Spain Reports Fewer Than 100 Deaths For 3rd Straight Day: Live Updates

Summary:

• Spain follows Italy by reporting fewer than 100 deaths
• AP report finds Mexico COVID-19 deaths
• Oregon Supreme Court rules lockdown, other restrictions can continue
• Chinese ambassador in Canberra says notion that WHO investigation satisfies Australia’s call for “independent” probe is “a joke”
• Trump threatens to permanently pull funding and end membership of WHO
• Brazil overtakes UK to become world’s 3rd-largest outbreak
• India’s case total passes 100k
• Navajo Nation now home to “biggest outbreak in the US” per CNN
• Singapore plans to start phased reopening on June 2
• Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque set to reopen after Eid

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Update (1055ET): Spain’s daily coronavirus death toll ticked higher on Tuesday to 83 from 59 over the prior day, according to the health ministry, but it still managed to reach a new optimistic milestone as the country continues to reopen gradually.

This marks the first time since the outbreak began that Spain has recorded fewer than 100 deaths for three straight days (the latest data point hasn’t yet been added to the chart below).

The overall number of fatalities in Spain is now 27,778, the ministry said, while the number of diagnosed cases climbed to 232,037.

 

The overall number of fatalities was now 27,778, the ministry said, while the number of diagnosed cases rose to 232,037 cases.

 

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Update (0830ET): Confirming what was already widely suspected, an investigation by the Associated Press appears to have definitively proven that the Mexican government has been deliberately under-counting COVID-19-linked fatalities, a sign that the true size of the outbreak in the country is much larger than official figures reflect. Using data funneled to the AP via an anti-corruption group (it appears the group hacked or otherwise illicitly cajoled its way to the database), the AP determined that Mexico’s death toll is at least 3x the official number.

Although testing has improved somewhat since the beginning of the outbreak, testing for the virus remains “rare” in Mexico, where left-wing leader AMLO hasn’t been willing to impose the same level of restrictions (lockdowns etc) that have been implemented elsewhere in North America, and the world.

Interestingly, the data was

The anti-corruption group Mexicans Against Corruption said in a report Monday that it got access to a database of death certificates issued in Mexico City between March 18 and May 12. It showed that in explanatory notes attached to 4,577 death certificates, doctors included the words “SARS,” “COV2,” “COV,” “Covid 19,” or “new coronavirus.”

[…]

Only 323 certificates list confirmed coronavirus as a cause of death; 1,045 other death certificates listed COVID-19 but didn’t specify if it was suspected or confirmed.

[…]

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum has acknowledged there are more deaths than have officially been reported, and has said a special commission will review the death figures. Her office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the new report.

Mexico performs relatively few tests; only about 150,000 have been carried out so far in a nation of about 125 million people. Federal officials acknowledge some victims have died without being tested and have pledged that cases where death certificates mention coronavirus as a possible or probable cause of death would eventually be added to official death tolls. But they have suggested those “suspected” cases were only about a tenth of test-confirmed deaths.

The group did not say how it accessed the database, which was kept by local courts. But it noted that official counts showed only 1,060 coronavirus deaths during that March 18-May 12 period.

[…]

Mexico City, with about 9 million residents, has been the worst hit part of the country. The additional 3,245 deaths in Mexico City, if they are confirmed or added to official counts, would push the national death toll from the 5,332 reported by federal officials Monday to 8,577.

Back in the US, Oregon’s Supreme Court has halted a rural judge’s order that had thrown out the lockdown and other virus-related restrictions by Democratic Gov. Kate Brown.

Meanwhile, in hard-hit Ecuador, the virus continues to overwhelm the country’s modest health-care system, as more bodies of virus sufferers end up splayed out on the street, evoking images of the early days in Wuhan.

Source: AP

The virus has even penetrated all the way to indigenous tribes living deep within the section of the Amazon within Ecuador’s borders.

Strapped for cash, Ecuador is restarting some mining operations that were paused for nearly two months due to the coronavirus pandemic as the revenue-starved government pushes workers back into the mines even as citizens fear these reopenings will only help further spread the virus. Mining activity has fallen by 60% due to quarantine measures to stem what Reuters called “one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in Latin America.”

Ecuador’s two largest mines, Fruta del Norte and Mirador, are preparing to restart operations gradually, said Fernando Benalcazar, the country’s vice minister of mining, while smaller gold miners in the south have already begun transporting minerals.

 

it comes as Latin America’s outbreak appears to be ramping up as Chile locks down its capital city, while Brazil’s outbreak overwhelms the country’s health-care system as its president continues to resist any action to confront the virus.

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The big news on Tuesday is the meeting of the World Health Assembly, which is expected to back a WHO-sponsored inquiry into China’s handling of the early days of the coronavirus outbreak. Last night, President Trump delivered a threatening letter where the US warned it could permanently cut funding and even cancel its membership in the WHO.

In response, China accused the US of trying to divert the world’s attention from President Trump’s handling of the outbreak by playing a “blame game” with Beijing. The White House has leveled similar accusations at Beijing. But even more tellingly, China’s ambassador in Canberra slammed Australia’s call for an independent investigation into China’s handling of the early days of the outbreak as “a joke”. The ambassador claimed the the investigation about to be authorized by the WHA doesn’t resemble the type of inquiry that Australia has called for. This gloating comes after President Xi said he’d welcome a comprehensive review, but only after the outbreak has subsided.

“To claim the WHA’s resolution a vindication of Australia’s call is nothing but a joke,” the ambassador said.

After passing the 1.5 million confirmed case threshold yesterday, globally, there have now been more than 4.8 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 318,500 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. Nearly 1.8 million people have recovered.

Some of the latest local updates include Russia, which reported 9,263 new cases and 115 new deaths on Tuesday morning, bringing its case total to 299,941 and 2,837 deaths. In Germany, where the gradual economic reopening has continued unabated, public health officials reported just 513 news cases, bringing Germany’s total to 175,210 cases, while reporting another 72 deaths, bringing the total to 8,007 deaths. Last night, Brazil passed the UK to become the country with the third-largest outbreak in the world after reporting another ~13k cases.

Additionally, India passed the 100k official-case threshold just days after extending its extremely stringent lockdown for another 2 weeks. Health officials reported 4,970 new cases, bringing India’s total to 101,139 cases and 132 deaths, bringing the death toll to 3,163. While India has overtaken China on the ‘official’ numbers, it’s widely believed the outbreak in the mainland was much worse than the official numbers reflect, and more than 40 new cases have been reported in Wuhan and the northeastern Jilin province over the past couple of weeks, resulting in intense new shutdown measures.

As western European states continue to loosen their travel restrictions, Spain has lifted a ban on all direct flights and ships from Italy, though travelers from Italy will have to comply with a two-week quarantine like other foreign visitors until Spain’s state of emergency is officially lifted.

Over in the US, CNN has apparently decided to focus on the plight of the Navajo Nation out west, claiming in a piece published last night that the Native American community is now home to the biggest outbreak in the country (a designation CNN once used to describe a meatpacking plant in South Dakota).

The Navajo Nation reported 69 new coronavirus cases and two additional deaths on Monday, according to a news release from the Navajo Nation president and vice president, which brought the nation’s case total to 4,071, along with 142 deaths, out of a population of roughly 200k. Of course, the rate of ~2,035 infections per 100k would put the nation’s infection rate well above that of most US states. But we suspect this isn’t really an apples-to-apples comparison.

Moving on to the big news in Washington DC on Tuesday: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will testify before the Senate on the coronavirus response: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will testify starting at 10amET before the Senate Banking Committee, where they will deliver “The Quarterly CARES Act Report to Congress” – testimony that’s mandated as per the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill.

Meanwhile, Ivanka Trump will meet with industry leaders, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Lockheed Martin CEO Marilyn Hewson and IBM executive Ginni Rometty, via Zoom on Tuesday.

As the outbreak in his country rages out of control, Russian PM Mikhail Mishustin has returned to his post after taking nearly 3 weeks off to recover from the virus, during which time the outbreak in his country has careened out of control.

We haven’t heard much from Singapore in a few days as the city-state’s strict new lockdown and testing campaigns appeared to finally cut down on the number of migrant workers falling ill from the virus. Singapore reported just 451 (higher than Monday’s lower but well below the city-state’s peak) new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, as the dissipation of this second wave of migrant worker infections faded. However, Singapore’s government has issued a warning about the increased risk of patients catching dengue fever due to the lockdown, the latest indication of how the shutdown in non-emergency health services could lead to ancillary health crises around the world.

Singapore also apologized to 357 COVID-19 patients who received an erroneous text message saying they had again tested positive for the virus, when they hadn’t. Singapore’s leadership also announced on Tuesday plans to begin a 3-stage reopening on June 2.

In Jerusalem, the Al-Aqsa Mosque will reopen to worshippers after the Eid holiday, according to a statement from its governing body.

“The council decided to lift the suspension on worshippers entering the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque after the Eid al-Fitr holiday,” according to a statement from the Waqf organisation said.

Finally, in Hong Kong, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said Tuesday that social distancing measures prohibiting gatherings of more than eight people would be extended in a transparent attempt to quash resurgent anti-Beijing protests, which have reemerged as the coronavirus outbreak in the autonomous region have subsided.