TRUMP SAYS SPOKE 'SARCASTICALLY' ABOUT INJECTING DISINFECTANTS

U.S. President Donald Trump's musings on whether injecting disinfectants

might treat COVID-19 have horrified medical professionals and raised fresh

concerns that his stream-of-consciousness briefings could push frightened

people to poison themselves with untested treatments.

An international chorus of doctors and health experts urged people not to

drink or inject disinfectant on Friday after Trump a day earlier suggested

that scientists should investigate inserting the cleaning agent into the

body as a way to cure COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new

coronavirus.

Initially, the White House said that Trump's comments were being taken out

of context. Later, Trump backtracked further, said he was just being

sarcastic.

"I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see

what would happen," Trump told reporters at the White House.

Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at Britain's University of East Anglia,

said injecting disinfectants likely would kill anyone who tried it.

"This is one of the most dangerous and idiotic suggestions made so far in

how one might actually treat COVID-19," Hunter told Reuters.

"It is hugely irresponsible because, sadly, there are people around the

world who might believe this sort of nonsense and try it out for

themselves," Hunter added.

Trump said at his daily news briefing on Thursday that scientists should

explore whether inserting ultraviolet light or disinfectant into the bodies

of people infected with the coronavirus might help them clear the disease.

"Is there a way we can do something like that by injection, inside, or

almost a cleaning?" Trump asked. "It would be interesting to check that."

US WILL MAKE SURE OTHER COUNTRIES KNOW THAT CORONAVIRUS ORIGINATED IN CHINA:

POMPEO

The United States is working with other countries to make sure they

understand that coronavirus originated in Wuhan, China, Secretary of State

Mike Pompeo has said.

Stressing that the burden is on Beijing to explain where the virus came

from, Pompeo told. The Ben Shapiro Show in an interview on Friday that China

knew about the virus by December, 2019.

"We need to hold accountable the parties responsible for the deaths here in

the United States and the enormous economic costs that have been posed on

the US," he said. Pompeo said that the entire global economic system has

been decimated.

The US is still trying to get an "actual sample" of Covid-19 from China as

several questions related to the infection remain unanswered, Secretary of

State Mike Pompeo has said. "Frankly, we are still trying to get an actual

sample of the virus (from China). They have given us the breakdown of it,"

Pompeo said added.

"We are also working with those countries to make sure they understand that

this was in fact a virus that originated in Wuhan, China, that the Chinese

government knew about this certainly by December of 2019," he said. "That

they (China) failed to comply with their most fundamental obligations as a

nation, and importantly, too, failed to comply with the international health

regulations of the World Health Organization and then did a lot of things"

and we can talk about them at great length "to cover that up," Pompeo added.

Those are the kinds of things that the US needs to address, he said.

CORONAVIRUS: US DEATH TOLL PASSES 50,000 IN WORLD'S DEADLIEST OUTBREAK

The US virus death toll has surpassed 50,000, according to data from Johns

Hopkins University, in what is the world's deadliest Covid-19 outbreak.

More than 3,000 deaths came in the last 24 hours, and there are now over

870,000 confirmed cases nationwide.

But the US still has a lower mortality rate than most European nations based

on current case counts, as the White House task force has emphasised.

The grim news comes as parts of the US reopen after weeks of lockdown.

Some hair salons, bowling alleys and other businesses are opening on Friday

in Georgia, Alaska and Oklahoma.

The US has by far the highest death toll and case count in the world.

However, it has a population of 330 million, much higher than other worst

affected countries such as Spain and Italy.

Dr Deborah Birx, an expert on the White House Covid-19 task force, has said

the country has "one of the lowest mortality rates in the entire world".

On a per capita basis the current reported US death rate is lower than

Spain, Italy, France, Belgium and the UK.

CORONAVIRUS | U.K. TO START TRIALS ON WHETHER PLASMA COULD HELP COVID-19

PATIENTS

Britain is to start trials to see whether plasma collected from donors who

have recovered from COVID-19 could be an effective treatment for patients

who are severely unwell with the disease.

Up to 5,000 severely ill patients with COVID-19 could soon be treated each

week with plasma as part of a new approach to treating the virus, the health

department said on Saturday.

Plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients can be transfused to patients who

are struggling to produce their own antibodies against the virus.

So-called convalescent plasma was used as an effective treatment during the

2002 to 2004 SARS outbreak, the health department said.

In parallel with the national randomised clinical trial, the government is

scaling up the national programme for collecting plasma so the treatment can

be widely rolled out if it is shown to be effective, the department said.

The collection of plasma would be ramped up over April and May to deliver up

to 10,000 units of plasma to the National Health Service (NHS) every week,

enough to treat 5,000 COVID-19 patients per week.

"I have every hope this treatment will be a major milestone in our fight

against this disease," said health minister Matt Hancock.

CORONAVIRUS | 72 THERAPEUTICS TRIAL UNDERWAY, 211 IN PLANNING STAGES: FDA

A top Trump administration health official has said that as many as 72

COVID-19 therapeutics trial are underway and 211 in planning stages in a bid

to find the cure for coronavirus.

"We are leaving no stone unturned to find the treatment for COVID-19... We

don't have any approved therapeutics for COVID-19 but we are actively

involved with the academic, commercial and private sector to find it," FDA

Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn told reporters at a White House news

conference.

"Seventy-two trials of therapeutics are underway in the United States under

FDA oversight and 211 are in the planning stages, so we expect to see more.

This includes convalescent plasma as well as antiviral therapies," Hahn

added. According to Hahn, work is continuing on finding a vaccine. FDA has

authorised two firms on vaccine trials.

Hahn said that the FDA has told manufacturers that in order to market

anti-body tests in the U.S., they have to validate their tests. So far, the

U.S. has authorised four and more are in the pipeline, he added.

The FDA is also helping make antibody tests that are used to detect natural

immunity these "These are just one part of FDA's larger response effort.

They can play a role in helping move the economy forward by helping

healthcare professionals identify those who have immunity to the COVID-19,"

he asserted.

CHINA SENT TEAM INCLUDING MEDICAL EXPERTS TO ADVISE ON KIM JUNG UN: REPORT

China has dispatched a team to North Korea including medical experts to

advise on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to three people

familiar with the situation.

The trip by the Chinese doctors and officials comes amid conflicting reports

about the health of the North Korean leader. Reuters was unable to

immediately determine what the trip by the Chinese team signaled in terms of

Kim's health.

A delegation led by a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party's

International Liaison Department left Beijing for North Korea on Thursday,

two of the people said. The department is the main Chinese body dealing with

neighbouring North Korea.

The sources declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter.

The Liaison Department could not be reached by Reuters for comment late on

Friday. China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request

for comment late on Friday.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND MARK ANZAC DAY IN DRIVEWAYS

Thousands of people across Australia and New Zealand have stood outside

their homes at dawn to mark Anzac Day, after households were urged to pay

tribute even amid coronavirus lockdown.

The national day of remembrance is a hugely important event for both nations

and crowds usually gather for services.

However these were cancelled last month amid wider restrictions on

gatherings.

Instead people were urged to hold a candle in their driveways and live

stream services.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had acknowledged the

disappointment in the ceremonies being cancelled for the first time in

history.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison attended a closed dawn ceremony at

the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. "I look forward to the entire

nation, on their driveways, lighting up the dawn, remembering our heroes and

drawing inspiration from them for the task and challenge we currently face",

he said.

COVID-19 | CHINA REPORTS 12 NEW CASES, NO NEW DEATHS

China reported 12 new coronavirus cases on April 24 compared with six new

cases on the previous day, National Health Commission data showed on

Saturday.

Of the new cases, 11 were imported, compared with two cases reported

previously.

The commission also reported 29 new asymptomatic cases, slightly down from

the previous day's tally of 34. Four of these cases were imported.

The total number of confirmed cases in China is now 82,816. The death toll

remained the same at 4,632, with no new deaths reported on April 24.

BRAZIL BECOMING CORONAVIRUS HOT SPOT AS TESTING FALTERS

Cases of the new coronavirus are overwhelming hospitals, morgues and

cemeteries across Brazil as Latin America's largest nation veers closer to

becoming one of the world's pandemic hot spots.

Medical officials in Rio de Janeiro and at least four other major cities

have warned that their hospital systems are on the verge of collapse, or

already too overwhelmed to take any more patients.

Meanwhile, President Jair Bolsonaro has shown no sign of wavering from his

insistence that COVID-19 is a relatively minor disease and that broad

social-distancing measures are not needed to stop it. He has said only

Brazilians at high risk should be isolated.

In Manaus, the biggest city in the Amazon, officials said a cemetery has

been forced to dig mass graves because there have been so many deaths.

Workers have been burying 100 corpses a day - triple the pre-virus average

of burials.

BANGLADESH BANS IFTAR GATHERINGS

Bangladesh banned Iftar gatherings during Ramadan to curb the spread of the

infections as the country recorded the highest single-day spike of 503

positive cases, increasing the total to 4,689.

Bangladesh's Ministry of Religious Affairs said that in order to maintain

social distancing during the coronavirus outbreak, no individuals or

institutions will be allowed to arrange or participate in any gathering over

Iftar meals at dusk.

Meanwhile, Ramadan began with Islam's holiest sites in Saudi Arabia and

Jerusalem largely empty of worshippers as the coronavirus crisis forced

authorities to impose restrictions.