Rome: European governments promised more relief to their citizens on Thursday as a top US immunologist prepared to tell Congress that America faces its darkest winter in modern history unless leaders act decisively to prevent a rebound of the coronavirus.
France’s government announced an 18-billion-euro (USD 19.4 billion) plan to support restaurants, hotels and other tourist facilities which have been closed since mid-March amid the coronavirus crisis.
Prime minister Edouard Philippe promised the French on Thursday that they will be able to go on vacation in France in July and August, including in French overseas territories, as the country has started lifting its lockdown this week.
Germany’s parliament approved plans to increase the amount paid to people who spend months in a government-backed short-time work program during the coronavirus crisis.
Companies are making extensive use of the program, which was credited with keeping down unemployment in the financial crisis over a decade ago.
It allows them to keep employees on the payroll while they await better times.
Those announcements came after Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte promised a massive package of tax cuts and other financial aid to help businesses and families.
Your cry of alarm didn’t escape us, Conte said late on Wednesday.
His government also promised to legalise the status of foreigners, many of them illegal migrants who are crop-pickers, baby-sitters and caretakers.
Italy is one of the countries worst hit by the coronavirus.
Worldwide, the virus has infected more than 4.3 million people and killed some 297,000. Experts say the actual numbers are far higher.
A top US immunologist who says he lost his government job because he warned the Trump administration to prepare for the coronavirus pandemic said he was ready to tell Congress that America faces its darkest winter in modern history unless leaders act decisively to prevent a rebound of the coronavirus.
Dr Rick Bright’s testimony due on Thursday follows this week’s warning by Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, that rushing to lift store-closing and stay-at-home restrictions could turn back the clock, seeding more suffering and death and complicating efforts to get the economy rolling again.
The fallout from the pandemic includes heightened political tensions between nations.
US ‘abused people’s trust’ in virus fight: China
In China, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, criticized the United States, saying authorities there have failed to effectively fight the global coronavirus pandemic and abused American people’s trust.
Zhao appeared to be firing back against accusations from the Trump administration that China mishandled or deliberately delayed releasing information about the outbreak, first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
Zhao said the US should focus more on fighting the epidemic and safeguarding the lives and health of the American people, and stop playing such buck-passing game.
Australia push for enquiry
Australia said it will push for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus even if it hurts trade relations with China.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison had been accused of playing deputy sheriff to the United States after calling for the inquiry.
Morrison brushed off the criticism, telling reporters: We have always been independent, we have always pursued our national interests, and we always will.
The world’s public health measures continue to provoke conflict between officials and the public.
For most leaders, though, the focus was a far more worldly one: how to get back to business and revive economies reeling from record numbers of job losses and chilling uncertainty.
Japan lifts emergency
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday announced the lifting of an ongoing state of emergency in most parts of the country ahead of schedule. (AP)