Category: World

Tattoo parlours and hair salons in Denmark. Beaches in Australia. Bookstores in Germany. Nations around the world took advantage Monday of their flattening coronavirus infection curves to tentatively ease lockdowns, edging toward a new yet unknown state of normal amid a devastating pandemic.

China, where the virus started its relentless march around the globe late last year, has already been reopening from a strict lockdown for a few weeks. But the nations testing out the waters Monday were democracies, not a hierarchical communist system, and the sheer variety of choices each made offers plenty of options for U.S. lawmakers and communities to ponder.

The game plan is to open up but maintain enough physical distancing to prevent new flare-ups of the virus that has infected 2.4 million people worldwide, killed more than 165,000 and sent the global economy into a tailspin.

Easing lockdowns “is not the end of the epidemic in any country. It’s just the beginning of the next phase,” the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told G20 health ministers in an online meeting.

He sternly warned governments not to rush to return to the old normal, saying: “It is critical that these measures are a phased process.”

The debate over easing lockdowns is growing ever more heated in the United States, where President Donald Trump and his administration say parts of the nation are ready to begin a gradual return to normalcy.

Yet many governors counter that woefully inadequate federal actions, like a lack of testing supplies, is hindering their response to the pandemic. They say their hard-won successes over the past weeks of battling the virus will be for nought if they reopen their economies too soon and get hit by a second wave of infections.

WATCH | Trump doesn’t discourage protests to end COVID-19 restrictions:

“We showed that we can control the beast and when you close down, you can actually slow that infection rate, but this is only halftime,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters. “We still have to make sure that we keep that beast under control, we keep that infection rate down.”

The death toll in the U.S., the worst-hit country by far, was more than 40,000 with almost 760,000 confirmed infections, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University of government reports. The true figures are likely significantly higher since mild infections can be missed, testing is limited and there are plenty of problems in counting the dead amid a crisis.

Reopening a ‘step-by-step process,’ German minister says

Isabel Pennekamp, shopping in the German city of Cologne, was grateful that parts of the country reopened small stores.

“Well, I think it’s good, because now people can get out a bit more and normality is a bit more possible again,” she said.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn said the gradual easing “is a step-by-step process where, after time, we will evaluate what consequences it has had for the infection.”

Cars will again begin rolling off some production lines in Germany, Sweden and Slovakia. In Australia, the production of the country’s longest-running soap opera, Neighbours, planned to restart by having separate crews for each key filming site. One city council in Sydney reopened beaches, but stressed they were only for exercise like swimming, running and surfing, and not for sunbathing.

“Living along the coast, I know how important our beaches are to the mental and physical health of so many,” said Danny Said, mayor of Randwick.

Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach remained closed.

Salons, tattoo parlours open in Denmark

Hair salons, dentists, physiotherapists and even tattoo parlours were allowed to reopen in Denmark but it was not business as usual. Christel Lerche sprayed customers’ chairs with alcohol at her salon in suburban Copenhagen and provided hand sanitizer and plastic coat hangers — to be cleaned after each use — to clients keen to get their hair trimmed or styled for the first time since restrictions began on March 11. No magazines were left for customers to share, either.

India eased the world’s largest lockdown to allow some manufacturing and agricultural activity to resume — if employers can meet physical distancing and hygiene standards. The move came as India recorded its biggest single-day spike in infections.

Iran began opening intercity highways and major shopping centres Monday to stimulate its sanctions-choked economy, despite major questions about the country’s official virus infection and death toll figures.

But not every government was ready to take its foot off the brake just yet.

In Italy, tensions have been growing between northern regions, which are pushing to reopen industry despite being hardest hit by the coronavirus, and the south, which fears contagion if the lockdown is eased. Premier Giuseppe Conte is expected to outline what a “Phase 2” can look like this week, with the nationwide lockdown set to be lifted on May 4.

Still, Gucci on Monday restarted some workshops for leather accessories and footwear, agreeing with unions to provide “maximum security for workers.” The luxury fashion industry is a major driver of growth in Italy and deadlines are looming to produce fall collections.

In Britain, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson is still recovering from a bout of COVID-19 that saw him hospitalized in intensive care, a lockdown imposed March 23 is due to last at least until May 7, and ministers have cautioned that measures are unlikely to be significantly loosened in the short term. France also is still under a tight lockdown, although starting Monday, authorities allowed families, under strict conditions, to visit relatives in nursing homes once again.

In some places, lockdown fatigue was on the rise. Dutch police broke up two illegal gambling events and fined dozens of people for breaching local rules.

Governments are caught between keeping their citizens healthy and making sure they still have a roof over their heads or even enough to eat. Worries about the length of lockdowns have a strong basis: the International Monetary Fund expects the global economy to contract three per cent this year. Tens of millions of workers have lost their jobs and millions more fear they’ll be next.

In Japan, authorities emphasized that the time was not yet right to loosen restrictions by mowing down tens of thousands of tulips in full bloom near Tokyo. The festival celebrating them was cancelled but people still were coming to admire the flowers.

“This situation is now about human life,” said city official Takahiro Kogo. “It was a heart-wrenching decision, but we had to do it.”

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Shortly after extending what was already one of the strictest COVID-19 lockdowns by almost another three weeks, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured those watching his televised address this week that “the country is in a very well-managed position.” 

The situation on the ground, however, suggests otherwise: While proportional to its population of 1.38 billion, India’s COVID-19 caseload is small, it’s been rising despite the lockdown and has surpassed 16,000, with 2,154 new cases reported Saturday, the highest increase in a single day. 

There had already been reports of hunger and distress among the poor, who have been hit hardest by the lockdown, and news that the 21-day countrywide shutdown would be extended by another 19 days to May 3 sparked further chaos.

Hundreds of migrant workers — angry at being locked down with little access to daily essentials and no income — protested in the streets of Mumbai and Surat, a textile manufacturing hub in western India, demanding authorities transport them back to their villages. 

Restrictions on movement have been strictly enforced by police and include the shutdown of passenger trains, buses and all domestic and international flights, as well as schools and social and religious institutions. 

The government has allowed “select, necessary activities” to resume in areas that are not COVID-19 “hotspots” as of April 20 in addition to those already deemed essential. Permitted activities now include agriculture, fisheries, banking, a rural work-for-relief program and some construction, industry and manufacturing.

Government promises more relief

India has been under lockdown since March 24. At 8 p.m. that night, Modi announced on TV that in four hours, he would be halting all activity in the entire country to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. 

“If you do not take these 21 days seriously, then the country will go back by 21 years,” he warned.

But absent any advance notice or consultation with state governments and with only limited financial aid and food rations for the most vulnerable, the announcement sparked despair among India’s millions of workers, especially those known in India as daily wagers.

These are workers who live practically day to day, employed on construction sites, in small and medium manufacturing units and cottage industries, and in hotels and homes.

Much of the labour force in India’s cities is made up of interstate economic migrants from villages around the country (at least 45 million of them, according to the 2011 Census), and as transportation and their means of employment ground to a halt, a large number were left with no choice but to walk hundreds of kilometres back to their villages in a desperate bid for survival. 

Researchers have compiled cases of almost 200 Indians who have died as a result of lockdown-related distress, and social media is replete with SOS calls and cellphone videos from labourers stuck inside their tenements or cramped work sites, which double as accommodation for some. 

The government’s relief package, which includes food, gas and cash for poor households and health insurance for medical staff, has been criticized by some as too modest, at about 0.8 per cent of GDP,  excluding millions of those who need it. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday additional assistance would be announced in the coming days.

Is it working?

The lockdown has pushed the already sagging Indian economy into further decline, with the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy, a Mumbai-based think-tank, estimating that unemployment shot up from less than seven per cent in mid-March to more than 23 per cent in the first week of April. 

Barclays estimated the cost to the economy would be $234.4 billion US and zero per cent GDP growth for 2020.

Meanwhile, the public health benefits remain unclear. India has not “flattened the curve” in the past three and a half weeks, with cases rising from around 600 to more than 16,000 in that time.

The number of new cases continues to go up, as does the number of deaths, which rose from 13 on March 25 to more than 520 currently.

While over half the cases are in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Indore and Bhopal, testing has shown that COVID-19 is present in almost all of India’s 28 states and eight union territories. 

“The three-week lockdown was supposed to buy the government time to ramp up testing, increase surveillance and contact tracing, acquire PPE (personal protective equipment) kits in requisite numbers for frontline workers, train health personnel, prepare hospitals to receive COVID-19 patients, and draw up a comprehensive plan for controlling the spread of the virus,” said Anant Bhan, a researcher in global health, bioethics and health policy. 

“There have been pockets of containment, but there is no indication that authorities have used this three-week window to address the big picture.”

The Ministry of Health and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which has been overseeing testing protocols and pandemic-related policy, did not respond to questions from CBC News.

Slow to respond

The first COVID-19 case was reported in India on Jan. 30 in a student who returned to her home in Kerala from Wuhan, China, but as late as March 13, a day after India’s first coronavirus death and two days after the WHO declared a pandemic, the government said the virus was not a health emergency. 

Eleven days later, as deaths rose in parts of Europe and North America, Modi announced he was locking down the country.

“It was like taking a sledgehammer to the problem, with no clear explanation, plan or a strategy to exit,” said Vikram Patel, professor for global health at Harvard Medical School, who is currently under lockdown in the tiny western Indian state of Goa. 

“These three weeks have been completely wasted because in the absence of a systematic testing protocol across the nation, we do not have an understanding of the spread … and we have no way of evaluating the lockdown.”

Nevertheless, as cases rise in the world’s most densely populated country, a lockdown continues to be the favoured tool for federal and state governments. 

Lockdown preferred approach in states 

A day before Modi’s announcement, Maharashtra, the state with the largest number of cases, said it would extend the lockdown until April 30 since “there has been no reduction in cases.” 

Maharashtra has reported more than 3,600 cases so far, including more than 2,100 in Mumbai, a densely packed metropolis and the country’s financial capital.

The eastern Indian state of Odisha, an overwhelmingly rural region that has reported just 60 cases and one death, has adopted the same approach, announcing a similar extension last week. 

“The one-size-fit-all lockdown has brought untold misery and suffering to millions of farmers, migrant labourers, daily wagers and business owners,” opposition MP Rahul Gandhi tweeted a day before Modi extended the lockdwon.

“It needs a ‘smart’ upgrade, using mass testing to isolate virus hotspots and allowing businesses in other areas to gradually reopen.”

The government’s plan to allow some parts of the economy to reopen in areas without COVID-19 outbreaks starting Monday is an attempt to do that.

Limited testing

The government has done a good job of raising public awareness of COVID-19, says Partho Sarothi Ray, a molecular biologist at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, but has been slow to ramp up testing.

About 386,000 people have been tested in India so far, the ICMR said Sunday (with rates varying widely among states). That is about 280 tests for every million people — among the lowest rates in the world. 

The government has set the price of the test at 4,500 rupees (around $82) for all but the poor who have enrolled in a government health insurance scheme. 

“4,500 rupees is expensive,” said Ray. “And the test need not cost more than 800 rupees. Given there is a demand globally for testing kits, we also need to develop our own indigenous testing capacity.”

On Friday, the southern Indian state of Karnataka cut the price by half to 2,250 rupees. 

An order for 650,000 test kits placed in late March by Indian authorities with China was finally dispatched on Thursday, according to Indian Ambassador to China Vikram Misri.

Earlier this week, Dr. R.R. Gangakhedkar of the ICMR said the country had enough kits “for six weeks” but did not specify how many. 

“We have issued detailed protocols for who should get tested,” he said at a briefing Tuesday. “I cannot say why more people are not getting tested.” 

Nurses seek better protective measures

Neither the prime minister nor the health minister has held a press conference since the lockdown began, but in daily briefings, Health Ministry officials have been optimistic, even insisting that the country is “over-prepared” when it comes, for example, to available PPE and hospital beds.

In his TV address this week, Modi struck a similar tone. “The path that India has taken within our limited resources has become a topic of discussion in the entire world today,” he said.

But the specifics of a nationwide policy to tackle the virus remain elusive, Patel says. 

When asked, for example, why the Health Ministry has not made public the list of dedicated hospitals for treating COVID-19 cases, ministry official Lav Agarwal said, “We do not want people to unnecessarily feel panic and flood those hospitals.” 

He said anyone with symptoms should call official helplines.

Officials have also not disclosed how many health workers have been infected even amid reports of doctors and nurses contracting the virus and some dying from it, and at least one private hospital having to be sealed off because of an outbreak among staff. 

On Wednesday, the United Nurses Association, one of the largest nurses’ unions in the country, petitioned the Supreme Court, saying the government had not addressed the risks faced by frontline workers. 

The government told the court it would set up a helpline and respond to any grievance raised by a nurse within two hours. 

“When the government says there is adequate PPE, they are perhaps limiting themselves to the COVID-19 dedicated hospitals, What about the rest?” Joldin Francis, the general secretary of the union’s Delhi branch, told CBC.  

“We have seen outbreaks in other hospitals. In the absence of mass testing, we do not know which patient might be carrying the virus, and we are working in conditions of great risk.” 

Kerala seems to be flattening its COVID-19 curve

One state that seems to have used testing effectively to contain the spread is Kerala. 

The coastal state of 35 million on the southern tip of India has the best human development indices and public health infrastructure in the country. As soon as its first case of COVID-19 was detected on Jan. 30, the state government moved swiftly to test and contact trace, set up quarantine facilities and institute containment measures in areas reporting multiple cases. 

The health measures have been backed by a welfare safety net, including financial support, food rations, community kitchens and special outreach for migrant labourers. 

Kerala’s approach seems to be working, with the number of active cases coming down, and the disease curve starting to flatten, the state’s finance minister, Thomas Isaac, tweeted this week. 

With two deaths out of 399 cases, it has the lowest case fatality rate in the country, at 0.5 per cent.

Kerala’s relative success stands out in a country where domestic public health spending is under two per cent of GDP – compared to about eight per cent in Canada and three per cent in neighbouring China. 

Public health infrastructure, particularly across rural India, suffers from decades of neglect and absence of trained personnel. Hundreds of thousands of people die annually of preventable diseases, such as tuberculosis and malnutrition. 

“Malnutrition is a significant co-morbidity for the coronavirus. If the virus spreads to the poor, or to populations such as Adivasi (indigenous communities) areas, we will have a public health disaster on our hands,” said Ray. 

He urged authorities to ramp up testing.

“The more you test, the more lives you will save, and the sooner you will bring the country out of the lockdown.” 

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A handful of Eastern Orthodox priests held mass for the Christian holiday of Easter on Sunday in an empty Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem due to restrictions in place to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Eastern Christian rites mark Easter, the day Christians believe Jesus was resurrected after his crucifixion, on April 19, a week after the Catholic calendar.

Ordinarily, the church would be filled with faithful and tourists, but travel restrictions imposed in Israel to prevent the spread of the coronavirus have prevented the arrival of pilgrims to Jerusalem for the springtime holiday and limited the gathering of worshippers at the church.

Easter mass was performed by a small group of clergy at the Holy Sepulchre, the site where it is believed Jesus was entombed. The square outside was empty, the church’s large wooden doors barred shut, but a few individual worshippers came to pray outside.

A day earlier a small group of clerics at the church celebrated the ancient Holy Fire ceremony, which normally draws enormous crowds as a flame is transferred to Orthodox faithful around the globe from within a chamber where Christians believe Jesus was buried and rose from the dead.

In Egypt, Pope Tawadros II, the spiritual leader of the country’s Coptic Orthodox Christians, held Easter services in an empty monastery in the desert, amid coronavirus restrictions that kept congregations from gathering at churches and monasteries across the country.

The services were held at the Monastery of Saint Pishoy, in a desert valley west of Cairo known as Wadi Natrun. A few clergymen attended the services, which was aired on a Coptic Orthodox television station. The clerics were seen practicing physical distancing during the prayers.

The Coptic Orthodox Church, one the world’s oldest Christian communities, decided earlier this month to suspend Easter prayers and celebrations at churches and monasteries because of the spread of the deadly virus.

Christians constitute around 10 per cent of Egypt’s more than 100 million population, who are predominantly Muslim.

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Christians on the Orthodox Easter in a video message on Sunday. Putin said the religious festival would strengthen Russians’ hope and faith because the resurrection of Christ was a powerful symbol of rebirth and a reminder that life goes on.

Russian authorities and clerics have urged Christians to stay at home during the Orthodox Easter weekend for their own safety, though a senior cleric urged police on Saturday to be lenient on those who still try to make it to church.

Globally, there are roughly 300 million Orthodox Christians, primarily living in Eastern Europe, Russia and parts of the Middle East. 

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The latest:

Canadian officials acknowledged some regions of the country could be closer to reopening parts of the economy than others, but continued to stress a careful approach as the border closure with the hard-hit United States was extended for another 30 days during the COVID-19 crisis.

“Let us be very clear, while we want to be optimistic, we need to be absolutely cautious,” Treasury Board President Jean-Yves Duclos said Saturday.

Sobering reminders of the need for patience were heard throughout the day as case numbers continued to climb in Canadian nursing homes and prisons.

At Residence Herron, the suburban Montreal long-term care home where 31 people died from COVID-19 in less than one month, 61 of 99 residents have now tested positive for the virus, according to a regional health authority spokesperson.

Canadian Armed Forces members with medical expertise headed to long-term care homes in Quebec after Premier François Legault asked the federal government for assistance.

Meanwhile, alarms were raised about an outbreak at a federal women’s prison northeast of Montreal where 60 per cent of inmates have been infected, according to the Elizabeth Fry Society. The organization reported 50 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Joliette Institution, up from 10 on April 7, and other women’s institutions in Ontario and British Columbia also reported cases.

Trump, Trudeau strike different tones

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed the extension for the closure restricting non-essential travel across the border, which began on March 21 and was set to expire on Tuesday.

“This is an important decision and one that will keep people on both sides of the border safe,” Trudeau said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier this week that the border could open soon, but Trudeau and other Canadian political leaders did not strike the same tone in comments.

WATCH | Trudeau announces extension of U.S. border restrictions:

The U.S. has the most COVID-19 cases in the world, with more than 700,000 positive tests. Canada has more than 33,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 1,500 deaths.

Despite continuing grim news, glimmers of hope emerged this week as provinces and cities reported slower growth of the virus, and officials began discussing moves toward a “new normal.”

On Saturday, Trudeau repeated the need for caution and reminded Canadians to continue with physical distancing measures

“If we open too quickly, too soon or in the wrong way, we could find ourselves back in this situation a couple of months from now and everything we will have sacrificed during these months will have been for naught,” Trudeau said.

He said discussions with the premiers have found consensus on the need to co-ordinate how the country moves forward, but acknowledged that different provinces and municipalities are at different stages of the pandemic battle and may be able to relax measures sooner.

“The situation is very different right across the country from one region to the next and the measures that they will be able to move forward with at various moments will vary as well,” Trudeau said. “That’s going to be an important part of the recovery here.”

No defining guidelines on lifting restrictions

Trudeau’s messages of collaboration among provinces contrasted with the situation in the U.S. As protests formed against mandatory closures this week, Trump, on Twitter, urged supporters to “liberate” three states led by Democratic governors.

Trudeau’s government has so far held off on defining guidelines for provinces looking to lift restrictions, as Trump did for U.S. governors earlier this week.

At a Saturday news conference with cabinet ministers, Duclos said easing of measures will depend on factors like where the disease curve is heading, the number of deaths, equipment supply and space in intensive care units.

Meanwhile, Trudeau continued to stress he does not think it is a good idea for the House of Commons to resume business as usual Monday — with all 338 MPs, along with their staff, clerks, interpreters, security and cleaners.

CBC News has learned the Trudeau government made a new offer to opposition parties late Saturday afternoon to restart Parliament on Wednesday and compress five days of question period into two during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is demanding up to four in-person sittings each week, with fewer than 50 MPs in the chamber, to hold the government to account for its response to the health crisis and the resulting economic disaster.

Trudeau also announced Saturday the government is providing $306 million to help Indigenous companies.

Here’s a look at what’s happening in the provinces and territories

British Columbia’s provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, said Saturday three more people died of the virus, all from long-term care facilities. The announcement came a day after Henry and other health officials released modelling data showing B.C. is flattening the COVID-19 curve to the point where plans are underway to loosen some provincial restrictions. Nevertheless, Henry is saying no to large summer events that are often the highlight of the season, such as the Pacific National Exhibition and Vancouver’s Pride parade. Read more about what’s happening in B.C.

Alberta reported one new death and 165 new cases on Saturday. Chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw partially attributed the recent rise in cases to a spike in testing. Read more about what’s happening in Alberta.

Saskatchewan reported six new deaths in a Saturday briefing. Read more about what’s happening in Saskatchewan.

Manitoba reported three new cases on Saturday. Meanwhile, paramedics in rural parts of Manitoba say they’re not getting the same personal protective equipment as health-care workers in the bigger cities, putting them at higher risk of contracting COVID-19. Read more about what’s happening in Manitoba, including an analysis of how the provincial government is handling the outbreak.

In Ontario, Toronto Mayor John Tory met with city officials Saturday to discuss how and when businesses and municipal services can reopen. No clear timeline was announced. Ontario’s current set of emergency measures last until May 11. Read more about what’s happening in Ontario, where 485 new cases were reported Saturday, bringing the provincial total to 10,010.

In Quebec, Canadian Armed Forces members with medical training are arriving to help in the province’s long-term care homes. About 125 nursing officers, medical technicians and support personnel have been sent to help after Quebec asked Ottawa for assistance earlier this week.

Meanwhile, Premier Legault said he took “full responsibility” for the “deteriorating” situation in the province’s long-term care homes. Such facilities are struggling with staffing as a number of workers have fallen ill, while the senior residents of those homes have been dying at an alarming rate. Read more about what’s happening in Quebec.

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has floated May 1 as a possible date for lifting some restrictions in the province — if new case numbers remain low and recovery rates stay high. The province reported one new case of COVID-19 on Saturday in the Fredericton area. Eighty-seven people from New Brunswick have recovered from the virus. The province has 118 confirmed cases. Read more about what’s happening in N.B.

Nova Scotia is reporting three more deaths, along with 43 new positive tests. A government news release says the three recent deaths occurred at the Northwood long-term care home in Halifax on Friday. Premier Stephen McNeil says the government is working with the home on an emergency plan to protect residents from the outbreak. Read more about what’s happening in N.S.

Prince Edward Island for the second weekend in a row is offering free care packages containing potatoes and dairy products at drive-thru locations set up by the government, Amalgamated Dairies Ltd. and the P.E.I. Potato Board. The province, which is in its second day under a state of emergency, reported no new cases on Saturday. Read more about what’s happening on P.E.I.

Newfoundland and Labrador reported one new COVID-19 case on Saturday. Read more about what’s happening in N.L., including the story of a hotel offering free isolation rooms.

The Northwest Territories isn’t saying who is on its COVID-19 enforcement task force, and Yukon reported one new case on Friday. Read more about what’s happening across Canada’s North, including the efforts at a micro-manufacturing centre in Inuvik to create items essential workers need.

Here’s a look at what’s happening in the U.S.

Stores in Texas can soon begin selling merchandise with curbside service, and hospitals can resume nonessential surgeries. In Florida, people are returning to a few beaches and parks. And protesters are clamouring for more.

Governors eager to rescue their economies and feeling heat from President Donald Trump are moving to ease restrictions meant to control the spread of the coronavirus, even as new hot spots emerge and experts warn that moving too fast could prove disastrous.

Adding to the pressure are protests against stay-at-home orders organized by small-government groups and Trump supporters. They staged demonstrations Saturday in several cities after the president urged them to “liberate” three states led by Democratic governors.

Protests happened in Republican-led states, too, including at the Texas Capitol and in front of the Indiana governor’s home. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott already said that restrictions will begin easing next week. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb — who signed an agreement with six other Midwestern states to co-ordinate reopening — said he would extend his stay-at-home order until May 1.

For the first time in weeks, people were able to visit some Florida beaches, but they were still subject to restrictions on hours and activities. Beaches in big cities stayed closed.

Meanwhile, infections kept surging in the Northeast.

Rhode Island, between the hot spots of Massachusetts and New York, has seen a steady daily increase in infections and deaths, with nursing home residents accounting for more than 90 of the state’s 118 deaths. The state’s death rate of around 10 people per 100,000 is among the nation’s highest per capita, according to data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project.

Massachusetts had its highest number of deaths in a single day on Friday, with 159. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, citing health experts’ advice, said states should wait until infection rates and hospitalizations decline for about two weeks before acting.

Here’s a look at what’s happening around the world

• Major cities in Brazil saw protests Saturday by hundreds of people denouncing pandemic lockdown measures also opposed by President Jair Bolsonaro, a fierce critic of stay-at-home measures imposed by state governments.
• Singapore reported a sharp, one-day spike of 942 infections, the highest in Southeast Asia, mostly among foreign workers staying in crowded dormitories. That brought the total to almost 6,000 in the city-state of six million.
• Total cases topped 10,000 in Japan, where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said he’s concerned that people are not observing social distancing and announced a 100,000-yen ($1291 Cdn) cash handout to each resident as an incentive to stay home.
• France‘s national health agency said Saturday that the number of virus patients in intensive care dropped for the 10th straight day, and overall virus hospitalizations have fallen for three consecutive days. The country has seen almost 20,000 virus deaths. The agency urged the French public to stick to strict confinement measures, which have been extended until at least May 11: “Don’t relax our efforts at the moment when confinement is bearing fruit.”
• In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his government will seek to extend the state of emergency to May 9 but begin easing the total confinement of children beginning April 27. Children are thought to be a major source of transmission even if they rarely fall ill from the virus. They’ve been confined to their homes for five weeks, prompting parents to ask that they be allowed to at least take a daily walk.

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Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones and Beyonce took part in a global special of music, comedy and personal stories in what Gaga called a “love letter” to front-line workers battling the coronavirus pandemic.

The two-hour One World:Together at Home broadcast across multiple television channels around the world, including CBC, featured a Who’s Who of pop culture, with contributions, filmed from their homes, from Elton John, Stevie Wonder, British soccer star David Beckham and former U.S. first ladies Michelle Obama and Laura Bush. Andrea Bocelli, Céline Dion, Billie Eilish and dozens of others also appeared.

“I’m so grateful for the health-care workers, the medical workers, all the grocery store workers and delivery people, the postal workers, all the other non-profits that are working so hard,” Gaga said.

“This is really a true love letter to all of you all over the world, and I hope a reminder of the kindness that’s occurring right now,” she added.

Hosted by three of the biggest late night television show hosts in the United States — Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon — the special paid tribute to teachers and health care, grocery, delivery, postal and other workers.

“We aren’t asking for money tonight,” said Colbert.

The event, organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the nonprofit group Global Citizen, was the biggest celebrity effort so far to mark the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 150,000 people worldwide.

It is also aimed at encouraging philanthropists and companies to contribute to the WHO’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. Corporate and other donors have already contributed some $150 million US, organizers said.

“What I’d like tonight, if I can, is to give you the permission for the moment to … smile,” said Gaga, launching into a version of the ballad made famous by Nat King Cole.

Beyoncé did not perform but sent a video message in which she noted the disproportionately high death rates in the black American community due to COVID-19.

“This virus is killing black people at an alarming rate in America,” she said, urging viewers to protect themselves.

6-hour live stream

The Rolling Stones, appearing in four separate locations, sang You Can’t Always Get What You Want, with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards playing acoustic guitars.

Wonder, in a tribute to Bill Withers, who died two weeks ago, played Lean on Me, while McCartney, recalling that his mother was a nurse and midwife, sang Lady Madonna.

“You know the coronavirus is trouble when a Beatle gets involved,” quipped Kimmel.

Earlier on Saturday, pop, classical and rap musicians from the United States, Asia and the Middle East, all performing from their homes, took part in a six-hour live stream ahead of the main event.

The live stream featured the likes of Latin star Luis Fonsi, R&B singer Jennifer Hudson, U.S. women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe, Hong Kong singer Eason Chan, India’s Vishal Mishra and Emirati musician Hussain Al Jassmi.

The broadcast included social media postings and news clips showing doctors and nurses being applauded by communities around the world, families greeting each other through windows, and acts of kindness in support of those who are isolated and frail.

Celebrities called on people to stay at home, wash their hands regularly, practise social distancing and put pressure on their political leaders to introduce widespread testing for the disease.

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Hong Kong police arrested at least 14 veteran pro-democracy lawmakers, activists and a media tycoon on Saturday on charges of joining unlawful protests last year calling for reforms.

Among those arrested were 81-year-old activist and former lawmaker Martin Lee and democracy advocates Albert Ho, Lee Cheuk-yan and Au Nok-hin.

Police also arrested media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who founded the crusading local newspaper Apple Daily. Journalists from Lai’s pro-democracy broadsheet are among those who had personal details spread on social media last year after reporting on the protests.

Lai, Lee Cheuk-yan and Yeung Sum — a former lawmaker from the Democratic Party — were charged in February over their involvement in a mass anti-government demonstration on Aug. 31 last year. The protests in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory against proposed extradition legislation exposed deep divisions between democracy-minded Hong Kong residents and the Communist Party-ruled central government in Beijing.

The bill — which would have allowed Hong Kong residents to be sent to mainland China to stand trial — has been withdrawn, but the protests continued for more than seven months, centred around demands for voting rights and an independent inquiry into police conduct.

While the protests began peacefully, they became increasingly violent in response to police brutality and as demonstrators became frustrated with the government’s response. Protesters feel that Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has ignored their demands and used the police to suppress them.

The League of Social Democrats wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday that its leaders were among those arrested, including chairman Raphael Wong. They were accused of participating in two unauthorized protests on Aug. 18 and Oct. 1 last year.

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