CHINA HID TRUTH ABOUT COVID-19 PANDEMIC FROM ITS PEOPLE FOR ALMOST A WEEK

In the six days after top Chinese officials secretly determined they likely

were facing a pandemic from a new coronavirus, the city of Wuhan at the

epicenter of the disease hosted a mass banquet for tens of thousands of

people; millions began travelling through for Lunar New Year celebrations.

President Xi Jinping warned the public on the seventh day (January 20). But

by that time, more than 3,000 people had been infected during almost a week

of public silence, according to internal documents obtained by and expert

estimates based on retrospective infection data.

Six days. That delay from January 14 to January 20 was neither the first

mistake made by Chinese officials at all levels in confronting the outbreak,

nor the longest lag, as governments around the world have dragged their feet

for weeks and even months in addressing the virus.

But the delay by the first country to face the new coronavirus came at a

critical time - the beginning of the outbreak. China's attempt to walk a

line between alerting the public and avoiding panic set the stage for a

pandemic that has infected almost 2 million people and taken more than

1,26,000 lives.

"This is tremendous," said Zuo-Feng Zhang, an epidemiologist at the

University of California, Los Angeles. "If they took action six days

earlier, there would have been much fewer patients and medical facilities

would have been sufficient. We might have avoided the collapse of Wuhan's

medical system."

Other experts noted that the Chinese government may have waited on warning

the public to stave off hysteria, and that it did act quickly in private

during that time.

It's uncertain whether it was local officials who failed to report cases or

national officials who failed to record them.

But what is clear, experts say, is that China's rigid controls on

information, bureaucratic hurdles and a reluctance to send bad news up the

chain of command muffled early warnings.

The Chinese government has repeatedly denied suppressing information in the

early days, saying it immediately reported the outbreak to the World Health

Organization.

ONLY A COVID-19 VACCINE WILL ALLOW RETURN TO 'NORMALCY', SAYS UN CHIEF

A Covid-19 vaccine may be the only thing that can bring back "normalcy," UN

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday, hoping for just that

before the end of the year.

"A safe and effective vaccine may be the only tool that can return the world

to a sense of 'normalcy,' saving millions of lives and countless trillions

of dollars," he added during a video conference with the 50 or so African

countries that are members of the United Nations.

He called for its accelerated development and accessibility to all, adding

it must have a "universal global benefit" and "allow us to control the

pandemic."

"We need an ambitious effort to ensure that international stakeholders

operate through a harmonized, integrated and leveraged approach to maximize

the speed and scale needed for the universal deployment of such a vaccine by

the end of 2020," he insisted.

Guterres said his appeal on March 25 for $2 billion in donations for a

comprehensive UN humanitarian response to the pandemic had so far raised

about 20 percent of that amount.

Through the World Health Organization, the United Nations has been able to

equip 47 African countries with Covid-19 tests, he said.

The UN chief also praised the efforts of several African governments to

mitigate the consequences of the pandemic.

SOUTH KOREA ELECTION: RULING PARTY WINS AMID CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

The party of South Korean President Moon Jae-in has won a decisive victory

in parliamentary elections.

South Korea was among the first countries with a major coronavirus outbreak

to hold a national vote since the pandemic began.

Safety and social distancing measures were put in place so that the election

could take place as scheduled.

With nearly all votes counted, Mr Moon's Democratic Party won 163 seats in

the 300-seat National Assembly.

The left-leaning party's sister group, the Platform Party, was forecast to

win a further 17 seats, giving the government a total of 180 seats.

Although 35 parties put forward candidates, the race was between the

Democratic Party and the conservative opposition, United Future Party.

United Future and its parliamentary partners are expected to win 103 seats.

The result is seen as a show of approval of President Moon's handling of the

coronavirus outbreak, which has been widely praised.

SUNDER PICHAI, SATYA NADELLA, FOUR OTHER INDIAN-AMERICANS IN DONALD TRUMP'S

LIST OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS

President Donald Trump has roped in six Indian-American corporate leaders,

including Sundar Pichai from Google and Satya Nadella from Microsoft, to

seek advice from the "brightest" and the "smartest" people on how to restart

US economy that has been crippled by the coronavirus pandemic.

America's economy, the world's largest, has come to a standstill due the

Covid-19 pandemic. More than 95 per cent of the 330 million population is

under stay-at-home order amid a national emergency in place.

A record number of over 16 million people have lost their jobs due to the

ongoing economic crisis in the US, according to latest official figures.

President Trump has named over 200 top American leaders from various

industries and sections to create nearly a dozen and a half different groups

as part of the Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups.

These leaders will advise the president and offer recommendations on how to

revive the American economy, which has hit an unprecedented ebb in just a

few weeks due to the deadly coronavirus.

"They're the names that are, I think, the best and the smartest, the

brightest. And they're going to give us some ideas," Trump told reporters at

his daily White House news conference on coronavirus on Tuesday. Other

members of the group are Apple's Tim Cook, Oracle's Larry Ellison and

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg.

US PREZ TRUMP THREATENS TO ADJOURN CONGRESS TO PUSH THROUGH NOMINATIONS

US President Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday to adjourn Congress to

allow him to appoint officials whose nominations he claimed were being

blocked by Democrats in the Senate.

"I will exercise my constitutional authority to adjourn both chambers of

Congress," Trump told reporters at the White House.

"I'd rather not use that power," he said. "We'll probably be challenged in

court and we'll see who wins."

Trump accused Democrats in the Republican-controlled Senate of stalling the

nominations of several top administration officials whose appointments

require Senate confirmation.

The Constitution allows a president to make what are known as "recess

appointments" when Congress is not in session.

Trump said he may take the unprecedented step of adjourning both the House

and the Senate to allow him to make such appointments.

Although both the House and Senate have not been meeting amid the

coronavirus pandemic they have not formally adjourned.

CHINA SHUTS DOWN LARGEST MAKESHIFT HOSPITAL IN WUHAN

With the number of coronavirus cases sharply falling, China on Wednesday

shutdown one of its largest makeshift field hospitals built in just 10 days

to treat the surging COVID-19 infections in Wuhan, the epicentre of the

pandemic.

Thousands of medical workers deployed in the capital of central Hubei

province from across the nation also left Wuhan after completing their

mission, the official media reported.

The makeshift Leishenshan (Thunder God Mountain) Hospital ceased operation

in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, on Wednesday as the

coronavirus epidemic wanes, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

It was one of the two over a 1,000-bed capacity hospitals built in 10 days

in February to treat the COVID-19 patients amid a glare of national and

international publicity to curb the virus.

Besides the two hospitals, China also built 14 additional makeshift health

centres to quarantine and treat the COVID-19 patients. All of them were

closed down recently. Also, the last group of medical workers sent to Hubei

to fight the outbreak also left Wuhan, state-run China Daily reported on

Wednesday.

GOOGLE LAUNCHES GLOBAL JOURNALISM RELIEF FUND

As local newsrooms bleed owing to lack of resources and poor ad spend in

COVID-19 pandemic, Google announced a Journalism Emergency Relief Fund to

deliver urgent aid to thousands of small, medium and local news publishers

globally. The funding is open to news organisations producing original news

for local communities during this time of crisis, and will range from

thousands of dollars for small hyper-local newsrooms to tens of thousands

for larger newsrooms, with variations per region, Richard Gingras, VP, News

at Google said. "Local news is a vital resource for keeping people

connected. But that role is being challenged as the industry deals with job

cuts, furloughs and cutbacks," he added.

PAK COURT ADJOURNS HEARING AGAINST SAEED

Lahore: An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has adjourned for an indefinite

period the hearing against Mumbai terror attack mastermind and

Jamat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed in four terror financing cases in the wake

of the coronavirus outbreak in the country. Saeed, a UN-designated terrorist

whom the US has placed a $10 million bounty on, was sentenced to 11 years in

jail in two terror financing cases in February. The 70-year-old fiery cleric

was arrested on July 17 and is lodged at the Kot Lakhpat jail. He said the

court had adjourned the hearing for an indefinite period.

ELIZABETH WARREN ENDORSES DEMOCRAT JOE BIDEN FOR PRESIDENT

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for

president on Wednesday, delivering another high-profile backing from one of

his former rivals as he aims to unify the Democratic Party ahead of a

bruising contest with Republican President Donald Trump.

"In this moment of crisis, it's more important than ever that the next

president restores Americans' faith in good, effective government and I've

seen Joe Biden help our nation rebuild," Ms. Warren wrote in a tweet.

"Today, I'm proud to endorse Joe Biden as President of the United States."

Ms. Warren, a liberal who ended her own bid for the White House last month,

gives Mr. Biden his third major endorsement of the week. Biden's chief

rival, Bernie Sanders, endorsed him on Monday after suspending his campaign

last week, while former President Barack Obama backed Mr. Biden on Tuesday.

SEVEN SUSPECTED MILITANTS SHOT DEAD IN CAIRO

Egyptian security forces on Tuesday killed seven suspected militants in a

shootout in Cairo, the Interior Ministry said, amid tight security as the

country's Coptic Christians start the Holy Week leading up to Easter next

week.

A police officer was also killed during the hours-long firefight which

erupted when security forces raided a suspected militant hideout at a

residential building in Cairo's Amiriyah district, the ministry said.

Three police agents, including an officer, were wounded.

The Ministry, which oversees police, said the forces seized weapons and

ammunition in the raid.

It said the suspects were planning attacks on the country's Coptic

Christians during the Holy Week and Easter Sunday.

Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Christians, one the world's oldest Christian

communities, would celebrate Easter on April 19.