UK PM UNVEILS 'CONDITIONAL PLAN' FOR NEXT-PHASE COVID-19 RESPONSE

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday announced a phased plan to

ease a nationwide coronavirus lockdown, with schools and shops to begin

opening from June 1 - as long as infection rates stay low.

"This is not the time simply to end the lockdown this week," the 55-year-old

said, but unveiled a "conditional plan" to ease the measures in England in

the months ahead.

Starting this week, he said the government would be "actively encouraging"

people to return to work where they could not do so from home, for example

in manufacturing or construction.

Unlimited outdoor exercise would be allowed from Wednesday, with sports such

as golf, tennis and fishing permitted as long as they only involved members

of the same household.

In the second phase, Mr. Johnson said nurseries and children up to the age

of 11 could start to return to school from June 1 at the earliest, and some

non-essential shops could reopen.

By July, "we will hope to re-open at least some of the hospitality industry

and other public places" that could enforce social distancing, for example

cafes in parks.

Infection rates will also be closely monitored under a new alert system,

which will build upon existing moves to ramp up testing and contact tracing.

A new Covid Alert System with five levels will govern how quickly lockdown

restrictions can be eased.

The plans presented by Johnson only apply to England. Scotland, Wales and

Northern Ireland can decide their own schedule for easing - and have

indicated they will not follow yet.

IN A LENGTHY REBUTTAL, CHINA REFUTES 24 US' LIES OVER CORONAVIRUS

China has issued a lengthy rebuttal of what it said were 24 "preposterous

allegations" by some leading U.S. politicians over its handling of the new

COVID-19 outbreak.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has dedicated most of its press briefings over

the past week to rejecting accusations by U.S. politicians, especially

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, that China had withheld information about

the new coronavirus and that it had originated in a laboratory in the city

of Wuhan.

A 30-page, 11,000-word article posted on the Ministry's website on Saturday

night repeated and expanded on the refutations made during the press

briefings, and began by invoking Abraham Lincoln, the 19th century U.S.

President.

"As Lincoln said, you can fool some of the people all the time and fool all

the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the

time," it said in the prologue.

The article also cited media reports that said Americans had been infected

with the virus before the first case was confirmed in Wuhan. There is no

evidence to suggest that is the case.

Keen to quash U.S. suggestions that the virus was deliberately created or

somehow leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the article said that

all evidence shows the virus is not man-made and that the institute is not

capable of synthesising a new coronavirus.

The article also provided a timeline of how China had provided information

to the international community in a "timely", "open and transparent" manner

to rebuke U.S. suggestions that it had been slow to sound the alarm.

W.H.O. WITHHELD VIRUS INFO AFTER CHINA PRESSURE: REPORT

The world may have lost a precious four to six weeks in taking defensive

measures against the coronavirus pandemic after China's President Xi Jinping

personally asked the WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to

delay a warning about human-to-human transmission, a German magazine has

reported, citing the country's intelligence agency. The report, which is

strongly contested by the WHO, would strengthen the Trump administration's

claim that the organization is under China's control and that Beijing

concealed the seriousness of the outbreak for several weeks.

According to the report in Germany's Der Spiegel, the country's intelligence

agency 'Bundesnachrichtendienst' (BND) believes Xi phoned Ghebreyesus on

January 21 to ask for a delay in global warning about the pandemic. An early

warning would have enabled countries to shut down travel from China and take

other preventive measures, saving tens of thousands of lives. US

intelligence reports too have alleged that China "intentionally concealed

the severity" of the pandemic in early January and hoarded medical supplies.

But the WHO says the allegations are unfounded and there was not only no

call between Xi and Ghebreyesus, but they have never spoken on the phone.

"Such inaccurate reports distract and detract from WHO's and the world's

efforts to end the Covid-19 pandemic," WHO said in a statement, noting that

China confirmed human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus on

January 20, which would be a day before the alleged call.

The WHO itself publicly declared on January 22 that "data collected .

suggests that human-to-human transmission is taking place in Wuhan,"

although it was not until March that the organisation declared it a global

pandemic, setting in motion a worldwide shut down. Many experts reckon that

if the shutdown had occurred earlier, the virus could have been better

contained.

COVID-19 CASES IN RUSSIA EXCEED 200,000; SEES 11,012 CASES IN 1 DAY

The number of novel coronavirus cases in Russia surpassed 200,000 on Sunday

as the number of deaths approached 2,000, according to the country's

emergency task force.

With 11,012 infections registered over the past day, the total number of

cases rose to 209,688, it said in a daily report.

In the same period, 88 people died, raising the death toll to 1,915, while

recoveries reached 34,306, including 2,390 in the last 24 hours.

The growth rate of new cases in the country has fallen, despite new cases

exceeding 10,000 for the eighth day in a row, said the emergency task force.

"The daily increase was 5.5%, the lowest since the outbreak began. It is

noted that 4,674 (42.4%) of the newly recorded cases were actively

identified as asymptomatic," it said.

To date, 5.44 million tests were carried out in Russia aiming to diagnose

the illness at early stages when it is less contagious.

The capital Moscow remains the worst-hit area, counting more than half --

109,740 -- of all cases, with 80% of patients being under 65 years old and

6% children.

Four top Russian officials, including Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, were

hospitalized over the past two weeks after contracting COVID-19.

Despite the country's measures, including a lockdown in Moscow, a ban on

foreign entry and suspension of international air and railway traffic,

Russia is the fifth-worst coronavirus-hit country in terms of number of

cases.

TOP US PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS SELF-QUARANTINE

Three top US public health officials at the forefront of the Trump

administration's response to the Covid-19 outbreak went into self-quarantine

Saturday for the next two weeks after "low-risk" exposure to the deadly

virus through contacts with someone who has tested positive.

Heads of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield and

the Food and Drug Administration will be teleworking from home as a result,

their spokespersons have told news publications. And Anthony Fauci, head of

the National Institute of Allergies and Infections Diseases told CNN he will

be going in "modified quarantine". All three are members of the White task

force on the coronavirus outbreak.

Fauci has said he will be working from home, will wear a mask and will go to

office only when he will be sure to be the only one around at the time.

Fauci, Hahn and Redfield are scheduled to testify before a committee of the

US senate on Tuesday, but they will now not appear in person but through a

video link.

The source of their exposure was not identified. But Katie Miller, press

secretary of Vice-President Mike Pence, tested positive for Covid-19 on

Friday, used to frequently attend the meeting of the task-force, which is

headed by her boss. She is the second White House staffer to test positive,

after a US navy personnel serving as a personal valet to the president.

The White House has stepped up screening since and both the president and

the vice-president are now tested every day.

At least 11 members of the US Secret Service, which protects present and

past presidents, have also tested positive and 60 are in self-quarantine for

possible exposure, according to news reports. It was not clear if any of

them had been posted at the White House at the time of their exposure.

CORONAVIRUS: CHINA REPORTS 17 MORE CASES AMID NEW INFECTIONS IN WUHAN

China reported 17 new COVID-19 cases for May 10, rising from a day earlier

and marking the highest daily increase since April 28, according to official

data published on Monday.

Of the new cases, seven were so-called imported cases involving travellers

from overseas, compared with two imported infections on May 9.

Five of the new cases were reported in the central city of Wuhan, where the

outbreak first emerged in late 2019, marking the highest since March 11.

The total case toll now stands at 82,918 and the death toll remained

unchanged at 4,633.

The number of asymptomatic COVID-19 cases, those who were infected but not

exhibiting symptoms, fell to 12 on May 10 compared with 20 reported a day

earlier.

READY FOR PRISONER SWAP TALKS WITH US, SAYS IRAN

Iran says it is ready for unconditional prisoner swap talks with the US

because of fears that the coronavirus could put the lives of the prisoners

at risk, Iranian media reported on Sunday.

An Iranian website quoted Cabinet spokesman Ali Rabiei as saying there was a

"readiness for all prisoners" to be discussed without condition. "But the US

has refused to answer, so far" said Rabiei.

"We hope that as the outbreak of the Covid-19 disease threatens the lives of

Iranian citizens in the US prisons, the US government will prefer lives to

politics." Rabiei said Iran considers the US government responsible for the

health of the Iranian prisoners.

ranian media in recent months said there were several Iranians in US

custody, including Sirous Asgari, a 60-year-old university professor.

ZERO TURNOUT AS POLAND HOLDS BIZARRE GHOST ELECTION

Poland's election day Sunday was one for the history books, as polling

stations remain closed and turnout will clock in at zero due to a political

crisis set off by the coronavirus pandemic.

The EU member of 38 million people found itself in this bizarre "Twilight

Zone" predicament in which the presidential ballot was formally neither

postponed nor cancelled, because the government and opposition were unable

to agree on a constitutional and safe solution.

"Today's the day, election day without the election," leftist lawmaker

Tomasz Trela wrote on Facebook, after organising a media event in the

central city of Lodz to express his dismay at the situation.

Mr. Trela and a fellow politician from the Left coalition showed up with

homemade ballots at a school that is normally used as a polling station and

asked why they were unable to vote.

"The polling station is closed, which means someone cancelled the election.

But it's unclear who did or on what basis," he told reporters.

The anti-government protest movement Citizens of Poland organised an event

in the capital Warsaw, saying Poland needs to be rebuilt from the ground up.