| Republicans block most aid to help states plan for presidential election amid coronavirus pandemic Posted: 25 Mar 2020 03:31 PM PDT  Voting reforms that would make it much easier to cast ballots by mail in the fall presidential election were left out of the $2 trillion rescue package that was unveiled Wednesday.
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| In coronavirus pandemic, Trump allies say they're ready to die for the economy Posted: 25 Mar 2020 08:54 AM PDT  Some conservatives are urging Americans to ignore the advice of public health experts and get back to work in order to avoid an extended market downturn.
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| One chart shows how much cash you should expect from the coronavirus stimulus based on your salary Posted: 26 Mar 2020 01:34 PM PDT  The stimulus bill that was passed by the Senate includes checks for most Americans. The amount is based on your tax-filing status and income.
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| The Best New Teapots, According to AD's Market Editor Posted: 25 Mar 2020 05:00 AM PDT |
| Stimulus checks are coming — here's how to make sure you get yours quickly Posted: 26 Mar 2020 01:50 PM PDT  Spoiler alert: If you haven't filed your taxes since 2017, now is a good time to get that done.
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| Kuril Islands earthquake: 7.5 magnitude earthquake triggers tsunami warning Posted: 24 Mar 2020 08:53 PM PDT  A 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck in the northern Pacific on Wednesday and forecasters said tsunami waves were possible for the nearest shores. A brief tsunami watch for Hawaii was cancelled. The quake struck 136 miles south-southeast of Severo on Russia's far eastern Kuril Islands, the US Geological Survey said. It was 37 miles deep. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre initially warned hazardous waves were possible in parts of the Kurils, but later said based on further analysis that waves of less than 30 centimeters above tide level were possible in the northern Pacific. It noted that the wave height and potential hazard may vary by geography and other local features. A tsunami watch issued for Hawaii was halted shortly afterwards. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake was a stronger 7.8 magnitude and may cause a slight change of sea levels around Japanese coasts.
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| India's coronavirus cases tick up, immense lockdown holds Posted: 26 Mar 2020 12:50 AM PDT  India's death toll from the coronavirus rose by six to 16 in the last 24 hours, as the government sought on Thursday to improve basic services to 1.3 billion people locked indoors to slow the spread of the disease. Streets were silent across Indian cities and towns on the second day of a three-week, 24-hour shutdown, as people heeded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call not to step out of homes except in emergencies or to buy food and other necessities. Police have strictly enforced the lockdown even though Modi said essential services would be maintained.
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| Coronavirus: Malaria drug has no impact on treating Covid-19 patients, Chinese study finds Posted: 25 Mar 2020 01:34 PM PDT  The malaria drug hydroxychloroquine might not be effective in treating patients with Covid-19, a new study finds.The report published by the Journal of Zhejiang University in China tested if coronavirus patients who received the medication were more likely to recover than those who didn't, and it found that was not the case.
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| A Louisiana pastor defied state orders and held a service for hundreds of people. He says he has no plans of stopping. Posted: 25 Mar 2020 12:42 PM PDT  Pastor Tony Spell, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, held a service for 400 people on Tuesday. On Sunday, there were more than 1,000.
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| Chinese State Media Falsely Claim U.S. Army Athlete Brought Coronavirus to China Posted: 26 Mar 2020 07:43 AM PDT  Chinese state-run media are citing an American conspiracy theorist to push claims that coronavirus was brought to China by a U.S. military athlete.The Global Times claimed in an article Wednesday that the coronavirus, which was first discovered in Wuhan, was in fact manufactured in a U.S. military lab and brought to China by a cyclist who took part in the World Military Games in Wuhan in October.The CCP-run paper cites known U.S. conspiracy theorist George Webb as the source for the claim, which it admits lacks "strong evidence" but still raises questions about the U.S. athletes who traveled to Wuhan.The Global Times also quotes Li Haidong, a professor of U.S. studies at the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing, who challenges the U.S. to release "relevant information regarding the athlete's health status and infection records to clear public doubts and help with the scientific study on the virus' origin."China has pushed propaganda to distance itself from blame for the spread of COVID-19, after suppressing initial reports of human-to-human transmission and silencing labs that discovered the novel virus resembled the deadly SARS virus of 2002-2003.On February 27, Zhong Nanshan, a primary pulmonologist said at a press conference, that "the coronavirus first appeared in China but may not have originated in China."The efforts have led to scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers, who have proposed holding China accountable for the coverup."Since day one, the Chinese Communist Party intentionally lied to the world about the origin of this pandemic. The CCP was aware of the reality of the virus as early as December but ordered laboratories to destroy samples and forced doctors to keep silent," Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) said in the release of a resolution calling for an international investigation to determine how the Chinese Communist Party directly contributed to the emerging global pandemic.Multiple mainstream outlets have been complicit in serving the interests of Chinese state media.The Global Times also used footage this week from U.S. mainstream media criticizing President Trump's use of the term "Chinese virus" to suggest any scrutiny of China's handling of the coronavirus is racist.> The US President's rhetoric in using "Chinese virus" to describe COVID19, has sparked fierce public criticism from all walks of life in the US. pic.twitter.com/RMljngN7P3> > -- Global Times (@globaltimesnews) March 23, 2020The Daily Caller reported Wednesday that The Daily Mail, the popular British tabloid, has also been pushing Chinese propaganda by publishing dozens of coronavirus-related stories originating from People's Daily, the communist party's official newspaper.The Economist is running advertorials — ads designed to look like news stories — from the state-backed Beijing Review in its print issues, The Washington Free Beacon reported Thursday.
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| Rockets hit Iraq's Green Zone, US-led coalition leaves base Posted: 26 Mar 2020 08:57 AM PDT  Two rockets slammed into the Iraqi capital's high-security Green Zone early Thursday, hours before US-led forces were set to pull out of a second base in the country. Some 7,500 foreign troops are in Iraq as part of the US-led coalition helping local troops fight jihadist remnants, but those numbers are being significantly drawn down this month. Before dawn on Thursday, two rockets punched into an empty square near an Iraqi security headquarters in the Green Zone, where government buildings and foreign embassies are based, Iraqi security forces said in a statement.
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| Student loan stimulus: Suspended payments, plus coronavirus relief from collections Posted: 25 Mar 2020 02:34 PM PDT  The coronavirus stimulus package suspends student loan payments, but does not have loan forgiveness. The feds also have stopped collections efforts.
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| Exclusive: U.S. military to withhold some infection data over concern of adversary use Posted: 26 Mar 2020 07:23 AM PDT  The U.S. military has decided it will stop providing some of the more granular data about coronavirus infections within its ranks out of concern that the information might be used by adversaries as the virus spreads.
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| Family concludes former FBI agent Robert Levinson died in Iran Posted: 25 Mar 2020 04:01 PM PDT  They said they didn't know how or when he died, "only that it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic."
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| Coronavirus: Mexicans demand crackdown on Americans crossing the border Posted: 26 Mar 2020 09:48 AM PDT  Wearing face masks, protesters blocked the US southern border, telling Americans to 'stay home'
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| 'All we have left is to hope and pray': Travellers stranded in airport by coronavirus Posted: 26 Mar 2020 03:51 AM PDT  Russian hostel manager Valerie Azure has spent the past three nights sleeping on the floor of a Malaysian airport along with her young son, after Southeast Asian nations sealed borders and cancelled flights in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. After several weeks volunteering in a community centre for Afghan refugees in Malaysia, Azure said she and her nine-year-old son boarded an AirAsia flight for Thailand on Monday but were sent back after officials asked for blood tests proving they were free of the virus. Malaysia has banned foreigners from entering since March 18.
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| A Georgia healthcare worker was found dead in her home, and a posthumous test found she was infected with the new coronavirus Posted: 25 Mar 2020 11:58 PM PDT  Healthcare workers in the US are contracting the novel coronavirus and few have already died from COVID-19.
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| Dakota access pipeline: court strikes down permits in victory for Standing Rock Sioux Posted: 25 Mar 2020 05:02 PM PDT  Army corps of engineers ordered to conduct full environmental review, which could take yearsThe future of the controversial Dakota Access pipeline has been thrown into question after a federal court on Wednesday struck down its permits and ordered a comprehensive environmental review.The US army corps of engineers was ordered to conduct a full environmental impact statement (EIS), after the Washington DC court ruled that existing permits violated the National Environmental Policy Act (Nepa).The ruling is a huge victory for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of North Dakota, which rallied support from across the world and sued the US government in a campaign to stop the environmentally risky pipeline being built on tribal lands."After years of commitment to defending our water and earth, we welcome this news of a significant legal win," said the tribal chairman, Mike Faith. "It's humbling to see how actions we took to defend our ancestral homeland continue to inspire national conversations about how our choices ultimately affect this planet."In December 2016, the Obama administration denied permits for the pipeline to cross the Missouri river and ordered a full EIS to analyze alternative routes and the impact on the tribe's treaty rights.In his first week in office, Donald Trump signed an executive order to expedite construction. Construction of the 1,200-mile pipeline was completed in June 2017.The tribe challenged the permits – and won. As a result, the corps was ordered to redo its environmental analysis, which it did without taking into consideration tribal concerns or expert analysis.The pipeline continued to transport oil from North Dakota to Illinois. The tribe and EarthJustice, an environmental law not-for-profit group, sued again.In his ruling on Wednesday, the federal judge James Boasberg, an Obama appointee, said the environmental analysis by both the companies behind the pipeline and the corps was severely lacking.The abysmal safety record of the pipeline parent company, Sunoco, "does not inspire confidence", he added.The court-mandated EIS will be more in depth than the assessment already completed by the corps – and could take years. The court will next decide if the pipeline should be shut down until the EIS is done.The corps did not respond to a request for comment."This validates everything the tribe has been saying all along about the risk of oil spills to the people of Standing Rock," said Jan Hasselman, an EarthJustice attorney. "The Obama administration had it right when it moved to deny the permits in 2016."The setback for the pipeline comes as the Trump administration moves to severely curtail Nepa, the 1969 legislation which is widely considered the cornerstone of US environmental protection. Trump has repeatedly blamed Nepa for blocking fossil fuel projects.
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| Sanders, AOC Threaten Delays on $2 Trillion Economic Stimulus Posted: 25 Mar 2020 02:10 PM PDT  Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) on Wednesday both threatened a possible delay in voting on the massive $2 trillion economic-stimulus package working its way through Congress.Sanders objected to an amendment proposed on Wednesday afternoon by Senators Ben Sasse (R., Neb.), Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), and Tim Scott (R., S.C.) that would cap unemployment benefits at a worker's previous salary level."I cannot at the last minute allow some right-wing senators [to] try to undermine the needs of workers and think they are going to get away with that," Sanders told the New York Times. He added that he would vote for the stimulus if the group of Republicans dropped their proposed amendment, and called the current draft of the bill "far superior" to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell's (R., Ky.) original draft."The reason I know I'm right is that Bernie Sanders has just threatened me," Graham countered in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity. "This is Bernie Sanders on steroids. . . . He could not win at the ballot box, but he's winning in this bill."Sasse told National Review that the Republican senators worry the text of the bill allows workers to make more money "by being unemployed than if the employer-employee relationship were maintained."Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez said she may request a "recorded vote" on the stimulus in the House, which would force House members currently not in Washington, D.C., to return to vote in person. She has said she is worried the stimulus will favor large corporations at the expense of workers."With the health risks of travel, there is no easy choice here," Ocasio-Cortez told CNN. "But essential workers are showing up and putting their health at risk every day, and if the final text of a bill is set up to hurt them, [a recorded vote] may be something we have to do."House speaker Nancy Pelosi favors holding a vote by unanimous consent, in which case one House member could block the bill's passage by voting against.
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| Putin calls for sanctions 'moratorium' at G20 summit Posted: 26 Mar 2020 09:35 AM PDT  Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called for sanctions relief during the coronavirus pandemic, telling G20 leaders it was a matter "of life and death". "Ideally we should introduce a... joint moratorium on restrictions on essential goods as well as on financial transactions for their purchase," Putin said at a virtual meeting of G20 leaders Thursday. "These matters should be freed of any politics," Putin added.
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| The college student who licked an airplane toilet said she'd 'pull up' and cough on Dr. Phil, who called her 'spoiled and entitled' Posted: 26 Mar 2020 09:04 AM PDT  Ava Louise, who said she'd "rather die hot than live ugly" and who posted a TikTok of herself licking an airplane toilet, also criticized boomers.
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| More than 1,000 US coronavirus deaths, near 70,000 cases: tracker Posted: 25 Mar 2020 11:06 PM PDT  The number of deaths caused by the novel coronavirus rose to 1,031 in the United States on Wednesday, with 68,572 confirmed cases nationwide, a tracker run by the Johns Hopkins University showed. The United States has the third highest number of confirmed cases behind China and Italy, and the US death rate is now 1.5 percent, based on reported cases. A projection shared with Congress earlier this month said that between 70 to 150 million people could eventually be infected in the United States.
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| U.S. files drug trafficking charges against Venezuelan president Posted: 26 Mar 2020 09:44 AM PDT  The U.S. and Maduro have long been at odds over the country's extensive corruption.
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| Airlines owe you a refund when they cancel a flight. So why is United balking during coronavirus crisis? Posted: 26 Mar 2020 01:58 PM PDT  Airlines are supposed to refund flyers' money if they cancel a flight. United has introduced more restrictive policies during the coronavirus crisis.
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| Palestinians leave jobs in Israel, citing coronavirus risk Posted: 25 Mar 2020 07:08 AM PDT  JERICHO/RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - The Palestinian government has ordered home Palestinian laborers in Israel and in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying their jobs exposed them to risk of the coronavirus. The edict, announced late on Tuesday by Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, could effectively shut down Israel's construction industry, heavily reliant on Palestinian labor. Israel had made special arrangements for many of the about 100,000 Palestinians who typically cross daily from the West Bank to instead stay overnight in Israeli cities before shutting the border on Sunday to curb the spread of the virus.
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| The coronavirus mutates more slowly than the flu — which means a vaccine will likely be effective long-term Posted: 25 Mar 2020 06:18 PM PDT  The mutation rate of the new coronavirus suggests a one-time vaccine would be sufficient to confer long-term immunity, according to experts.
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| A Cruise Ship With At Least 77 People with Flu-Like Symptoms on Board is Heading to Florida Posted: 26 Mar 2020 10:26 AM PDT  Cruise line Holland America said that at least 30 guests and 47 crew on the Zaandam reported to the ship's medical center with influenza-like symptoms.
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| Biden Suggests Dems Push for ‘Green New Deal’ Provisions in Next Coronavirus Stimulus Bill Posted: 25 Mar 2020 12:37 PM PDT  Former vice president Joe Biden on Wednesday suggested passing climate-change legislation as part of economic aid packages amid the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic."We're going to have an opportunity, I believe, in the next round [of economic aid] here to use…my Green Deal to be able to generate both economic growth as consistent with the kind of infusion of monies we need into the system to keep it going," Biden said in a live-streamed briefing on the coronavirus crisis.Biden then advocated for investment in infrastructure-related jobs to offset the economic impact of the pandemic."We're going to need new infrastructure going down the road here, and it's a way to generate economic growth. That's going to be, I think, the next round we have to be looking at."Biden in January released a climate-change plan based in part on the "Green New Deal" floated in 2019 by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and Senator Ed Markey (D., Mass.).Democrats have already attempted to add environmental legislation to the massive $2 trillion economic stimulus meant to offset the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The legislation included measures requiring airlines receiving assistance to fully offset carbon emissions by 2025, as well as requiring airlines to report greenhouse gas emissions in order to display the results in a public database.On Monday, President Trump criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and congressional Democrats for the attempt to add the legislation."Nancy Pelosi came and put a lot of things in the deal that had nothing to do with workers -- that had to do with an agenda that they have been trying to get passed for 10 years," Trump said during a Fox News virtual town hall. "[The Democrats said] 'We want green energy, let's stop drilling oil' -- they had things in there that were terrible…Windmills all over the place and all sorts of credits for windmills -- they kill the birds and ruin the real estate. A lot of problems."
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| Greta Thunberg says it's 'likely' she had coronavirus Posted: 25 Mar 2020 04:10 AM PDT  Teenage activist Greta Thunberg said it's "extremely likely" she had contracted the coronavirus. The Swedish climate campaigner wrote in an Instagram post that she'd experienced several symptoms following a trip to central Europe.
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| Busch will give you a '3-month supply' of free beer if you adopt or foster a pup as shelters close Posted: 26 Mar 2020 09:41 AM PDT  Busch and Midwest Animal Rescue & Services have partnered to entice perspective dog owners to adopt or foster during the pandemic with free beer.
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| FBI: Soldiers set up deadly robbery to fund foreign fighting Posted: 26 Mar 2020 07:19 AM PDT |
| Coronavirus checks, direct deposits are coming. Here's everything you need to know. Posted: 26 Mar 2020 08:48 AM PDT  Who qualifies? How much is being sent? When? How will I get the money? Questions and answers.
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| Nicolás Maduro: US charges Venezuelan president with 'narco-terrorism' Posted: 26 Mar 2020 02:05 PM PDT  It also offers a $15m (£12.5m) reward for information leading to Nicolás Maduro's arrest.
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| New York sees glimmer of progress against coronavirus, New Orleans worsens Posted: 25 Mar 2020 05:32 AM PDT  The rate of hospitalizations in New York has slowed in recent days, Governor Andrew Cuomo said, with numbers he called "almost too good to be true." In an ominous sign he and other governors are preparing for the worst, the states of New York, North Carolina and Hawaii requested the Federal Emergency Management Agency send special mortuary teams that can be deployed for mass casualties, FEMA said on Wednesday. New Orleans, where large crowds celebrated Mardi Gras a month ago, was on track to become the next U.S. epicenter, as Louisiana's Gulf Coast metropolis recorded the world's highest growth rate in coronavirus cases.
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| A man accused of licking deodorants in a Missouri Walmart after asking 'Who's afraid of the coronavirus?' was charged with making a terrorist threat Posted: 25 Mar 2020 05:16 AM PDT  The CDC says people can get COVID-19 by touching an object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth.
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| New coronavirus research suggests vaccines developed to treat it could be long-lasting Posted: 26 Mar 2020 08:33 AM PDT  A new study from Italian researchers suggests that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which is the cause of the COVID-19 disease currently causing a global health crisis, is relatively slow to mutate — meaning that any effective vaccine that is developed to prevent people from getting infected should be broadly effective across geographically separated populations over a relatively long period of time.
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| U.S. passes Italy, China as nation with the most confirmed cases of COVID-19 Posted: 26 Mar 2020 03:33 PM PDT  The U.S. surged past China and Italy to become the planet's most infected nation Thursday, a stark milestone in the coronavirus era - and a reminder of its deadly, culture-changing effects on American life.
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| Senate Virus Stimulus Deal Drops Airline Carbon Emissions Limits Posted: 25 Mar 2020 08:55 AM PDT |
| Biden reportedly says Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is in his 'top three' picks for VP Posted: 26 Mar 2020 02:58 PM PDT  While reportedly setting up video equipment in Delaware over four days, former Vice President Joe Biden was apparently mulling over possible running mates.Biden told former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) is one of his "top three" choices should he win the Democratic presidential nomination, Mediaite reported Thursday.Reid, who was also a longtime senator representing Nevada, is reportedly nudging Biden toward choosing Cortez Masto as his VP, and Biden's campaign apparently feels she would be a strong choice and could help expand Biden's popularity among Latinx voters. Biden publicly committed to choosing a woman as his vice president if nominated over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), sparking endless speculation over who that woman might be. CNBC says Biden's "business allies" are hoping for Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) or Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), two former presidential candidates themselves. The Washington Post, meanwhile, said Biden's shortlist probably included Cortez Masto, but also named more well-known Democrats like former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. Biden's campaign declined to dispute Mediaite's reporting, simply saying he would vigorously vet candidates.New York magazine wrote that Biden is spending his "coronavirus bunker" time "thinking a lot" about a potential VP, and taking lots of calls from supporters and Democratic strategists who are pushing Biden to pick their candidate of choice. None of those calls, however, resulted in much reported information on whether Biden had narrowed his list.Biden told The View on Tuesday his "short" list was between "12 and 15" names, but if his reported statement to Reid is to be believed, he's done a lot of whittling in the past few days. Read more at Mediaite and New York.More stories from theweek.com Elton John to host 'Living Room Concert for America' with stars performing from home What Trump's coronavirus briefings are really about Evangeline Lilly apologizes for 'dismissive' coronavirus comments
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| Immigration chief on thin ice for adopting Obama’s stance during crisis Posted: 26 Mar 2020 11:40 AM PDT |
| Workers of color in the low-wage workforce taking major hit as the economy suffers Posted: 25 Mar 2020 12:30 PM PDT  People of color make up a disproportionate share of workers in the industries where layoffs are the most intense and only expected to get worse.
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| Justice Department Charges Venezuela’s Maduro with Drug Trafficking, Offers $15 Million Reward Posted: 26 Mar 2020 09:08 AM PDT  Attorney General William Barr on Thursday announced charges against Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and senior members of his government.The Justice Department has charged Maduro and other officials with drug trafficking and offered a $15 million reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest or conviction."While holding key positions in the Maduro regime, these individuals violated the public trust by facilitating shipments of narcotics from Venezuela, including control over planes that leave from a Venezuelan air base, as well as control of drug routes through the ports in Venezuela," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.The Justice Department alleges that the Venezuelan government has worked with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC), which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization, to traffic cocaine to the U.S."We estimate that somewhere between 200 and 250 metric tons of cocaine are shipped out of Venezuela. . . . Those 250 metric tons equates to 30 million lethal doses," the Justice Department said in its announcement.The indictment of a foreign head of state is unusual and comes during a time of increased tension between the U.S. and Venezuela. The U.S. currently recognizes Venezuelan opposition head Juan Guaido as the country's legitimate president and has accused Maduro's government of widespread human-rights abuses including torture, extrajudicial killings, and arbitrary arrest.
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| Russia thanks 'real friend' Jack Ma for gift of a million masks Posted: 26 Mar 2020 09:27 AM PDT  Russia has received more than a million masks and 200,000 coronavirus testing kits as a gift from Chinese billionaire businessman Jack Ma, its Defence Ministry said on Thursday. Calling Ma "a real friend", the ministry said in a statement that the co-founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba had spoken by telephone to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and told him how touched he had been by Moscow's own help for China. The foundations of Alibaba and Ma said on Wednesday they had sent medical equipment to Russia.
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| Cho Ju-bin: South Korea chatroom sex abuse suspect named after outcry Posted: 25 Mar 2020 03:58 AM PDT  At least 10,000 people used the chatrooms, with some paying up to $1,200 (£1,000) for access.
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| 6 Amazon warehouses have been hit by the coronavirus outbreak, with employees saying the company isn't doing enough to protect their safety Posted: 25 Mar 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Amazon workers say the company hasn't been doing enough to promote social distancing at its warehouses.
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| Dr. Fauci warns of 'imported' coronavirus cases once travel ban lifts Posted: 26 Mar 2020 08:10 AM PDT  Fauci, a leading expert in the fight against the virus, said the warning comes from China, where the coronavirus originated.
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| Pressure Builds on Boris Johnson Over the U.K.’s Lag in Virus Testing Posted: 25 Mar 2020 12:39 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson's top medical adviser said the U.K. must learn from other countries' experience of coronavirus testing as he warned the National Health Service may be overwhelmed by the pandemic.The admission came after days of criticism from politicians and the media that Britain's test regime is lagging behind other nations', including Germany and South Korea. Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said the U.K. is being hobbled by global supply chain bottlenecks, and he dampened optimism that home test kits could be available within days. "What we need to do is look at those countries that have actually got more testing than us and work out how to do it the way they're doing it as best we can in our own system, using our own testing systems," Whitty said at a joint press conference with Johnson on Wednesday.The issue carries significant political risk for Prime Minister Johnson because testing is seen by medical experts, the World Health Organization and even his own advisers as crucial in the absence of a vaccine. Without knowing how many people have been infected it's impossible to know how best to tackle the outbreak -- or to judge when to end an economy-sapping lockdown.The admission that the U.K. needs to learn from other countries is also potentially damaging for the government, which has faced repeated criticism for acting more slowly than other countries to curb movement of people, close schools, and ban gatherings in public. 'Extraordinary Speed'Standing next to Johnson and Whitty at a press conference in London, the U.K.'s Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance acknowledged the government has no idea how widely the virus has spread in the population. "The scale of this is something which has obviously occurred at extraordinary speed," Whitty said, when asked why the U.K. was not able to match other countries' rate of testing. "That's just a practical reality."The lack of testing capacity is having an immediate impact on the state-run NHS's capacity to cope, because many front-line workers showing symptoms -- or in households with other people who are -- are self-isolating to avoid the risk of infecting their patients. But not all of these medical workers would have to stay at home if they could be tested and given the all-clear.The U.K. had conducted just over 90,000 tests as of March 24, typically at a rate of 5,000-6,000 day. That's still well short of the immediate goal of 10,000 daily tests and far from the 25,000 target it wants to hit in the coming weeks.U.K. Says 3.5 Million Coronavirus Home Tests Coming SoonClose Run"This is going to be a close-run thing, we all know that," Whitty said, when asked if the NHS will be overwhelmed in the next three weeks. If people adhere to the lock down rules, the outbreak will "probably be manageable, but we can't guarantee that," he said.Johnson decided to stop widespread testing, instead choosing to limit tests to patients who were taken to hospital showing likely symptoms.That policy was driven by the pursuit of so-called herd immunity -- the point at which enough people have had an illness, and gained protection from it, that it won't be transmitted to those who haven't been infected. Vallance said at the time that 60% of the U.K. population would need to catch the disease for it to work.The government abandoned that strategy when scientific modeling made clear the NHS didn't have enough critical care beds to cope with the expected numbers needing treatment.It is now in a phase of trying to suppress the outbreak with intensifying measures aimed at reducing social interactions. On Monday, Johnson said the country would be in a lock down for at least three weeks.The strategy had many critics including Jeremy Hunt, the U.K.'s longest-serving health secretary from 2012 to 2018, who told the BBC on Wednesday the decision to stop testing in the community was "very worrying.""When the view was that you were happy for 60% of the population to get this, then testing becomes less important," he said. "The key -- if we want to avoid long periods of lock down -- is to have very, very comprehensive testing so that we actually track down and break the chain of transmission."For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The 22-year-old spring breaker who boasted 'if I get corona, I get corona' apologized, saying he was acting like he was 'invincible' Posted: 25 Mar 2020 03:31 AM PDT  "If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I'm not going to let it stop me from partying," Brady Sluder told reporters in Miami last week.
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| Pelosi says she doesn't think 'we've seen the end of direct payments,' calls for fourth coronavirus bill Posted: 26 Mar 2020 09:53 AM PDT  Pelosi said that House Democrats plan to take the lead on the fourth installment of economic and health care relief.
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| The U.S.'s $13 Billion Aircraft Carrier Has a Toilet Problem Posted: 26 Mar 2020 07:28 AM PDT  It's yet another headache plaguing America's newest aircraft carrier.
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