French health authorities reported 418 new deaths from coronavirus on Monday, taking the total to 3,024 or an increase of 16 percent, making France the fourth country to cross the 3,000 fatalities threshold after China, Italy, and Spain
The daily government tally only accounts for those dying in hospital but authorities say they will very soon be able to compile data on deaths in retirement homes, which is likely to result in a big increase in registered fatalities.
Health agency director Jérôme Salomon told a news conference that the number of cases had risen to 44,550, a rise of 11 percent in 24 hours.
However, the actual number could be much higher as only those deemed at high risk are currently being tested.
According to Salomon, the most reliable indicator of the virus' spread is the daily admissions to hospital and intensive care.
"From the end of this week, we should have less people who are arriving at hospital and going into intensive care," he said.
Salomon said 5,107 people were in a serious condition needing life support, up 10 percent compared to Monday, an increase speeding up again after slowing for two days.
France has been in lockdown since March 17 in a bid to slow the spread of the epidemic and officials have repeatedly warned it will take time for the measures to bear fruit.
Britain's Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle are to take a break from their royal Instagram account, they announced Monday as they prepare for life outside the royal inner circle.
"While you may not see us here, the work continues... We look forward to reconnecting with you soon. You've been great!" the couple wrote on their "sussexroyal" Instagram account, signing off informally as Harry and Meghan.
The couple are due to leave the royal frontline on Tuesday, having told Queen Elizabeth II they wanted to pursue more independent lives.
"What's most important right now is the health and wellbeing of everyone," they wrote, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"As we can all feel, the world at this moment seems extraordinarily fragile."
Harry and Meghan rocked the royal family when they announced in January they will no longer represent the monarchy.
They will no longer use the titles His and Her Royal Highness, while the queen and senior officials were said to have ordered them to stop using the word "royal" in their branding.
It had been thought they would base themselves in Canada, but The Sun said a move to California "had been planned for some time" and that the couple had "realised Canada would not work out for various reasons".
"They want to be based in the Los Angeles area," a source told the tabloid.
Meghan grew up in LA and her mother, Doria Ragland, still lives there.
Disney announced on Thursday that Meghan would narrate a new film about a family of African elephants, set for release on Friday.
The number of people who have died after testing positive for coronavirus in the United Kingdom rose to 1,408, according to figures released on Monday. This was a daily increase of 180, a smaller rise than the previous set of numbers.
The figures were accurate up to 5pm local time (1600 GMT) on March 29.
There were a total of 22,141 positive cases as of 9am local time (0800 GMT) on March 30, the health ministry said.
The new figures came as British heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, who had tested positive for coronavirus, emerged out of seven-day self-isolation on Monday. His spokesman said he was in good health.
Last week, his Clarence House office revealed that Charles, 71, had been tested after displaying mild symptoms of the virus and had been in self-isolation at his Birkhall home in Scotland, where he continued to work.
Buckingham Palace has previously said that Queen Elizabeth, who left London for Windsor Castle on March 19 along with her 98-year-old husband, Philip, is in good health.
Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko has admitted that he wanted the team's Formula One drivers to deliberately contract coronavirus before the potential start of the new season.
The 76-year-old said his idea was to bring the team's senior drivers, Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon, together with the junior drivers in a training camp.
"The idea was that we could organize a camp where we could mentally and physically fill this dead time," Marko told Austrian television channel ORF.
"Then of course it would've been ideal for the infection to come.
"They are all young, strong men in good health. Then you would be prepared for whenever you start, and you would be ready for a very tough world championship."
Marko admitted that his plan was "not well received".
The 2020 Formula One season has been thrown into disarray by the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed over 33,000 lives worldwide according to an AFP tally.
So far, Grand Prix races scheduled for Bahrain, Vietnam, China, Netherlands and Spain have also been postponed while the iconic Riviera showpiece in Monaco and the season-opening Australian race were cancelled.
F1 chairman Chase Carey last week said he hoped the campaign would start in the summer with a revised calendar of "15-18 races", down from an original 22.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday discussed closer cooperation on the coronavirus with US President Donald Trump, with the two agreeing on "consultations" about oil prices, the Kremlin said.
"The heads of state expressed serious concern regarding the scope of the spread of the coronavirus in the world," the Kremlin said in a statement.
They "discussed closer cooperation between the two countries" on the coronavirus response, it said, without giving details.
Trump and Putin also "exchanged opinions on the current state of the global oil market. They arranged for Russia-US consultations on this subject" through their respective energy ministers.
The oil prices crashed earlier this month after a collapse of talks between Saudi-led OPEC and Moscow, unleashing a price war.
Trump earlier Monday said he was also expecting Putin to request the lifting of US sanctions.
Thieves stole a painting by Vincent van Gogh overnight from the Singer Laren Museum in the Netherlands, its director said on Monday.
The gallery, in the town of Laren to the east of Amsterdam, is currently shut to the public due to the coronavirus epidemic.
The painting "Lentetuin", or "Spring Garden," which depicts the garden of the rectory at Neunen and dates to 1884, had been on loan from the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands.
"I am shocked and absolutely livid that this has happened," Jan Rudolph de Lorm, director of the Singer Laren Museum, said in a video statement posted on YouTube.
"This splendid and moving artwork by one of our great artists has been stolen, taken from the community," he said.
Police said the thieves had forced the building's glass front doors open at around 3.15 a.m. (0115 GMT).
The stolen painting depicts a woman in a garden with sparse red-flowered bushes and the church building in the background.
Dutch museums have been closed because of the coronavirus outbreak since March 12.
President Donald Trump said Monday he expects his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to request the lifting of US sanctions during an upcoming phone call.
"Yeah, he'll probably ask for that," Trump told Fox News.
Trump did not say what his response would be, noting that he had put sanctions on Russia but adding: "They don't like that. Frankly we should be able to get along."
The two were due to talk "shortly," he said.
Last Thursday, Putin told G20 leaders during a conference call that he wanted a moratorium on sanctions as a "matter of life and death" during the global coronavirus outbreak.
In the comments he did not specify which countries he was talking about but Russia is being hit hard by the economic fallout from coronavirus and a parallel price war with Saudi Arabia on the oil market.
Trump said he would be discussing the collapse in oil prices, which he said is "really hurting" the US energy industry.
Another point of contention could be Venezuela, where Washington, supported by dozens of other countries, has been trying unsuccessfully to promote the toppling of leftist strongman Nicholas Maduro. Russia is one of the few countries propping up his government.
"We may discuss that too," Trump said.
Russian state oil company Rosneft said Saturday it is pulling out of Venezuela and argued that US sanctions on a Rosneft subsidiary -- imposed as part of Washington's attempt to cripple the Maduro government's revenue sources -- should now be lifted.
However, Russia remains a key partner to Caracas.
The bulk of US sanctions against Russia were imposed over Moscow's annexation of Crimea in Ukraine and what US investigators say was a concerted attempt to interfere in the 2016 presidential election won by Trump.
- 'Every country does it' -
Trump has resisted punishing Moscow, which denies meddling in US politics, but his hand was forced by his own Republican party in Congress, which sees the Putin government as hostile.
The warm relationship between Trump and Putin -- seen by many Western capitals as an increasingly authoritarian leader responsible for assassinations of opponents at home and abroad -- has been a constant source of controversy in the United States.
In his Fox interview on Monday, Trump dismissed reports that Russia and China are seeking to exploit the coronavirus disruption by planting disinformation aimed at putting the United States in a bad light.
"They do it and we do it," he said, calling The Washington Post newspaper, which recently reported on the issue, "fake."
"Every country does it," he said.
Trump then questioned why Russia was considered an enemy by many in the West. As he has often in the past, he again also cast doubt on what was for decades the rock solid transatlantic alliance between the United States and Germany.
"I'm not saying they're babies, I'm not saying they're perfect," he said of the Russians.
"But you know they also fought World War II, they lost 50 million people. They were our partner," he said.
"Germany was the enemy and Germany is like this wonderful thing. Well, Germany takes advantage of us on trade for years. They pay far too little in NATO."
The vice-president of the German tennis federation has predicted that Wimbledon will be cancelled on Wednesday and slammed the French Tennis Federation for moving the French Open to the autumn.
Dirk Hordorff told French sports daily L'Equipe that he expects Wimbledon, scheduled for June 29-July 12, to be scrapped due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"This is not a rumor, they will announce that they are cancelling Wimbledon," he said.
In a move that surprised the tennis world, French Open organisers have already postponed their tournament and moved it to start on September 20, instead of May 24.
"You could reorganise Roland Garros for September or October, but not Wimbledon, the grass would be too damp," Hordorff said.
Hordorff hit out at FFT president Bernard Giudicelli for his handling of the rescheduling of Roland Garros, the claycourt Grand Slam.
"What president Bernard Giudicelli did is a disgrace, for tennis and for France," Hordorff said.
The controversial switch leaves the French Open starting a week after the US Open finishes, if that event retains its original slot in New York, which has been badly hit by the COVID-19 outbreak.
"The way they did it, tennis would be dead if we all behaved like that. I'm sure it was a political move with elections coming up (in December). He's panicked."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his close aides have been placed under precautionary quarantine after a staffer within his office tested positive for COVID-19, the premier's office said Monday.
In a statement, Netanyahu's office made clear that the quarantine decision was purely precautionary as the veteran prime minister had not been in recent contact with the ill staffer.
"The preliminary assessment is that there is no need for the prime minister to be quarantined, as he did not come into close contact with the individual and did not personally meet with that person," the statement said.
"Over the past two weeks the two were never in the same room at the same time," it added.
The statement further noted that the "epidemiological investigation" was ongoing and that Netanyahu and "his close staff would be in confinement until (tests) were completed."
Israel, which has more than 4,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, has imposed severe restrictions to contain the spread of the virus, including a total ban on non-essential movements.
Netanyahu's office stressed that he has had limited inter-personal contact in recent weeks, conducting "most of his meetings via video conferencing from his residence."
The news comes as Netanyahu, 70, is widely expected to agree on an emergency unity government with his election rival Benny Gantz to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
The two fought three bitter but inconclusive elections over the past year, with neither securing enough support to form a viable coalition government.
Gantz, a centrist, was elected speaker of Israel's parliament last week and has committed to backing an emergency unity government with Netanyahu, citing the need to combat COVID-19.
Sometime in the late second century A.D., Christians in the city of Rome organized a collection to send to the followers of Jesus in the city of Corinth.
Modern-day scholars don’t know what the crisis was that prompted the donation – it could have been a plague or a famine. What they do know from fragments of a letter sent by the Corinthian bishop, Dionysios, is that a large sum of money was shipped to Corinth.
As a scholar of early Christianity, I have written about this act of generosity. At a time when countries across the globe are struggling to fight the coronavirus and its economic impact, I argue modern society could learn from the actions of these early Christians.
Sharing resources
Some of the earliest Christian texts, written in the first and second centuries A.D., even before the time of Dionysios, show evidence for the pooling of economic resources.
The letters of the apostle Paul, written during the first century, are among the earliest sources for Christian life. These letters frequentlydiscuss aid that Paul and his followers collected in Greece and Turkey. The aid was intended for the “saints” in Jerusalem – likely a group of early followers of Jesus.
Paul says in his letters that the purpose of the aid was to “remember the poor” in Jerusalem.
Scholars debate whether Paul hoped to help a community in financial need or to show Jewish followers of Jesus in Jerusalem that Paul’s gentile converts were real members of the Jesus movement.
Paul got contributions from multiple cities and regions. But this was the exception rather than the rule. The pooling of resources and their use among the early Christians were generally directed locally.
Later literary evidence provides many examples of local charity.
The second-century “Acts of the Apostles,” which provides a history of the early church, contains legends about Jesus’ apostles shortly after his death. One such story describes how Jesus’ followers organized a commune in Jerusalem soon after his death. Members relinquished property rights and shared everything in common.
Similarly, the “Pastoral Epistles,” a collection of letters from the second century, speak of a fund that entitled widows, provided they were over 60 and had no other family to support them, to financial support from the community.
Two texts written by Roman Christians in the second century, the “Shepherd of Hermas” and the “First Apology” of Justin Martyr, a Christian philosopher, show that local groups in the city collected offerings from their members that could be used for the common good.
Literature from this period shows that local, organized groups were common in ancient cities, ranging from burial societies, to guilds, to devotees of particular gods. Members of these groups paid dues that helped to fund burials, communal meals and other social activities.
These groups provided community, but also helped to manage risk.
A collection for Corinth
By the end of the second century, a network of Christian groups in Rome had begun directing some of their local capital toward non-local needs. This included helping Christians who had been sent to the mines, which may have been linked to persecution of Christian communities.
This network also provided financial support for impoverished Christian groups in other cities.
Dionysios wrote a number of letters to Christian communities in the eastern Mediterranean regarding matters relating to theology, sexual practice and persecution of Christians. Fragments of these letters survive in the accounts of Eusebius, a fourth-century Christian historian.
Dionysios’ letter to the Romans mentions the financial aid that was collected in Rome and sent to Corinth.
The ruins of Corinth show that there might have been a plague or another disaster.
Archaeological remains from Corinth around this time speak to a heightened concern over health. During this period, healing deities appeared for the first time on local Corinthian coinage. It was during this time that the first inscriptions honoring doctors appeared.
There may have been fears of a plague, or an economic downturn in the city. The archaeological record indicates a marked drop in imports to the city at this time. Regardless of the cause, Corinth’s Christian community found itself in trouble.
When a network of Christians in Rome learned about the situation in Corinth, a local leader named Soter organized a collection to provide aid, according to Dionysios. Thanking the Romans for their gift, Dionysios speaks about how the gift was part of a longer tradition in this network of Roman Christians:
“For from the beginning this has been a custom for you, always acting as a benefactor to siblings in various ways and sending financial support to many assemblies in every city, thus relieving the need of those in want and supplying additional help to the siblings who are in the mines.”
A network of support
This story offers a window into an early shift occurring within some forms of early Christianity.
While early Christians had formed networks that provided for hospitality and the sharing of news, ideas, and texts, sharing money was definitely not the norm in the second century.
For example, news, ideas, and texts moved through the network of Ignatius of Antioch, the bishop of Antioch in the middle of the second century. However, despite the fact that the community in Antioch was experiencing distress, financial help was not offered.
Dionysios’ letter is an indication of how some early Christian networks had begun to grow extensive and stable enough to direct their resources both to local and non-local needs.
Further, this could happen because members of this network of Christian associations thought of themselves as “siblings,” as family. Sibling – or, in Greek, adelphos - was the name most frequently used by Christians for members of their associations.
Christians and crises
This impulse to channel care into the wider world during a crisis appears to stands in sharp contrast to what a few high-profile American Christians have said in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Conservative political commentator, Glenn Beck, who has spoken often of his faith, urged the government not to sacrifice the economy for the sake of protecting the vulnerable, elderly, and immunocompromised.
On his March 24 radio show, Beck said, “I would rather have my children stay home and all of us who are over 50 go in and keep this economy going and working even if we all get sick. I’d rather die than kill the country. ’Cause it’s not the economy that’s dying, it’s the country.”
According to polling by the Pew Research Center released on March 19, a majority of white evangelicals believe “that the crisis has been blown out of proportion by the media.”
This stands in contrast to the impulse among some early Christians, and, no doubt, many modern Christians as well. In times of crisis, they sought to connect and share.
The Tokyo Olympics will begin on July 23 next year, organisers said on Monday, after the coronavirus forced the historic decision to postpone the Games until 2021.
"The Olympics will be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021. The Paralympics will be held from August 24 to September 5," Tokyo 2020 chief Yoshiro Mori told reporters at a hastily arranged news conference.
Only hours earlier, Mori had said he expected a decision from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) during the course of the week.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics were due to open on July 24 this year and run for 16 days, but the coronavirus pandemic forced the first peace-time postponement of the Games.
The IOC and Japan had for weeks insisted the show could go on but the rapid spread of COVID-19 prompted growing disquiet among athletes and sporting federations.
The Olympics was the highest-profile sporting casualty of the coronavirus that has wiped out fixtures worldwide and all but halted professional sport.
There was some speculation that Japanese organisers could take advantage of the blank canvas to shift the Games to spring, avoiding the heat of the Tokyo summer that had been their main concern before coronavirus struck.
Due to the heat, the marathon has been moved to Sapporo, a city some 800 kilometres (500 miles) to the north of Tokyo where the weather is cooler even at the height of summer.
The postponement has handed organisers the "unprecedented" task of rearranging an event seven years in the making, and Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto has admitted the additional costs will be "massive".
According to the latest budget, the Games were due to cost $12.6 billion, shared between the organising committee, the government of Japan and Tokyo city.
However, that number is hotly contested with a much-publicised government audit suggesting the central government was spending several times that amount -- on items organisers claim are only tangentially related to the Olympics.
- 'Mankind's victory' -
The postponement affects every aspect of the organisation -- hotels, ticketing, venues and transport being among the major headaches.
Hotels have had to cancel bookings, dealing them a bitter blow at a time when tourism is already being hammered by the coronavirus.
Some venues that had booked events years in advance will potentially have to scrap them to make way for the rescheduled Olympics and there is still uncertainty about whether ticket-holders will get refunded.
Another thorny issue is the athletes' village, which was due to be converted into luxury apartments after the Games, some of which have already found buyers.
The Japanese government had touted the Games as the "Recovery Olympics", designed to show how the country had bounced back from the 2011 triple disaster of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown in the northeastern Fukushima region.
The Games are now being billed as the expression of humanity's triumph over the coronavirus.
"We are embarking on an unprecedented challenge," said Mori earlier Monday.
"But I believe it is the mission of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee to hold the Olympics and Paralympics next year as a proof of mankind's victory" against the virus.
North Korea on Monday warned it could cut off dialogue with the United States and slammed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for urging the international community to maintain sanctions on its regime.
Pompeo last week told nations to "stay committed to applying diplomatic and economic pressure" over the North's nuclear and ballistic missile programs while calling on the nuclear-armed state to return to talks.
A string of weapons drills by Pyongyang has come during a prolonged hiatus in disarmament talks with the United States and despite recent overtures from Washington offering help to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, an unnamed official in charge of negotiations with the US called Pompeo's remarks "ludicrous".
"Listening to Pompeo's ludicrous language made us give up on any hopes for dialogue," the official said, adding: "We will walk our way."
The American diplomat had "unleashed insult at a country with which his president was willing to forge a good relationship", the official continued, referring to Donald Trump's letter sent to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressing an intent to cooperate in anti-epidemic efforts.
"It is puzzling who the real commander in chief is in the US," the official said.
The criticism came after the North said it had successfully tested "super-large multiple rocket launchers" on Sunday.
Analysts say the North continues to refine its weapons capabilities more than a year after a summit between Kim and Trump broke down in Vietnam.
Negotiations have since been deadlocked over sanctions relief and what the North would be willing to give up in return.
North Korea is under multiple sets of sanctions from the United Nations, United States and others over its banned weapons programmes.
The Australian Olympic Committee on Monday refuted suggestions it had colluded with Canadian counterparts to withdraw from the Tokyo Games to pressure organisers into a postponement.
Both countries said last week, in statements released in quick succession, that they would not send teams to the Olympics in July because of the coronavirus pandemic.
A day later, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) postponed the Games until 2021.
The chain of events led to media speculation that the countries' Olympic Committees had been in cahoots to pressure organisers to call off the Games, or had acted in concert with the IOC to give the global body leverage to postpone Tokyo.
"Any assertions that a decision by the AOC (Australian Olympic Committee) to tell its athletes to plan for a Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021 was done in concert with either the IOC or the Canadian Olympic Committee are completely incorrect," the AOC said in a statement.
The decision, it added, followed a sequence of events including restrictions on international travel by the Australian government, quarantine requirements at borders and closure of training facilities.
It had also noted a decision by the IOC last Monday to consider scenario planning for the 2020 Games, including a possible postponement.
"The effect of these measures as outlined, informed the executive's conclusion that an Australian Olympic team could not depart our shores for a Games at any time within the next six months, at least," the AOC added.
AOC chief executive Matt Carroll said last week athletes needed certainty on what was happening, and they must also prioritise their health in the new coronavirus world.
