Friday, 29 May 2020

Friday Morning Briefing: U.S. hospitals slash use of hydroxychloroquine

What you need to know about the coronavirus today

Hospitals slash use of hydroxychloroquine
U.S. hospitals said they have pulled way back on the use of hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug touted by President Donald Trump as a COVID-19 treatment, after several studies suggested it is not effective and may pose significant risks. Early hopes for the drug were based in part on lab tests and its anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties. But its efficacy has so far failed to pan out in human trials, and at least two studies suggest it may increase the risk of death.

Track the spread of the virus with this state-by-state and county map.

China plans to extend flight curbs
Chinese civil aviation authorities plan to extend until June 30 their curbs on international flights to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the U.S. embassy in Beijing said in a travel advisory on Friday. China has drastically cut such flights since March to allay concerns over infections brought by arriving passengers. A so-called "Five One" policy allows mainland carriers to fly just one flight a week on one route to any country and foreign airlines to operate just one flight a week to China.

Fighting misinformation
It's not just U.S. President Donald Trump's tweets that are being fact-checked. Twitter has also flagged a tweet written in March by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian that suggested the U.S. military brought the novel coronavirus to China, posting a blue exclamation mark under it with a comment urging readers to check the facts about COVID-19.

Closed climbing season
Nepal's Sherpa guides, famed for being the backbone of mountain expeditions in the Himalayas, have also found their livelihood hit by the coronavirus outbreak. Many have returned to their villages, hiking officials say, as climbing and trekking activities have been suspended since March, and some are looking ahead with hope to the less popular autumn climbing season, which lasts from September to November.

From Breakingviews: Corona Capital - IPOs, Renault, Japan, Champagne. JDE Peet’s completes a caffeine-fueled IPO, and Renault’s survival plan gets a skeptical reception from investors. Catch up with the latest financial insights here.

Reuters reporters and editors around the world are investigating the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Top News

The latest unrest in Minnesota’s largest city went largely unchecked late Thursday, with the mayor ordering a tactical police retreat from a police station that was set ablaze. National Guard troops called out earlier in the day by the governor kept a low profile. Governor Tim Walz had ordered the Guard to help keep the peace after two previous nights of disturbances sparked by George Floyd’s death on Monday.

In Kentucky, seven people were shot and at least one was in critical condition after protests in Louisville over the killing of Breonna Taylor, a black woman fatally shot in her apartment in March, police said.

Hong Kong told the United States to keep out of the debate over national security legislation being imposed by China, and warned that withdrawal of the financial hub’s special status under U.S. law could backfire on the U.S. economy. “Any sanctions are a double-edged sword that will not only harm the interests of Hong Kong but also significantly those of the U.S.,” Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing government said. The United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and Canada criticized China for imposing a new security law on Hong Kong that they said would breach the 1984 Sino-British agreement on the former colony and threaten its freedoms.

Former U.S. intelligence officials questioned the Justice Department’s naming of a prosecutor to probe the “unmasking” of names in spy-agency eavesdropping reports by Obama administration officials, saying such requests had not previously been treated as criminal matters. “No one has ever been criminally prosecuted for unmasking. That would be tantamount to pursuing criminal charges against an intelligence analyst for merely doing his job,” said Ned Price, a former CIA analyst who worked for Obama’s National Security Council.

Tech

President Donald Trump said he will introduce legislation that may scrap or weaken a law that has protected internet companies, including Twitter and Facebook, in an extraordinary attempt to regulate social media platforms where he has been criticized. Facebook's Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg took pains to distance his company from Twitter and its fight with U.S. President. Twitter attached a disclaimer to Trump tweet for 'glorifying violence.' The decision to step in, at a time of racially charged civil unrest in cities across the United States, escalates a feud between Trump and tech companies.

A Canadian court ruling that could permit the extradition of a senior Huawei executive to the United States leaves Canada vulnerable to further retaliation from Beijing, analysts said. China’s foreign ministry said Canada is an accomplice to the U.S. government’s efforts to bring down the Chinese tech giant and said Canada should immediately release Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.

Life under lockdown

As lockdowns ease, a Bronx nail salon plans a careful reopening

When Yahaira Caraballo opened her nail salon in the Bronx, New York, nearly seven years ago, it was a bare-bones shop with two nail technicians. Earlier this year, she had six nail technicians, a full-time receptionist and a cleaning person, a renovated salon, and a following that included as many as 45 clients on a busy day. Now Caraballo doesn’t know how long it will be before her clients can once again sit side by side at her black shimmery nail bar for manicures, or on her salon’s long studded bench to have pedicures.

4 min read

Go-go bars gone as coronavirus hits Bangkok's sex district

The black leather party masks that performers May and Som wear for their fetish shows in Bangkok are definitely not the sort to stop the coronavirus. Behind closed doors, they practise for the day when health restrictions are lifted and tourists return, but they have no idea when and worry that the city’s infamous Patpong red-light district could be very different by then.

4 min read

Covid Science

EU regulator promises speedy review of potential COVID-19 drug remdesivir

The European health regulator has vowed to conduct a speedy review of Gilead Sciences’ potential COVID-19 drug, remdesivir, but said it has not yet received an application from the U.S. drugmaker. A pharmaceutical company in Pakistan plans to import the antiviral drug remdesivir, which has shown promise in treating coronavirus patients, from neighbouring Bangladesh, it said in a stock exchange filing.

4 min read

Sun Pharma to test pancreatitis drug in COVID-19 patients in India

Drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical said on Friday it has received Indian regulatory approval to start clinical trials of a pancreatitis drug in COVID-19 patients. The company joins other Indian drugmakers Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and Strides Pharma Science that are conducting trials in India for potential drugs for COVID-19, which currently has no approved treatment or vaccine.

2 min read

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