north-east Nigeria distributed cash and clothes to thousands of desperate people displaced by jihadist violence.
Around 70,000 people live in displacement camps in Borno state’s Gamboru, a town near the Cameroonian border. This morning, as a government convoy was handing out money and garments, mainly to women and children in Gamboru, a stampede for the aid was created, killing four women and a young girl, local hospital officials said.
Local civilian militias, engaged in the conflict with jihadist groups, told AFP the death toll was higher, with more than 12 women and children losing their lives. A decade since Boko Haram’s insurgency in north-east Nigeria began, the conflict continues to rage, with almost 2 million people displaced from their homes and reliant on support from the government and aid groups.
In 2016, a faction loyal to the Islamic State terror group split from Boko Haram, further complicating and deepening a conflict which has claimed at least 36,000 lives and spread into neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
France will try to avoid setting different rules for elderly people once the government starts easing its coronavirus confinement measures, the president’s office has said, amid criticism at the impact of the lockdown on the older generation.
It comes as president Emmanuel Macron sparked a backlash in recent days, after he said on Monday that older people, who are considered more vulnerable to the deadly virus, would be asked to stay home for longer.
The lockdown in France, which approached 19,000 Covid-19 deaths yesterday, includes restrictions on store openings and people’s movements which will remain in place until at least May 11, Macron has confirmed.
After that, schools and shops are set to reopen, though it is still unclear at what speed France will allow some businesses like hotels or cafes to restart, and whether it plans to lift home confinement recommendations for everyone at the same time.
Professor Jean-François Delfraissy, who heads the scientific council advising the government on the epidemic, also fuelled the debate after he proposed that confinement should continue for people aged 65 to 70 and above.
“The president has followed the growing debate about the situation for elderly citizens after 11 May,” the Élysée palace told Reuters on Saturday.
He does not want there to be any discrimination among citizens after 11 May in the context of a gradual easing of confinement measures, and will appeal to people’s individual responsibility.”
The government is still likely to recommend that some people should stay at home for their own protection, however. “We will ask the most vulnerable people, older people, severely disabled people, and those who suffer from chronic illnesses, to remain in confinement even after 11 May, at least in a first instance,” Macron said in his televised address on 13 April.
I know it’s a major constraint … But we’ll have to try to abide by this to protect you, it’s in your interest.”
Original News : https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/apr/18/coronavirus-live-news-global-deaths-pass-150000-trump-china-china-denies-any-concealment-pence-origins-europe-germany
Giorgio Gori (@giorgio_gori)
More Stories
Kazakh deputy PM in Iran for a two-day visit
Official: 128 animal species in danger in Iran
Iran won’t keep oil projects waiting for foreign companies: Official