17/04/20 COVID-19 Global News Update

Some second-home owners are using a "loophole" to claim grants which are intended to help small businesses survive coronavirus, it is claimed. Firms employing fewer than nine people can apply for £10,000 grants as part of a £1.1bn Welsh Government package.

Police must stop overstepping their powers under new coronavirus laws in order to maintain public trust, Members of Parliament have warned.

Rubbish tips should reopen to curb an increase in fly-tipping during the coronavirus lockdown, politicians have said. Many waste facilities closed in March after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said people should stay at home, except for “essential travel”.

The UK will remain in coronavirus lockdown for at least the next three weeks, after today’s meeting of the government’s top scientific body.

The figure is almost 10 percent of the workforce.

Prince William, the grandson of Queen Elizabeth, has opened an emergency COVID-19 hospital built in just eight days in the exhibition centre of Britain’s second city, Birmingham.

Singapore has seen its biggest number of new cases in a single day, driven by increased testing of foreign workers. Once praised for its success in containing the virus, Singapore is now facing a surge of infections linked to industrial worksites and tightly packed worker dormitories.

Australian public life could be constrained for another year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned on Friday, as the country’s most populous state mulled sending children to school in shifts.

Moderna Inc said on Thursday that it received a $483 million contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to accelerate the development of its vaccine candidate for the novel coronavirus.

Donald Trump announced guidelines he wants governors to use to craft their own plans to reopen their states when the coronavirus outbreak ends, a remarkable climb down from his Monday claim only he could give such an order.

Portugal extended its national coronavirus lockdown for a further 15 days on Thursday and promised to make protective gear widely available and to gradually reopen businesses if the spread of the disease continues to slow.

Mobile apps to track coronavirus cases in Europe should keep as much data as possible on the user’s device rather than in a central server, to best maintain individual privacy, an EU document says.

The EU is set to protect its companies against foreign takeovers from firms taking advantage of the economic fallout from coronavirus. The bloc plans to allow governments to take large stakes in weak European companies, even owning them in some cases.

China’s economy shrank for the first time since at least 1992 in the first quarter, as the coronavirus outbreak paralysed production and spending, raising pressure on authorities to do more to stop mounting job losses.

France is in the midst of its worst recession since the Second World War. The country’s finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, has warned that the economic crisis resulting from the coronavirus lockdown could eventually be of a similar magnitude to that of the 1929 Great Depression. Yet amid the chaos he remains defiant, promising that the country will recover, “whatever the cost”.

Activist shareholders are likely to scale back campaigns in coming weeks as target companies brace for a deep recession and their favorite calls for change - ranging from mergers to returning cash - are ignored during the coronavirus outbreak.

The UK’s pubs, restaurants and bars suffered an almost 60 per cent drop in sales last month as a lockdown was implemented to slow the spread of coronavirus. Managed pubs reported a 57.8 per cent sales drop, restaurant sales plunged 56.2 per cent and bars suffered a 60 per cent dive in sales.

Loans to all medium-to-large firms will now be included in the government's £330bn coronavirus support package for the economy, the Treasury has said. All viable companies with a turnover of more than £45m will be able to apply for government-backed support, including those which take in more than £500m.

UK carmaker brings in new safety measures to protect workers Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage One of Britain’s largest carmakers is planning to restart production after putting in place new safety measures, as the government comes under pressure to outline its strategy for bringing different sectors of the economy out of lockdown.