In Ecuador, Victims Who Have Succumbed To Virus Are Being Left In Streets With Morgues At Capacity
The developing world is being hit hard by the outbreak, from medical capacity to economies based largely on informal workers. Global news comes out of China, Africa, France and Sweden, as well.
The corpses have been overwhelming Guayaquil, a port city of 2.8 million at the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in Ecuador. Over the last few days, several were wrapped in plastic and left on the streets. Others have lain unclaimed in hospitals and clinics that have been overwhelmed by infections. The city morgue is full. (Viteri and Kraul, 4/1)
Life has never been easy, said Zuleidy Carrasco, but she and her husband on a good day could earn enough money to cover the room they share with two small children and pay for the family鈥檚 meals.Until now. With Colombia and a growing part of the developing world in lockdown, Ms. Carrasco, a gangly 31, and her husband, Hector Brisuela, 24, cannot work or even venture outside. They are quickly running out of food and their landlord wants them to leave over unpaid rent. Twelve days remain before Colombia鈥檚 quarantine ends. (Forero, 4/2)
The head of the World Health Organization has voiced deep concern over the 鈥渞apid escalation鈥 and global spread of the new coronavirus pandemic, as the United States nears a grim milestone of 5,000 deaths. 鈥淥ver the past five weeks, we have witnessed a near exponential growth in the number of new cases, reaching almost every country, territory and area,鈥 WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesuss told a virtual news conference at the organisation's Geneva headquarters on Wednesday. (Smith, 4/2)
Since the coronavirus outbreak, life in China is ruled by a green symbol on a smartphone screen.Green is the 鈥渉ealth code鈥 that says a user is symptom-free and it鈥檚 required to board a subway, check into a hotel or just enter Wuhan, the central city of 11 million people where the pandemic began in December. The system is made possible by the Chinese public鈥檚 almost universal adoption of smartphones and the ruling Communist Party鈥檚 embrace of 鈥淏ig Data鈥 to extend its surveillance and control over society. (4/2)
A group of G-20 leaders are preparing an international response to the impact of the coronavirus crisis in Africa that would include debt relief and financial aid, African officials and European diplomats said. A comprehensive package supported by countries including France and Italy would incorporate recent demands from President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia, who have called on the world鈥檚 most industrialized countries to support the continent through the economic downturn caused by the pandemic. (Marks, 4/1)
When France started shutting down a few weeks ago as the coronavirus marched relentlessly into the country, Dominique Paul feared disaster. His family鈥檚 white-glove catering company, Groupe Butard, halted operations, putting 190 jobs at risk. Edward Arkwright, the director general of A茅roports de Paris, the Paris airport operator, weighed how to preserve over 140,000 jobs when a freeze on most global airline traffic caused activity to nose-dive 90 percent in a few head-spinning days. (Alderman, 4/1)
Filip Palmgren had wanted to work on planes since he was a child. Now, after just two years as a flight attendant, the 21-year old has lost his job because of the coronavirus crisis and will be soon heading to work in a hospital instead to help save patients. He is part of a first group of 30 laid-off employees of Scandinavian Airlines who have started training this week to learn basic skills to assist in nursing homes and hospitals currently overwhelmed by a surging number of patients and ill medical staff. (Keyton, 4/1)
