Europe

Montenegro becomes first European country to declare coronavirus free

Montenegro is the first coronavirus free country in Europe, said Prime Minister Dusko Markovic at a press conference on Monday afternoon, while announcing kindergartens and cinemas will open next week, while border crossings will open on June 1.

Montenegro will reopen its borders with countries that meet the criteria of the Institute of Public Health — having less than 25 active cases per 100,000 inhabitants, Markovic said at a press conference broadcast by the national television RTCG.

These countries include Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Albania, and Greece.

He specified that no testing will be needed for travelers.

Markovic also announced a new package of economic measures, especially for the tourism sector, for restructuring the economy in the medium term.

Montenegro’s battle against COVID-19 lasted for 68 days. During this period, 324 people tested positive, with nine dead and 315 recovered.

Markovic praised the 28-day long quarantine and self-isolation measures and the responsibility of citizens that allowed the country not to introduce a state of emergency or curfews.

“We could win the battle only with the citizens, not against them. We did not want to have the citizens against us, but with us, and that proved to be a formula for success,” said Markovic.

Health Minister Kenan Hrapovic also said that Montenegro was “the last European country to register the presence of COVID-19 and the first to beat the virus.”
In the past 24 hours, Montenegro analyzed 140 new samples which all tested negative for COVID-19.

Poland partly reopens schools as COVID-19 death toll tops 1,000

Read alsoCreate your own digital business card for social distancing, app based on a Hungarian idea

May 26, 2020

Washington’s Europe travel ban leads to “final viral infusion” in U.S.

A report by The Washington Post on Saturday said that the White House’s travel restrictions on Europe have prompted the crush of passengers from then COVID-19 epicenter and triggered a “final viral infusion” in the United States.

Citing the crowded population and cursory temperature check at U.S. airports after a 30-day Europe travel ban went into effect in March, the report said these scenes showed “how a policy intended to block the pathogen’s entry into the United States instead delivered one final viral infusion.”

“(President Donald) Trump has repeatedly touted his decision in January to restrict travel from China as evidence that he acted decisively to contain the coronavirus,” the article said. “But it was his administration’s response to the threat from Europe that proved more consequential to the majority of the more than 94,000 people who have died and the 1.6 million now infected in the United States.”

Read alsoWashington’s Europe travel ban leads to “final viral infusion” in U.S.

On March 11, Trump announced a suspension of travel from more than two dozen European countries to the United States for the next 30 days. The ban did not apply to American citizens who would be screened before entering the country.

Alarmed by the announcement, many American nationals including students in Europe chose to fly back to the United States. “As those exposed travelers fanned out into U.S. cities and suburbs, they became part of an influx from Europe that went unchecked for weeks,” the report said.

Read alsoBrazil climbs to second in cases worldwide, India reports highest daily spike

Last month, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo also blamed the White House for its botched response to contain the coronavirus, saying, “We closed the front door with the China travel ban, but we left the back door wide open.”

May 24, 2020

Jobbik MEP Gyöngyösi on resolving the Kissinger-issue

The most commonly quoted questions implying a disturbing cacophony in Europe is attributed to the former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: Who do I call if I want to call Europe? After the creation of the post of a foreign policy chief, or more accurately the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs by the Lisbon Treaty, the European Union claims to have resolved the issue. Certainly, today a U.S. Secretary of State, the equivalent of a foreign minister on this side of the Atlantic Ocean can easily dial his counterpart.

Read alsoJobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: Europe has to be constructed on solidarity and cooperation

Does that mean, however, that after the creation of yet another post in the overly bureaucratic EU a single pan-European voice can be articulated?- ask Jobbik MEP Márton Gyöngyösi.

In the past decade, the fragility and vulnerability of the European Union has become visible from how its institutions reacted to the crises within its bounds and in its immediate neighbourhood. The lack of strategic vision and concerted action, let alone a single line of communication were more than apparent in all cataclysms recently faced by the EU. The failure of offering a viable and sustainable financial recovery program for ailing Greece within the Eurozone or reacting promptly to the geopolitical crises in the North-African, Middle-Eastern region or indeed the Ukraine are clear manifestations of malfunctioning of European institutions.

Brexit and the rise of populism and illiberalism openly in defiance of European values are clear signs of rupture within our community.

According to the MEP, in every one of the above named events communication has been of crucial importance. Social media and fake news made a significant impact on shaping the developments according to well-defined interests. Whether we like it or not, communication and media have evolved to become one of the greatest weapons of influence of our times.

Fake news became an instrument of influence used effectively by superpowers in promoting their geopolitical interests in recent conflicts in places like the Ukraine, Syria or Lybia. Russia but also the US enriched their combative arsenal with the use of fake news.

However, it has also been a powerful tool in the hands of autocratic minded governments, in order to tighten their grip on power. Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and his government is an obvious example of the latter. Furthermore, few would contest the role of fake news in the Brexit campaign, which successfully ejected the UK from the European Union, and a propaganda of a unique sort contributed to the tragic and lasting socio-economic consequences triggered by the troika’s series of financial bailouts imposed on the Greek people. Whether a threat to its internal integrity or its external security, the EU failed miserably in responding effectively to any of these crises.

If the European Union wants to become a geopolitical player, as leaders of the current Commission envisage, it needs a strategy for creating a single voice for Europe in the form of a common European public broadcasting network.

This shouldn’t be designed to function as a propaganda instrument of the EU, nor as a tool to replace national public broadcasting, such as RAI of Italy, ZDF of Germany or BBC of the UK. Establishing a common European public space to facilitate the evolvement of a common European narrative would help fend off external interference via fake news, hence strengthen Europe’s sovereignty, a prerequisite for becoming a geopolitical player. Moreover, it can contribute to building a European identity essential for the future of European cooperation.

Only a common European narrative based on a strong European identity can end up resolving irrevocably the Kissinger-issue and the greatest threat of our time.

Read alsoJobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: Off limits in Hungary

May 23, 2020

LGBT acceptance is low in Hungary and even worse in Poland

ILGA-Europe has produced its latest “Rainbow Map” on which they rank European countries by an overview of the legal situation and acceptance of LGBT people. This is called the Rainbow Index. According to ILGA-Europe, a Brussels-based non-governmental organisation, the least accepting country in Europe is now Poland, and Hungary could do better as well.

Kafkadesk wrote about this index on their website, and they say that the map ranks countries by how laws and policies impact the human rights of LGBT people, and that ILGA-Europe also base their numbers on a given country’s social acceptance. The index ranks all 49 European countries by considering six categories. They are the following: equality and non-discrimination, family, hate crime and hate speech, legal gender recognition and bodily integrity, civil society space, and asylum. The ranking system is between 0% – which would imply the violation of basic human rights and strong discrimination – and 100% – which greatly respects human rights and provides total equality to people.

Poland ranked the lowest, but Hungary dropped the most

Although last time, Poland was the last but one country in the index, surpassing only Latvia, this year, the country has fallen and taken the last place on the list. This is surprising, especially if you consider that the country only acquired 16% on the index. This number is very low, and only non-European Union members can underperform this data. Namely, Russia has acquired 10%, Turkey is even more seriously underperforming with its 4%, but one of the least welcoming countries is Azerbaijan with a whopping 2%.

Hungary has some things to sort out for sure as it has dropped the most since last year’s index.

Hungary lost 8.46% of its original score due to the suspended legal procedures for gender recognition and because state protection is lacking at public events.

Nonetheless, Hungary still manages to rank the highest in some areas. Hungary is still the highest-ranking among the Visegrád countries, but it placed 18th overall with only 33% on the index. Slovakia and the Czech Republic follow close, at the 20th and 21st places respectively, with the former receiving 30% and the latter 26% on the index made by ILGA-Europe.

It is interesting that the highest-ranking country is Malta with 89%, but what is even more interesting is that this was the fifth year in a row that it was able to win the first place on this list. Belgium and Luxemburg immediately follow Malta, both countries with 73% on the index.

ILGA-Europe Szivárvány LGBT Rainbow Map Térkép — Map of Europe based on how accepting countries are towards LGBT people Source: www.facebook.com/ilgaeurope/

Read alsoIKEA takes a stand (again) supporting the LGBTQ+ community in Hungary

Some of the reasons behind the numbers

The report highlights how this year, Poland proposed a ban on abortion and sex education in the country. ILGA-Europe’s report also says that expressions from both the government and the Church went hand-in-hand with violent behaviour at Pride marches. The particularly low ranking could be because the

nationalist-conservative party used anti-LGBT ideas for their lead-up to the country’s elections in autumn. Insult to injury, the archbishop of Krakow said that the movement of LGBT people is a “rainbow plague”.

But there are also positive developments in Poland. Take, for example, the fact that there were 24 pride marches in Poland the previous year. Courts overcoming attempts to ban these marches and the establishment of a new party led by an openly gay politician are also great steps forward. In order to place better in the future, ILGA-Europe made some recommendations for Poland. They suggested the ban of conversion therapy, the introduction of hate speech and hate crime-related laws, freedom for LGBT organisations to operate, and the recognition and protection of same-sex couples, etc.

Bias-motivated speech and violent acts rose

Hungary may be the highest-ranking country in the entire Central European region,

yet Hungary had the most striking drop since last year. Hungary lost 8.45% of its score compared to 2019. This was mainly caused by the suspended procedures for legal gender recognition and the fact that proper protection is lacking at events.

Read alsoHungarian Authority for Consumer Protection fines Coca-Cola for pro-LGBTQ campaign

ILGA-Europe’s chapter on Hungary is full of bias-motivated incidents that ended up violent. Far-right militants have occupied Auróra for three hours, and a participant of the Budapest Pride March was spat on and kicked after the event by opposers. Another Visegrád country, the Czech Republic, also experienced an increase in hate speech against LGBT people, as well as some discrimination experienced in schools, etc. However, there has been positive growth in some areas in the Czech Republic as well. The annual Prague Pride attracted 30,000 people, and there were other Pride Marches in the country as well.

May 17, 2020

Reopening in European countries brings about “encouraging” results

European countries which started reopening earlier have registered lower average growth rates in new COVID-19 cases, presenting “encouraging data” and “hope” to Portugal, Portuguese Lusa News Agency reported Saturday.

“The European countries that started the lifting of restriction measures before Portugal, such as Norway, Austria and the Czech Republic, are among the countries which currently have the lowest average growth rates in the number of new COVID-19 cases,” said a survey by the National School of Public Health (ENSP) released on Saturday.

Read alsoEU plan looks to reopen borders for summer tourism amid pandemic

ENSP researchers said “these data are encouraging” and give “hope that the level of transmission of COVID-19 may remain low with the measures of de-confinement,” which started two weeks ago in Portugal, according to Lusa.

“The average growth rate in the number of new cases in May (in Portugal) is much lower than that observed in April, indicating a slowdown in contagion,” the report quoted ENSP as saying.

However, ENSP researchers stressed that the effects of isolation measures to combat COVID-19 are having a bad effect on some Portuguese, “aggravating the existing inequalities” among different generations by mainly affecting those aged between 26 and 45.

“It is the age group most affected by the suspension of professional activity. They suffer the most significant loss of income, and most of them have to work at the workplace, exposing themselves to the risk of COVID-19,” Lusa quoted ENSP as saying.

Read alsoTrump announces new COVID-19 vaccine efforts

Portugal had entered a “state of calamity” as of May 3, after the “state of emergency” imposed on March 19 and ended on May 2. Under the Portuguese Constitution, a state of emergency is the highest of three emergency levels.

On May 4, Portugal started its 3-phase of reopening to restart the economy and society.

May 16, 2020

Foreign minsiter warns of ‘growing’ migration threat

Not only is the issue of migration still present, but it also represents a growing threat, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said after talks with the head of the Maltese prime minister’s office on Thursday.

Due to the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic, migration is not as prevalent of a topic as it used to be, Szijjártó said in a video message on Facebook. He cited the head of the Maltese PM”s office as saying that the island state had seen a greater influx of illegal migrants just in the first two months of 2020 than throughout the whole of last year.

Malta’s migrant camps are full and the migrant vessels arriving at the country’s shores are also a problem, the minister said.

“They’re seeing an exponential rise [in illegal migrants],” Szijjarto said. “Sources say there are 650,000 people at Libya’s shores who are basically just waiting to leave the country and set off for Europe. Now Malta is experiencing first-hand the effects of the extremely hypocritical and harmful European migration policy we’ve been taking a firm stand against for the last five years.”

Szijjártó said Malta would also see that “you can’t count on the countries that are loudly and aggressively demanding the introduction of mandatory migrant quotas”.

The minister said he and the PM’s office chief were in agreement that Hungary’s approach to the issue — namely that help must be provided at the point where it is needed instead of “importing trouble to where there isn’t any” — was the correct one.

“In other words, we should finally lay to rest the European political debate on whether we should be managing or stopping migration,” Szijjártó said, underlining that migration should be stopped.

To do so, he said, help should be provided to the Libyan authorities so that migrants are not able to flee the country.

Szijjártó said migration was no longer just a security and cultural challenge but now also posed a health risk because of the pandemic.

May 14, 2020

UK PM unveils “conditional plan” for next-phase response to COVID-19 pandemic

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed his government’s approach to tackling the COVID-19 pandemic in the next phase in his address to the nation Sunday evening.

The prime minister said that the government has a plan to ease lockdown, but “it is a conditional plan,” and since “our priority is to protect the public and save lives, we cannot move forward unless we satisfy the five tests.”

This is “not the time simply to end the lockdown this week,” instead ” we are taking the first careful steps to modify our measures,” said Johnson.

The government is also establishing a new COVID-19 alert system run by a joint biosecurity center, according to Johnson. The alert level “will tell us how tough we have to be in our social distancing measures — the lower the level, the fewer the measures.”

For that matter, Italy on Sunday recorded its lowest one-day COVID-19 death total and the smallest number of new infections in more than two months, Italy’s Ministry of Health said.

The 165 deaths recorded over the last day was the lowest since March 9, the day Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte declared Europe’s first peacetime lockdown, as the country sought to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The 802 new infections recorded over the previous 24 hours was the lowest total since March 6.

Those numbers compare to 194 and 1,083 a day earlier.

The total death toll from Italy’s coronavirus outbreak is now 30,560, while the total number of infections is 219,070.

The positive trends continued a week into Italy’s “Phase 2,” which refers to a loosened version of the national coronavirus lockdown, which started March 10.

May 10, 2020

Coronavirus – Europe slowly gets back its normal life

Many European countries are introducing the easing of restrictions which were ordered in March when the coronavirus epidemic began to spread on the continent. Now it seems like a normal life is slowly returning to many states.

Read alsoHungary – These are the most important safety measures if you go on holiday this summer

Index reported that in Germany, citizens from different households can organise programs together once again, and many shops reopen. In Austria, the number of infections decreases every day, and retirement homes can be visited again by making an appointment and spending time outside, in the fresh air.

In Serbia, the 52-day-long lockdown officially ended. Shops, malls, restaurants, cafés, and bars reopen, but it is mandatory to wear gloves and masks alongside keeping a two-metre distance. From Monday, nursery schools will open, but the government asked parents to take their children there only if necessary.

In Belgium, some shops can open with the strict rule of social distancing and entering while wearing a mask and gloves. Each citizen has only half an hour to spend in smaller shops, not more. In the Netherlands, restrictions are fully lifted and will only be introduced again if the virus starts to spread again. Wearing masks and gloves is mandatory, and events can be held starting from September.

In France, the number of infections decreases, and the government is going to start to ease restrictions from next week. From next week, French citizens can leave their homes without permission, but only for 100 km in distance. Cinemas, theatres, and concert halls remain closed, along with beaches, swimming pools, and sports centres.

May 8, 2020

European countries eye cautious easing of lockdown

Some European countries are preparing to gradually ease lockdown measures placed to contain the spread of COVID-19 as positive signs have been seen, while the World Health Organization (WHO) has forecast more cases and deaths in Africa if mitigation measures fail.

CAUTIOUS EASING IN EUROPE

Western Europe has seen a decrease in daily infections in the last four weeks, Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said Thursday. “Slowly but surely, we are seeing positive signs.”

Kluge also confirmed that 32 of 43 countries across the European region, which had implemented partial or full domestic movement restrictions, were moving to carefully ease some of the measures.

Trump administration eager to reopen country as total COVID-19 cases top 1.25 mln

France would start to ease restrictions from May 11 through “a very gradual process,” which would stretch over several weeks at least to avoid a resurgence of COVID-19, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said Thursday, adding that the exit would be differentiated among regions.

Next week, about 1 million children and 130,000 teachers will return to school. Some 400,000 companies will resume business. Libraries and small museums may reopen while access to beaches could be allowed at the request of mayors.

Under the new rules, France maintains restrictions on public gatherings of over 10 people and keeps borders closed until further notice. Mask-wearing will be mandatory on public transport.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Thursday announced a plan for the second phase of re-opening in the country.

According to the plan, restaurants, retail shops and malls are allowed to reopen from May 11. Some schools, libraries and religious communities will gradually reopen from May 18.

In Britain, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Thursday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce a roadmap to ease the country’s lockdown measures.

Changes in lockdown measures will be “modest, small, incremental and very carefully monitored,” Raab said, stressing the need to maintain social distancing in the coming weeks.

Greece is also gradually returning to normalcy.

After the national lockdown was eased earlier this week, more shops, restaurants, open-air cinemas and museums are scheduled to open in May and June, Greek Culture and Sports Minister Lina Mendoni said Thursday.

In Spain, nearly all 17 autonomous regions have asked the government to allow them to advance on May 11 to the second phase of the country’s four-stage plan to ease coronavirus restrictions.

The second phase will see bars allowed to open their terraces at 50 percent capacity, while social gatherings of up to 10 people will be allowed and small shops permitted to open at 30 percent of capacity.

WHO Europe said that the European region, with a total of 1.6 million cases and almost 150,000 deaths, accounts for 45 percent of cases and 60 percent of fatalities worldwide.

The agency is also concerned over a worsening situation in the eastern part of the region as Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russian, Ukraine, and Tajikistan have seen increases in new cases over the past week.

May 8, 2020

Budapest listed among the greenest European cities according to National Geographic

Although the coronavirus pandemic now dominates people’s interests and news portals, climate change is still a problem looming over our heads, and while the restrictions made by governments all over the world helped our environment to regenerate somewhat, going green is just as important as ever.

Highlighting the ever-important topic of protecting our environment, National Geographic made a list of the five most forward-thinking European cities, and Budapest stands proudly among them. It is no wonder, however, as for many Hungarians, climate change is considered to be one of the most pressing problems of our modern world. In 2018, E.ON, an energy supplier company, conducted a survey in seven countries and found that Hungarians considered climate change to be the most pressing problem of modern society. 81% of the participants also said that they had made changes in their lifestyle to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Apart from Budapest, the four other places are Lahti, a Finnish city that might become carbon-neutral by 2025, Lisbon, the Portuguese capital halving its CO2 emission, Lyon, the gastronomic centre of France, and Edinburgh, the UK’s greenest city with 112 parks.

“The Hungarian capital recently saw the launch of the crowd-funded Green Guide Budapest map. Printed using soy-based ink, the free fold-out guide aims to steer visitors away from the usual attractions by highlighting parks, markets, and eco-friendly stores around the city,” said National Geographic about Budapest.

Over the past couple of years, Hungary’s capital has been going greener and greener. There are many similar movements, like Green Guide Budapest, that try and help change people’s lifestyle to become more eco-friendly or to produce less waste. For example, last Summer, the zero-waste approach skyrocketed, and several shops opened not only in Budapest but in several other cities in Hungary. If you would like to find out more about these stores and more environmentally friendly ideas, start here:

Shopping Basket Packaging Free Fruit Marmalade Jam

Read alsoHungary’s most environmentally conscious stores

Read alsoWhat an idea! – 100% Hungarian Zero Waste products

Read alsoHungarian girls make bikinis out of waste in oceans – PHOTOS, VIDEO

April 19, 2020

Coronavirus – Hungary among the safest epidemic-hit countries in Europe

The international Deep Knowledge Group examined forty countries and their governmental measurements regarding the outbreak of the coronavirus. The research team ranked each country concerning how safe they are with these measurements during the pandemic.

Magyar Nemzet reported that the group examined when the governments announced the different measurements, banned travelling abroad, and (if it was a necessity) introduced the lockdown of a city or state. Furthermore, testing and the capacity of hospitals were also important factors in the survey. According to all of these facts, Israel is the safest and the most stable country in the world. With 9 million residents and 12,000 infected people, its government was among the first countries to announce measurements.

Coronavirus – Hungary not taking testing people seriously

It is also remarkable that on the European continent, Hungary is the fourth safest country regarding governmental measurements and the only major European countries ahead of us are Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Although Germany had a record number of infected people, due to confident and strict restrictions, the spreading of the virus was significantly slowed down. This could be beneficial for the country’s economy as well. Surprisingly, some Asian countries finished among the top ten. South Korea, for example, is the third, followed by Australia, but even China finished in the fifth place.

Read alsoChina lifts 76-day lockdown on virus-hit Wuhan

On the other hand, the group also ranked the most unstable countries where safety is not guaranteed at all. The first three are Italy, the United States of America and the United Kingdom. Other ones are Spain, France, and Iran. The nearby countries are among the safest; only Romania got into the negative list.

Sweden, an exceptional country regarding the handling of the epidemic, is surprisingly only the sixth most risked country.

Featured image: MTI

April 16, 2020

Coronavirus – Justice minister: ‘Hungary does what all do in Europe’ – Die Welt

Hungary does what all do in Europe, Judit Varga, Hungary’s minister of justice, said in an interview published in the online edition of Die Welt on Sunday.

The minister qualified the accusation levelled by the European Union and the European People’s Party, namely that Hungary’s new law on defence against the novel coronavirus epidemic “has emptied” democracy as fake news, a manifestation of “the uncontrolled dominance of liberal views”.

Once the pandemic is over, Hungary as all countries will lift the state of emergency, she said. The timing of this decision, however, will not be coordinated by others, it will be a matter of national competence, she said.

Varga rejected European Commissioner Vera Jourova’s demand that the Hungarian government should relinquish its special powers as soon as possible.

“The state of emergency will be lifted on the appropriate date; neither a day before, nor a day after,” she said.

Concerning Jourova’s view that the emergency laws passed in several countries pose a potential danger to democracy, Varga said that as long as these laws are in line with the constitution and the Constitutional Court is in place, democracy is not in danger in either Hungary or in any other European state.

Varga insisted that parliament can withdraw the law on the state of emergency at any time. Asked whether a parliament in which ruling Fidesz has a two-thirds majority can be expected to make a decision contrary to the government’s will, the minister said that those who object to this situation have trouble with Hungarian voters.

“This is not a legal but a political issue. Hungary’s voters decided two years ago to give the government a two-thirds majority in parliament. In two years, they will once again make a decision,” she said.

Concerning recent statements about the alleged dissolution of parliament, Varga said that the western press had completely misunderstood the situation.

Parliament will continue to work “totally normally” until the end of its spring session on June 15. The courts and the Constitutional Court continue to operate, the “system of checks and balances’ is in place, she said.

The government’s special powers are limited to cases that require immediate decisions, for instance the repayment of loan instalments, the minister said.

April 12, 2020

WHO sees a “welcome slowing” of COVID-19 infections in some hardest-hit countries in Europe

The World Health Organization (WHO) noticed a “welcome slowing” of COVID-19 infections in some of hardest-hit countries in Europe, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday.

“In the past week, we’ve seen a welcome slowing in some of the hardest-hit countries in Europe, like Spain, Italy, Germany and France,” the WHO chief told a regular press briefing.

However, the WHO also witnessed an “alarming acceleration” in other countries, especially in Africa, where the virus is spreading to rural areas.

“We are now seeing clusters of cases and community spread in more than 16 countries,” said Tedros, adding that there would be “severe hardship for already overstretched health systems, particularly in rural areas.”

Countries need to localize the response by urgently strengthening the existing public health and primary health care infrastructure, he urged.

The WHO chief called on the G20 to expedite their support to Africa, where the cases are “still relatively small but accelerating.”

Globally, nearly 1.5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 have now been reported to the WHO, as well as more than 92,000 deaths.

Read alsoHow the coronavirus is testing the limits of European integration

April 10, 2020

Death toll from COVID-19 passes 100,000 worldwide

The death toll from COVID-19 exceeded 100,000 worldwide on Friday afternoon, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The fresh figure reached 100,376 as of 1:30 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time (1730 GMT), an interactive map maintained by the CSSE showed.

According to the data, a total of 1,650,210 cases have been recorded around the globe. Italy has seen the most deaths, which stood at 18,849 among 147,577 cases. The United States has reported 475,749 cases with 17,925 fatalities.

Other countries with more than 10,000 deaths include Spain and France.

Over 368,000 COVID-19 patients have recovered worldwide.

Confirmed cases reported to WHO exceed 1.5 mln globally

GENEVA

Globally the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has exceeded 1.5 million, reaching 1,521,252, according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) figures undated Friday afternoon.

The global death toll from the disease has passed the 90,000 mark, standing at 92,798.

LONDON

Britain’s coronavirus lockdown faces its most serious test this weekend as the public is urged to stay at home during the Easter bank holiday weekend to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Announcing Thursday that lockdown measures will remain in place, the British government called upon people to stick by social distancing rules amid fears that warm weather over the weekend could tempt breaches.

April 10, 2020

Spain records lowest number of daily deaths over past two weeks

Spain recorded 605 COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, the lowest in a 24-hour period since March 24, as its total number of confirmed cases rose to 157,022 as of Thursday night, according to official government data.

The total number of COVID-19 infections cases rose 4,576, a smaller increase than the 5,756 new cases reported the previous day.

BRUSSELS

Belgium has recorded a total of 3,019 deaths related to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, since the beginning of the pandemic, according to fresh figures released Friday by health authorities.

A further 325 COVID-19 patients had died in hospitals in the last 24 hours. In addition, 171 deaths were reported in nursing homes in Flanders between March 18 and March 31. In combination, that was a total of 496 deaths, according to Sciensano, a research institute and the national public health institute of Belgium.

TEHRAN

Iran on Friday reported 1,972 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 68,192, said Iran’s Health Ministry.

The death toll of COVID-19 in Iran rose by 122 in the past 24 hours to a total of 4,232, said Kianush Jahanpur, head of Public Relations and Information Center of the ministry, during his daily updates on state TV.

LOS ANGELES

Honolulu, capital city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, on Thursday announced a nighttime curfew for the three-day Easter weekend holiday to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The curfew will run from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. each day starting from Friday. People will be allowed to walk in their communities, while “anything with wheels,” including cars, bicycles and scooters, is prohibited during the curfew, the order said.

MOSCOW

Russia has tallied a total of 11,917 cases of COVID-19 in 82 out of 85 regions of the country as of Friday, with the number of infections rising by a new daily record of 1,786, official data showed.

The death toll rose to 94 from the previous day’s 76, with 795 recovered so far, including 97 in the last 24 hours, Russia’s coronavirus response center said in a statement.

April 10, 2020

Italy looking to slowly reopen its economy

Europe has been hit hard by the pandemic that started in China and spread across the world. Italy, Spain, Germany and France trail only the U.S. in the number of infections, and the region has suffered more than 60% of worldwide deaths. Italy, the original epicentre of the outbreak on the continent, has begun to plan for emerging from the lockdown as new deaths and cases flatten out. Selected firms could open in mid-April, according to an official familiar with the discussions. Norway will also move to ease restrictions, Prime Minister Erna Solberg said at a press briefing on Tuesday reports Bloomberg.

Italy is beginning to look at easing its lockdown after Denmark and Austria became the first two European countries to loosen restrictions as governments seek to gradually revive economies crippled by the containment measures without risking a second wave of infection. Parts of Italy’s agribusiness and health sectors, and mechanical-equipment companies linked to these industries, could be allowed to restart operations, but protection for workers will be critical for each company involved, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential talks.

Spain’s latest figures underscored the difficulty of containing the contagion. Despite weeks of severe restrictions on public life, Europe’s hardest-hit country reported an increase in its daily coronavirus death toll and a bigger rise in the number of confirmed cases. There were 5,478 new infections in the 24 hours through Tuesday, the highest since Sunday and taking the total to 140,510, according to Health Ministry data. The death toll rose by 743 to 13,798, a larger gain than Monday’s 637. Still, the number of new fatalities was lower than every day last week.

Read alsoItaly reports 135,586 coronavirus cases, daily recoveries higher than new infections

Denmark and Austria were among the first countries in Europe to shut down public life in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz earlier on Monday announced the first steps to restart his country’s economy, with small shops, hardware and gardening stores allowed to reopen after Easter, to be followed by the opening of all retailers from May 1.

Denmark will press ahead with a “cautious reopening” starting with daycare and primary schools on April 15 if the virus numbers remain stable, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Monday evening. The government will also begin talks with business leaders on gradually moving employees back into offices, but some restrictions will remain in place for months to come.

“We’ve managed to avoid the misfortune that has befallen several other countries” because “we acted early,” Frederiksen said.

In Italy, if new cases and fatalities continue to slow, early May could see fewer social restrictions, the official said, with some shops reopening but bars and restaurants remaining closed. Social-distancing rules will remain. On Tuesday, Italy reported its fewest new coronavirus infections since March 13. New cases numbered 3,039 over the last 24 hours, compared with 3,599 a day earlier, civil protection officials said.

Denmark and Austria are getting out in front with tentative steps to ease the restrictions. Still, curbs on daily life will remain. In Denmark, restrictions on crowds larger than 10 people are to be extended as are border closures. In Vienna, Chancellor Kurz, who delivered his remarks from behind a protective screen while wearing a facemask, said that social-distancing rules will still apply at least until the end of April.

“Just because the numbers retreat, the danger isn’t gone,” he said.

“Finally, after a phase of the plateau, there appears to be a decline in the number of new cases,” Giovanni Rezza, head of the infectious diseases department at Rome’s Superior Health Institute, the country’s national health authority, told reporters. “Of course we have to be cautious and await tomorrow or the day after before breathing a sigh of relief.”

Health Minister Roberto Speranza has urged conditions for co-existing with the virus in coming months. These include research on a vaccine and therapy, tests to map who is immune, ensuring that people with light virus symptoms are treated at home rather than in hospitals to avoid contagion, and a new app to help track an infected person’s recent contacts.

The most recent decree by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s government set April 13 as the final day of the lockdown, but new measures will probably be considered between Friday and Saturday. Most Italians will have to be patient. “Depending on how the contagion evolves, early May could be the time to start allowing people to venture out,” said Fabrizio Pregliasco, a virologist at Milan University. “But we’ll have to stick to social-distancing rules and to stop people from forming groups. And the more we wear masks, the better.”

For all the encouraging signs in Europe, the grim toll of virus victims continues to rise around the world, with U.S. deaths passing 10,000 and Japan preparing to declare a state of emergency in seven prefectures including Tokyo as soon as Tuesday. The World Health Organization added to the note of caution, warning against lifting containment measures completely.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who ended a 12-day period of self-quarantine on Friday, joined the calls for prudence. While Germany has moved forward in efforts to slow the spread of the virus, it’s still too early to issue a time-frame for easing the restrictions on Europe’s biggest economy, she said.

In Germany, some 7,381 people recovered from the illness in 24 hours, compared with 3,252 new cases, the lowest growth in infections in two weeks, according to data from Johns Hopkins University on Tuesday. As a grim reminder of the risks, 226 people died over the past 24 hours, the highest daily toll for the country.

“We have always said that we will decide after Easter when we have clarity on the number of new infections and recoveries,” Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said Tuesday in an interview with ZDF television. “We need to hold our nerve.”

While French infections continued to level off, Paris will ban outings for individual sports activities between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. starting Wednesday, and Health Minister Olivier Veran said the epidemic hadn’t reached its peak yet in the country. French authorities fear that easing restrictions or setting an end date for confinement measures will prompt people to infringe on the rules or at least be less vigilant, thus threatening to rekindle the epidemic. Total deaths from the virus rose by 1,417 to 10,328, even as new cases declined, France’s public health agency said Tuesday.

Read alsoCoronavirus – Budapest could become infection centre unless restrictions are observed

April 9, 2020

Economic toll grows in coronavirus-rampaged Europe

The coronavirus pandemic, which had claimed over 60,000 lives and infected more than 700,000 people in Europe as of Wednesday, has begun to spread economic gloom in the continent.

Over the past days, noted economic think tanks, central banks and government officials in Europe had issued gloomy economic outlooks for major European economies, such as Germany, France, Italy and Britain.

GLOOMY OUTLOOK

On Wednesday, Germany’s leading economic institutes forecast that the economic output of Germany, Europe’s main engine of growth, was likely to shrink by 4.2 percent in 2020 due to the impact of the coronavirus.

The joint forecast was prepared by the German Institute for Economic Research, the ifo Institute, the Kiel Institute, the Halle Institute for Economic Research, and RWI Essen.

According to the forecast, Germany’s gross domestic product (GDP) was likely to shrink by 1.9 percent in the first quarter and would fall by 9.8 percent in the second quarter.

The institutes predicted that as a result of the pandemic, the country’s unemployment rate would rise to 5.9 percent “at its peak” in 2020.

Germany would also end up with a “record deficit” of 159 billion euros (172.8 billion U.S. dollars) this year, compared with a positive balance of 45.3 billion euros in 2019.

In neighboring France, the central bank BdF said that the country’s economy shrank by 6 percent in the first quarter of the year, its worst performance since 1945, due to slack industrial, service activities and turbulent financial market caused by the pandemic.

The bank had previously estimated growth of 0.1 percent for the January-March period of this year.

The French government had instituted two-week confinement on March 17 to contain the outbreak. The lockdown was prolonged by 15 days until April 15, and would likely be extended. Every two-week confinement would lead to a 1.5 percent loss in GDP, said the central bank.

A report by the bank, based on the interviews of 8,500 business leaders from March 27 to April 3, showed that French economic activity dropped by 32 percent because of the coronavirus lockdown.

In Britain, a report published Monday by the Center for Business and Economic Research, a think tank, said the country’s economic output would reduce by 31 percent due to the current level of lockdown to fight COVID-19.

Morgan Stanley forecast last month that the British economy will contract by 5 percent this year, in sharp contrast to the most recent official growth forecast of 1.1 percent from the Office for Budget Responsibility.

April 9, 2020

Uplifting music playing in cars around Budapest

Over the past week, Attila Kovács has been playing music to entertain the residents of Budapest, just as he has done for more than three decades as a viola player in the city’s MAV symphony orchestra reports The Guardian. Many orchestras and opera houses have taken to streaming archive performances online, but the MAV Orchestra has drawn on its unique, itinerant history to take things a step further.

These days, however, the orchestra’s “performances” look slightly different from usual. Hungary, like almost every other country in Europe, has banned large gatherings of people because of the coronavirus crisis, making live concerts impossible.

The reaction over the past week has been almost universally positive, said Kálmán Kovács, a trumpeter in the orchestra who has been driving one of the cars. An elderly woman conducted from her balcony, a trio of young foreigners danced “as though they were in a nightclub” to a Strauss waltz, and a truck driver wound down his window and asked for the volume to be increased as cyclists stopped to listen.

Every day, musicians from the orchestra drive two cars mounted with loudspeakers around Budapest and its surroundings, belting out recordings of past performances. It is currently forbidden to leave the house except for essential activities in Hungary, but the idea is that people should open up their windows or step on to their balconies and enjoy an uplifting blast of classical music.

“It seems like we managed to make many generations very happy with playing music, even in these weird, stressful times,” said Kovács, who noted that while pensioners formed the majority of the audience, in recent days young people too had been enjoying the music.

Read alsoBudapest Festival Orchestra launches Quarantine Soirees

“People came out to the streets, keeping the proper distance between each other, and started to clap and give us a thumbs up. Some of them were even dancing,” he said.

The music selection changes daily but is always drawn from recordings of the orchestra, and there is an emphasis on light and uplifting music. “We’re not going to be playing the Shostakovich Leningrad Symphony,” joked György Lendvai, the orchestra’s managing director. If people want to request an appearance near their homes, they can message the orchestra’s Facebook account with their address.

Lendvai said the idea came from the orchestra’s unique history as the house ensemble of MAV, the Hungarian railway network. It was set up at the end of the Second World War by the music-loving head of the state railway concern, who felt music was essential to lift the people’s spirits in the ruins of postwar Hungary.

The railway provided the orchestra with three coaches: one for male musicians, one for female musicians and one for the instruments and props. Most weeks for several decades, the orchestra would leave Budapest for the provinces and perform symphonic concerts and operas in small towns or sometimes even in factories, before returning to sleep in the railway carriages and then moving on to the next destination. On Fridays, the orchestra would be back in Budapest and perform in the opulent surroundings of the city’s Liszt Academy.

It was initially a brass and wind ensemble, and later it became a full orchestra. With communist rule firmly entrenched, it became an arm of the Soviet ideal of bringing high culture to the masses and was the orchestra for the so-called “rolling opera” which took operatic performances to the provinces. For the first decade, the orchestra performed in navy-blue railway uniforms.

After the fall of communism, the orchestra began to travel more abroad, but it is still partially funded by Hungarian railways, and it was this history that formed the basis for the current idea of bringing music to residents on lockdown.

“Even now, when I’m in the smallest village in the countryside and say I work for the MAV orchestra, there will always be someone elderly who says: ‘Oh, that orchestra was the first time I ever heard classical music or the opera,’” said Lendvai.

“Today we have a crisis, and I think people need to be cheered up and given a little hope,” said Lendvai. “But right now we cannot do it with an orchestra. So we thought that we could bring music by car to all the people in quarantine in their home.”

Read alsoUplifting music playing in cars around Budapest

April 8, 2020