Tuesday Morning Briefing: UK outpaces Italy with Europe's highest coronavirus death toll

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May 5, 2020 Reuters News Now What you need to know about the coronavirus today UK death toll highest in Europe Britain has overtaken Italy to report the highest official death toll from coronavirus in Europe with more than 32,000 deaths, figures released on Tuesday showed. The high death toll could increase political pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who waited longer than other European leaders to order a lockdown to curb the spread of the virus in March. Weekly figures from Britain’s national statistics office added more than 7,000 deaths in England and Wales, raising the total for the United Kingdom to 32,313. Countries tentatively ease lockdowns World leaders and organizations pledged $8 billion to fund a possible vaccine and treatments, many hoping explicitly to ensure that no country on Earth would be left out, but the United States did not contribute. Italy, among the world’s hardest-hit countries, allowed about 4.5 million people to return to work after nearly two months at home. Construction work can resume and relatives can reunite. “I woke up at 5:30 a.m., I was so excited,” said Maria Antonietta Galluzzo, a grandmother taking her three-year-old grandson for a walk in Rome’s Villa Borghese park, the first time they had seen each other in eight weeks. Global deaths exceed quarter of a million Global coronavirus deaths rose past a quarter of a million on Monday after infections topped 3.5 million, a Reuters tally of official government data showed, even as several countries began easing lockdowns designed to contain the pandemic. North America and European countries accounted for most of the new deaths and cases reported in recent days, but numbers were rising from smaller bases in Latin America, Africa and Russia. U.S. and UK launch trade negotiations by videoconference The United States and Britain launch trade negotiations by videoconference on Tuesday following the UK’s exit from the European Union, as both allies struggle with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and aim to shore up domestic supply chains. The talks will be Washington’s first major new trade negotiation in 2020, and take place at the same time as London works out trade terms with the EU, with a year-end deadline. Track the spread with our interactive graphic and live blog. The Anchorage Daily News won the Pulitzer Prize for public service journalism in collaboration with the investigative site ProPublica, while the photography staff of Reuters won the breaking news photography award for documenting last year’s violent protests in Hong Kong. Breakingviews - Corona Capital: Macquarie, Ray-Bans, Nivea, Oil Read concise views on the pandemic’s financial fallout from Breakingviews columnists across the globe. Reuters reporters and editors around the world are investigating the response to the coronavirus pandemic. We need your help to tell these stories. Our news organization wants to capture the full scope of what’s happening and how we got here by drawing on a wide variety of sources. Here’s a look at our coverage. Are you a government employee or contractor involved in coronavirus testing or the wider public health response? Are you a doctor, nurse or health worker caring for patients? Have you worked on similar outbreaks in the past? Has the disease known as COVID-19 personally affected you or your family? Are you aware of new problems that are about to emerge, such as critical supply shortages? We need your tips, firsthand accounts, relevant documents or expert knowledge. Please contact us at coronavirus@reuters.com. We prefer tips from named sources, but if you’d rather remain anonymous, you can submit a confidential news tip. Here’s how. Life under lockdown Indigenous leaders in Brazil asked the World Health Organization to set up an emergency fund to help protect their communities from the threat of the coronavirus pandemic. Many of Brazil’s 850,000 indigenous people live in remote Amazon areas with little access to healthcare, and indigenous groups say the government of President Jair Bolsonaro has not included the communities in national plans to fight the virus. Plans to close New York City’s subways at night to disinfect trains during the coronavirus pandemic risk pushing hundreds of homeless people “further into the shadows”, housing experts warned, calling for safe alternatives to house them. The overnight closing of the transit system, which starts on Wednesday, will allow for daily cleaning of the trains for the essential workers using them while most city residents are staying at home, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. Men who have had sex with another man in the past three months have been barred from taking part in an English coronavirus treatment trial a policy LGBT+ rights advocates say is discriminatory and unscientific. The English National Health Service is conducting trials to see whether plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 could be used to treat sufferers, and applying existing restrictions on gay and bisexual men donating blood. Two dozen Lagos healthcare workers in scrubs and face masks rushed outside the isolation tents and, making sure to keep six feet apart on the bright green grass, danced and swayed as a saxophone and trumpet struck up the band. Inside the tents, some of the patients, all battling the coronavirus, watched through plastic windows and, if strong enough, danced and swayed along with them. Follow the money United Airlines to cut 30% of management in October, preparing pilot changes too: company memos United Airlines plans to cut at least 3,400 management and administrative positions in October as the coronavirus pandemic crushes air travel demand, and has told pilots to brace for changes as well, according to two memos seen by Reuters. 3 min read Amid pandemic, U.S. renewable power sources have topped coal for 40 days Electricity generated by renewable sources like solar, wind and hydro has exceeded coal-fired power in the United States for a record 40 straight days, according to a report based on U.S. government data released. 3 min read Coronavirus health fears outweigh concern for economy: global survey A substantial majority of people around the world want their governments to prioritize saving lives over moves to restart economies being hammered by measures aimed at halting the spread of the new coronavirus, a global survey found. 3 min read Traffickers could profit when UK eases lockdown, anti-slavery chief warns Britain must be vigilant against human traffickers when it eases the coronavirus lockdown, the country’s anti-slavery chief said, warning of potential exploitation in industries such as hospitality that will be in a rush to recruit new workers. 4 min read Top Stories on Reuters TV Asian giant 'murder' hornets make first U.S. appearance Top News   2:07 Even the Supreme Court is working remotely U.S   2:27 Real news for busy people More Newsletters Reuters News Reuters TV               © 2020 Thomson Reuters. 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