CORONAVIRUS: WUHAN DRAWS UP PLANS TO TEST ALL 11 MILLION RESIDENTS

The Chinese city of Wuhan is drawing up plans to test its entire population

of 11 million people for Covid-19, state media report.

The plan appears to be in its early stages, with all districts in Wuhan told

to submit details as to how testing could be done within 10 days.

It comes after Wuhan, where the virus first emerged, recorded six new cases

over the weekend.

Prior to this, it had seen no new cases at all since 3 April.

Wuhan, which was in strict lockdown for 11 weeks, began re-opening on 8

April.

For a while it seemed like life was getting back to normal as schools

re-opened, businesses slowly emerged and public transport resumed

operations. But the emergence of a cluster of cases - all from the same

residential compound - has now threatened the move back to normalcy.

According to report by The Paper, quoting a widely circulated internal

document, every district in the city has been told to draw up a 10-day

testing plan by noon on Tuesday.

CHINA SUSPENDS PENALTIES ON MORE U.S. GOODS IN TRADE TRUCE

BEIJING -- China suspended punitive tariffs on more U.S. goods including

radar equipment for aviation Tuesday amid pressure from President Donald

Trump to buy more imports as part of a truce in their trade war.

The Ministry of Finance said tariff increases on 79 types of goods including

radar sets, disinfectant and rare earths minerals would be suspended for one

year starting May 19.

Washington agreed in January to cancel additional tariff hikes and Beijing

committed to buy more American farm exports. U.S. officials said China

agreed to address complaints about its technology policies.

Trump threatened May 3 to terminate the agreement if China fails to buy more

American goods.

The two sides have raised duties on tens of billions of dollars of each

other's imports in a dispute over China's technology ambitions and trade

surplus.

Slumping economic activity due to the virus has prompted suggestions China

might be unable to carry out commitments to boost imports.

Last week, U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators promised to create "favorable

conditions" for carrying out the truce, China's government announced. The

two sides gave no timeline for more talks.

Tuesday's announcement was the third Chinese tariff cut since the January

agreement.

Beijing announced on Feb. 6 it would reduce duties on $75 billion of U.S.

goods. It followed up by rolling back penalties on a list of goods that

included medical and industrial machinery.

AS NATIONS REOPEN, WARNING EMERGES ABOUT VIRUS TRACING VOIDS

A top world health official Monday warned that countries are essentially

driving blind in reopening their economies without setting up strong contact

tracing to beat back flare-ups of the coronavirus.

The warning came as France and Belgium emerged from lockdowns, the

Netherlands sent children back to school, and many U.S. states pressed ahead

by lifting business restrictions. Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the

company's 10,000-worker electric car factory near San Francisco was

operating Monday in defiance of coronavirus health orders that closed

nonessential businesses.

Authorities have cautioned that the scourge could come back with a vengeance

without widespread testing and tracing of infected people's contacts with

others.

The World Health Organization's emergencies chief, Dr. Michael Ryan, said

that robust contact tracing measures adopted by Germany and South Korea

provide hope that those countries can detect and stop virus clusters before

they get out of control.

But he said other nations exiting lockdowns have not effectively employed

contact tracing investigators who contact people who test positive, track

down their contacts and get them into quarantine before they can spread the

virus. The coronavirus can spread before people feel sick, making it

important to act quickly. Ryan declined to name specific countries.

"Shutting your eyes and trying to drive through this blind is about as silly

an equation as I've seen," Ryan said. "And I'm really concerned that certain

countries are setting themselves up for some seriously blind driving over

the next few months."

COVID-19: 'SERIOUS' CONSEQUENCES OF PREMATURE REOPENING OF US, WARNS WHITE

HOUSE SCIENTIST FAUCI

Anthony Fauci, a top US immunologist and a key figure in the Trump

administration's response to the Covid-19 epidemic, warmed lawmakers at a

Senate hearing Tuesday that premature opening of the country could lead to

"serious" consequences and "little spikes that might turn into outbreaks".

The long-time director of the US National Institute of Allergy and

Infectious had told the New York Times he planned to tell senators that

rushed reopening could cause "needless suffering and death".

"The major message that I wish to convey to the Senate HLP (health,

education, labor and pensions) committee tomorrow is the danger of trying to

open the country prematurely," he wrote in an email to a reporter of the New

York Times ahead of the hearing. "If we skip over the checkpoints in the

guidelines to 'Open America Again', then we risk the danger of multiple

outbreaks throughout the country. This will not only result in needless

suffering and death, but would actually set us back on our quest to return

to normal."

Asked specifically about his NYT remarks at the hearing, Fauci made the same

argument but in different words. The "consequences could be really serious",

he said and added later that premature reopening could lead to "little

spikes that might turn into outbreaks".

MIKE POMPEO'S SEVEN-NATION MEETING FOCUSES ON CHINA, ACCOUNTABILITY

Accountability in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and economic recovery

amid the global crisis figured prominently during a video conference that

was joined by external affairs minister S Jaishankar, US secretary of state

Mike Pompeo and their counterparts from five other countries.

Besides Pompeo, Australian foreign minister Marise Payne and Japan's foreign

minister Toshimitsu Motegi spoke of the need for transparency and

accountability during a review of the pandemic, according to official

readouts of the video conference initiated by the US secretary of state on

Monday.

The leaders, including Jaishankar, said the focus should currently remain on

combating the pandemic, finding medical solutions such as vaccines and

recovery from the economic impacts of the Covid-19 crisis.

Though the official readouts on the video conference didn't name China,

people familiar with developments said the references to transparency were

linked to Beijing's initial handling of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the

response of bodies such as World Health Organization (WHO).

The hour-long video conference was also joined by Brazil's foreign minister

Ernesto Araujo, Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz and South Korea's

foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha.

"Secretary Pompeo and his counterparts discussed the importance of

international cooperation, transparency, and accountability in combating the

Covid-19 pandemic," state department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said.

"They also discussed collaboration towards preventing future global health

crises, reaffirming the importance of the rules-based international order,"

she said.

PAKISTAN MILITARY SEEKS RS 63 BILLION FOR STAFF SALARY HIKE

Pakistan's military has sought an additional outlay of Rs. 63.69 billion to

cover a 20% increase in the salaries of the personnel of the army, navy and

air force amid cost-cutting and austerity measures by the government.

A memorandum submitted to the finance division by the defence ministry on

May 8 stated the increase in salaries during fiscal 2020-21 is needed

because of various factors that have "affected the fiscal space and

livelihood of armed forces personnel".

The memorandum added that the joint staff headquarters, in consultation with

the headquarters of the three services, believes government employees,

including military personnel, have been hit by a price rise due to the

devaluation of the Pakistani rupee, increase in utility bills and inflation.

It added that in the current fiscal year, the salaries of officers up to the

rank of brigadier had been increased by 5%, while junior commissioned

officers and soldiers were given ad hoc increment of 10% of their basic pay.

However, it states, no increase was given to general officers, while the ad

hoc relief granted to officers had been affected by enhanced income tax,

thereby resulting in their salary decrease.

As these circumstances have affected the "fiscal space and livelihood" of

armed forces personnel, the move to increase the pay, "duly approved" by the

chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, had been forwarded to the

finance ministry, it said.

The memorandum stated this can be accomplished by merging the ad hoc relief

allowances for 2016-19 in the basic pay designated in 2017. "Thereafter,

allowing increase in pay @ 20% of revised pay scales in budget [for]

financial year 2020-21," it added.

SAUDI ARABIA TO IMPOSE FULL LOCKDOWN DURING EID HOLIDAY FROM MAY 23-27

Saudi Arabia will impose a 24-hour nation-wide lockdown during the five-day

Eid holiday, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramzan and is

celebrated in the kingdom on May 23-27 this year, a spokesperson of the

Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.

"All coronavirus-related restrictions will be in place until the end of

Ramzan, full ban on movement will be imposed from Ramzan 30 to Shawwal 4

[May 23-27]," the spokesperson was quoted as saying by a state-run agency.

According to the Sputnik, citizens across the Kingdom will be allowed to

move freely from 9 am to 5 pm local time before Eid, except for the city of

Mecca that is still under full lockdown.

Saudi Arabia confirmed over 1,900 more Covid-19 cases on Tuesday while the

coronavirus-related death toll increased by nine to 264. More than 15,000

people have already recovered from the infection.

The Mecca region, with over 9,000 cases, is the most affected by the

illness.

Meanwhile, the Saudi government has urged its people to comply with the

safety norms to contain Covid-19 pandemic and to abide by social distancing

policy.

MARIA BRANYAS: 'OLDEST WOMAN IN SPAIN' BEATS CORONAVIRUS AT 113

A 113-year-old woman - believed to be the oldest woman in Spain - has

recovered from the coronavirus, officials have said.

Maria Branyas was diagnosed with Covid-19 after the country went into

lockdown in March.

But after weeks in isolation, Ms Branyas recovered, having suffered only

mild symptoms.

It means she has lived through the flu pandemic of 1918-19, the 1936-39

Spanish Civil War and the coronavirus.

"Now that she is well, she is wonderful, she wants to speak, to explain, to

make her reflections, it is her again," her daughter tweeted.

Born in Mexico in 1907, she moved north to San Francisco two years later and

arrived in the Catalan province of Girona during World War One with her

Spanish journalist father. She raised three children - one of whom recently

turned 86 - has 11 grandchildren - the oldest of whom is 60 - and 13

great-grandchildren.

She has lived for two decades at a care home in the city of Olot.

Speaking to La Vanguardia last year, she said: "I have done nothing but

live."