April 2 coronavirus news

In many ways it was just like any other wedding.

On the day of the ceremony, the groom's parents got themselves prepared early in the morning, dressing in their best wedding clothes.

When they were ready for the service to begin, they walked into the living room and joined other family members to watch on a two-way video stream as their son got married in Phoenix, Arizona -- almost 8,000 miles away.

Several members of groom Nitin Mehta's family were due to fly over from New Delhi to see him marry fiancee Miranda Jenkins in Phoenix.

But the night before they left, Prime Minister Narendra Modi locked down the country to avoid the spread of the coronavirus.

The trip had been planned for a year at least but now, unable to leave, they had to find another way to take part.

They weren't the only guests to miss the wedding. About 150 people were scheduled to attend the ceremony, but fears of the coronavirus and lockdowns worldwide meant it ended up being limited to about 20 close friends and family.

It might seem distant, but Mehta said it had made them all feel like they were together on the special day -- he even gave his best man's speech over WhatsApp. "This allowed us all as a family to feel part of an intimate family event ... at this time of great disruption of the way we live," he said.

Editor's note: Joe Lockhart was White House press secretary from 1998-2000 in President Bill Clinton's administration. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. 

President Donald Trump has received considerable criticism from many quarters -- governors, public health officials and doctors and nurses on the front line -- for being unprepared for the coronavirus pandemic, and for not having a national plan to deal with it. Much of that criticism is well deserved.

What is clear looking over the past two months is that the President and his team have had a sophisticated political strategy to deal with the fast spreading pandemic.

That strategy began in January, where at every turn the President downplayed the risks of the virus spreading in the United States. In interview after interview, and speech after speech, he assured Americans we were OK and any risk to the country was contained.

President Trump pointed to the shutting down of some flights from China, and one of his aides recently inaccurately said that Trump was the first to do it. North Korea closed its borders on January 22, and Italy banned flights from China to Italy staring January 31.

The President's strategy was that if the US could avoid the pandemic, despite all the loud calls for more action, he would be seen as the wise leader who didn't overreact and didn't kill our economy. In an ironic twist, he co-opted former President Barack Obama's mantra of hope as a strategy. But I believe Trump had a fallback plan in case the deadly virus hit us hard and he had a political plan ready to deploy.

Read more here:

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Public Health England says it’s in contact with its peers in Germany amid criticism that the UK is significantly lagging behind in its coronavirus testing capacity.

The organisation’s medical director Paul Cosford told Sky News that the UK is testing nearly 15,000 people a day and aims to reach 25,000 a day by the middle of April.

In contrast, Germany leading virologist Christian Drosten says his country is testing 500,000 a week.

He says only “about 2,000” frontline National Health Service workers have so far been tested for the virus.

Infections near 1 million: More than 937,700 cases of the coronavirus have been reported worldwide, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally, with over 47,000 deaths. The US is the worst hit country, with more than 216,700 cases and over 5,100 deaths.

Death for quarantine breakers: Outspoken Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has warned that people who break quarantine and are "unruly" could be shot by law enforcement officers. During the address, Duterte said, “My orders to the police, the military and the barangays: If they become unruly and they fight you and your lives are endangered, shoot them dead!”

Fines for illegal PPE exporters: The Australian government will punish people convicted of illegally exporting masks, hand sanitizer or other personal protective equipment with hefty fines, officials said this week. It's part of an attempt to keep medical supplies inside the country.

Market forces at work: Only a portion of the medical supplies being flown into the US by the Federal Emergency Management Agency from overseas are being allotted to critical hot spots -- the rest are going onto the private market, multiple officials told CNN.

Pollution falls under lockdown: Data shows that India's main cities are recording much lower levels of harmful microscopic particulate matter known as PM 2.5, and of nitrogen dioxide, which is released by vehicles and power plants.

Older patients with a low chance of survival could have life-saving ventilators removed so the machines can be given to healthier patients under new ethics guidelines issued by the British Medical Association (BMA).

The guidance has been prepared for doctors who will need to make "grave decisions" about who should receive "scarce lifesaving resources" if the country’s health system is overwhelmed by coronavirus cases.

Older patients given lower priority: The guidance says imposing an age cut-off would be illegal, but adds that older patients with pre-existing respiratory problems would have a "very high chance of dying despite intensive care," and are therefore lower priority for admission.

The guidance states: "In dangerous pandemics the ethical balance of all doctors and health care workers must shift towards the utilitarian objective of equitable concern for all – while maintaining respect for all as 'ends in themselves.'"

The ethics guidance note was updated on April 1. The UK government has previously warned the country’s health system could be overwhelmed if strict social distancing measures are not followed.

A 56-year-old man who died due to coronavirus-related illness is the first person to die from the disease in Asia's largest slum, Dharavi, in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai.

The patient, who had no travel history, tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday and died the same evening while being transferred to a local hospital, Kiran Dighavkar, an official with Mumbai's Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) told CNN. 

The BMC will be providing food to the residents of the densely-populated Dharavi slum as they are not allowed to leave the area until all the test results come back, Dighavkar said.

The BMC has been routinely carrying out disinfection drives in Mumbai's slums and public areas, according to the official.

This is the second coronavirus-related death overall reported in Mumbai's slums since the outbreak began, BMC officials confirmed with CNN.

Why it's a big deal: Home to around 1 million people, Dharavi slum has a population density almost 30 times greater than New York -- about 280,000 people per square kilometer.

Doctors say the situation would be unmanageable if a sustained coronavirus outbreak spread rapidly through one of India's many slums, where there is little sanitation or running water and thousands of people live cheek by jowl -- making social distancing physically and economically impossible.

Trehan said it was vital that health authorities know if a slum has an outbreak.

The Australian government will punish people convicted of illegally exporting masks, hand sanitizer or other personal protective equipment with hefty fines, officials said.

Home Minister Peter Dutton's office said in a statement yesterday that the fines were one of several new measures being adopted by the government to keep dwindling medical supplies inside the country.

More than 5,000 people in Australia, including Dutton himself, have contracted the virus.

Authorities have amended customs regulations to "stop exploitative exports of essential goods," and the country's Biosecurity Act to require the Australian Border Force to surrender medical supplies in their custody to the national stockpile.

Violating the customs law is punishable by a fine of up to 210,000 Australian dollars ($128,275), while those found guilty of violating the Biosecurity Act could face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 63,000 Australian dollars, Dutton's office said ($38,480).

Like many countries around the world, Australia is currently dealing with a shortage of equipment needed to protect medical workers treating patients who have contracted the novel coronavirus.

Other countries like the United States and South Korea have enacted similar measures or are considering them.

Panama is taking a new -- if somewhat unorthodox -- measure to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus: separation of the sexes.

Starting on Wednesday, only women will be able to leave their homes to buy necessities on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Men in Panama will be allowed to venture outside to run errands on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Everyone will have to stay home on Sundays. The restrictions will last for at least 15 days, according to government officials.

Why are they separating men and women? The additional measures to the already-announced national quarantine in theory will make it easier for police in the Central American nation to limit the number of people going out in public.

Earlier, Panamanian officials had ordered all citizens to stay inside except for emergencies and to buy food. But alarmed by the number of people still going out, officials decided to divide the week by sex to further limit how much of the public is outside their homes at one time.

Read more here.

Outspoken Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has warned that people who break quarantine and are "unruly" could be shot by law enforcement officers.

During a televised address on Wednesday, CNN Philippines reported the Philippine leader urged people to cooperate with quarantine measures.

But Duterte emphasized he would not tolerate those who threaten the lives of people working in law enforcement.

Hours before Duterte made the address, there were protests about government food aid in the capital city, Manila, CNN Philippines reported.