“The Guardian was told last week that Johnson was more seriously ill than either he or his officials were prepared to admit, and that he was being seen by doctors who were concerned about his breathing. But Downing Street flatly denied that the prime minister’s health had seriously deteriorated, and insisted there were no plans at that point for him to be admitted to hospital.”
The Times of London says Johnson has had to receive oxygen treatment to help his breathing.
The United Nations is facing a “dire” liquidity crisis as it deals with added expenses related to the need to “respond to the global health crisis” of coronavirus, according to an email from Movses Abelian, the U.N. undersecretary general for General Assembly and conference management, CBS News reports.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been admitted to the hospital for tests as a “precautionary step” as his coronavirus symptoms have continued to persist 10 days after testing positive, The Guardian reports.
“Johnson remains in charge of the government, although Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, is poised to take charge if he should worsen.”
Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth gave a rare televised address to the nation, urging the British people to confront the pandemic with the same “self-discipline” and “resolve” that has defined the country in times of crisis.
Russian authorities detained the leader of an independent doctors’ union, an outspoken critic of the Kremlin who has dismissed as “lies” the country’s low official numbers for coronavirus infections, the New York Times reports.
“Singapore will shutter schools and most workplaces as the city-state unveiled a raft of stricter measures to slow the spread of coronavirus, shifting away from an approach crafted to limit interruptions to daily life and commerce,” Bloomberg reports.
Los Angeles Times: “Two months before the novel coronavirus is thought to have begun its deadly advance in Wuhan, China, the Trump administration ended a $200-million pandemic early-warning program aimed at training scientists in China and other countries to detect and respond to such a threat.”
New York Times: “In recent days, the two sides have settled on a tentative, uneasy truce. They have agreed to hold fire on public sniping over the virus and to look for ways to cooperate to slow the contagion. Some American officials had recognized that the deteriorating state of relations — at the worst point since the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 — was impeding global efforts to fight the pandemic.”
“Several of Mr. Trump’s aides quietly reached out to Chinese officials through American businessmen with extensive ties in China, according to people familiar with the efforts. National security officials and China hawks in the State Department are skeptical the détente will last, but several top advisers to Mr. Trump have advocated restraint — notably Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law; Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary; and Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council.”
“As coronavirus continues to spread in Israel, more and more key members of the government have had to go into isolation, whether due to contracting the illness or coming into contact with someone who did,” the Jerusalem Post reports.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went into self-quarantine on Thursday, because of contact with Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman, who tested positive for COVID-19. Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen and National Security Advsier Meir Ben-Shabbat must go into isolation for the same reason.”
“In the areas worst hit by the pandemic, Italy is undercounting thousands of deaths caused by the virus, a Wall Street Journal analysis shows, indicating that the pandemic’s human toll may end up being much greater, and infections far more widespread, than official data indicate.”
“Italy’s hidden death toll shows what could lie in store for the worst-hit areas of the U.S., Europe and many other countries in the weeks ahead if the coronavirus is not tamed fast. The burden that the pandemic puts on health-care systems can cause so many deaths that it is hard to gauge the full human cost.”
“Both the Islamic State group and al-Qaida see the coronavirus as a threat, but some of their fighters also see the upheaval from the pandemic as an opportunity to win over more supporters and strike harder than before,” the AP reports.
“Messages from the Islamic extremist groups show concern about the virus mixed with bravado, asserting that it is punishment for non-Muslims while also urging followers to repent and take care of themselves.”
Malaysia’s health ministry issued a series of posters on social media advising the nation’s women to help with the country’s partial lockdown by not nagging their husbands, NPR reports.
The ministry also advised women to refrain from being “sarcastic” if they asked for help with household chores. And it urged women working from home to dress up and wear makeup.
After a torrent of criticism, the health ministry abruptly relented and abandoned its campaign.
President Trump on Twitter: “Upon information and belief, Iran or its proxies are planning a sneak attack on U.S. troops and/or assets in Iraq. If this happens, Iran will pay a very heavy price, indeed!”
“China has concealed the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in its country, under-reporting both total cases and deaths it’s suffered from the disease, the U.S. intelligence community concluded in a classified report to the White House,” Bloomberg reports.
“Across Asia, countries and cities that seemed to have brought the coronavirus epidemic under control are suddenly tightening their borders and imposing stricter containment measures, fearful about a wave of new infections imported from elsewhere,” the New York Times reports.
“The moves portend a worrisome sign for the United States, Europe and the rest of the world still battling a surging outbreak: Any country’s success with containment could be tenuous, and the world could remain on a kind of indefinite lockdown.”
“Italian authorities believe the country’s coronavirus epidemic, the world’s deadliest, is slowing down appreciably after three weeks of national lockdown, a hopeful sign for other Western countries that are following approaches similar to Italy’s with a time lag,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“But Italian officials and health experts said it will take until after Easter to cut new infections enough to begin loosening the lockdown and reopen parts of Italy’s economy.”
The Trump administration has frozen all overseas shipments of USAID’s stockpiles of protective medical gear following mass confusion over which resources are needed inside the United States, Politico reports.
The moratorium was brought in following an embarrassing mix-up in Thailand. A Trump official asked the Thais if they could send protective gear to the U.S., only to told by them that a U.S. shipment of the same supplies was already on its way to Bangkok—the second of two such deliveries.
A Russian military plane loaded with medical equipment took off from outside of Moscow Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin offered Donald Trump help for the U.S. battle with coronavirus, Bloomberg reports.
Said a Kremlin spokesperson: “The Russian side offered assistance amid the dire epidemiological situation in America. Trump gratefully accepted this humanitarian aid.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.