Coronavirus global news update

This 23 March 2020 video from the USA says about itself:

Former ICE Director: Release Immigrants from Detention or COVID-19 Will Spread Like Wildfire Inside

Alarm is growing about the safety of more than 37,000 people held in immigrant detention centers and private jails that contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, where it is nearly impossible for them to avoid close contact to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Nearly half of those detained by ICE are accused of no crime other than civil immigration violations.

Immigrants at three jails in New Jersey are now on hunger strikes over unsanitary conditions that put them at high risk during the pandemic. We hear from a detained person on hunger strike and speak with John Sandweg, former acting director of ICE during the Obama administration, who is calling for ICE to release thousands from detention, and Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, or CHIRLA, which just led a national effort to stop immigration enforcement actions.

“No one wants to die in jail”. Immigrants at New Jersey ICE detention center launch hunger strike over COVID-19 threat. By Erik Schreiber, 23 March 2020.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain, 23 March 2020:

Covid-19 makes its way into New York jail network

AT LEAST 38 people have tested positive for coronavirus in New York’s prisons, including at the notorious Rikers Island complex.

In a letter to the city’s criminal justice leaders, Board of Correction interim chairwoman Jacqueline Sherman described a jail system in crisis.

She said in the last week board members had learned that 12 Department of Correction employees, five Correctional Health Services employees and 21 people detained at Rikers and city jails had tested positive for the disease.

COVID-19 outbreak in New York prisons threatens lives of thousands. By Sam Dalton, 23 March 2020. The New York Board of Correction (BoC) announced Saturday that 38 people tested positive for COVID-19 last week in New York City’s prison system. As of Sunday, the state has topped 15,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

Coronavirus crisis in New York: As doctors warn of “our Chernobyl”, state government plans Medicaid cuts: here.

USA: United Parcel Service forcing employees to work without protection amid COVID-19 pandemic: here.

Retail and service industry workers demand safety measures, store closures and full compensation during coronavirus pandemic: here.

Coronavirus total in US skyrockets as testing expands. By Bryan Dyne, 23 March 2020. The United States now leads the world in new cases and is second only to China and Italy in the number of patients infected with COVID-19.

Canada registers 500,000 Employment Insurance claims in one week, as Coronavirus triggers jobs massacre: here.

By Ben Cowles:

Monday, March 23, 2020

Refugees in Moria camp left with no water, no soap and no support against virus

THE Greek government has left refugees detained in the massively overcrowded Moria camp on Lesbos without any supplies or information on the coronavirus pandemic, according to people trapped in the camp.

Speaking to volunteers from German refugee rescue charity Mission Lifeline in the camp yesterday, Sayed (not his real name) said the Greek government has done nothing.

“They have not [provided] any [information] or anything that could help people understand what coronavirus is and how to prevent it and how to not get infected by it,” he said.

European Public Service Union calls on governments to act on vulnerable prison officers and inmates: here.

By Ben Chacko:

Monday, March 23, 2020

Cuban medical brigade arrives in Italy as ministers round on EU over lack of support

A CUBAN medical brigade arrived in Italy at the weekend, the sixth such mission dispatched to assist other countries with the coronavirus pandemic.

Havana has already sent missions to Venezuela, Nicaragua, Jamaica, Suriname and Grenada, but its mission to Italy is its first ever to the much richer country.

“We are all afraid, but we have a revolutionary duty to fulfil, so we take out fear and put it to one side,” intensive care specialist Leonardo Fernandez told Reuters.

This 23 March 2020 video says about itself:

Coronavirus in Italy: Cuba, China and Russia send medical aid | DW News

In Italy, authorities said on Sunday that a further 651 people had died from the coronavirus. That’s fewer than Saturday’s record number of deaths, but is still the second-worst day so far. Italy has closed non-essential businesses to try to control the outbreak. And outside help is on the way. Doctors from Cuba and China as well as medical supplies from Russia have been dispatched to help support the overwhelmed medical system.

“I do not accept financial speculation on starvation and people’s deaths”. Italy’s health workers denounce ruling elite’s negligence on coronavirus: here.

The coronavirus pandemic surged across Europe this weekend, with more than 2,600 deaths, the majority of them in Italy, followed by Spain, France, Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The weekend toll by itself nearly equaled the entire three-month death toll in China, where the epidemic began: here.

Russian cases of coronavirus surge as economic crisis hits: here.

Two test positive for Coronavirus in Gaza Strip: here.

Two Sri Lankan prisoners killed and six injured amid national coronavirus lockdown: here.

COVID-19 health disaster and political crisis intensify in Australia: here.

Yesterday the Labor Party government in Victoria, Australia’s second-most populous state, announced the temporary closure of its school system from Tuesday, citing the coronavirus pandemic. New South Wales (NSW) Liberal Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced that she would not close schools, while declaring: “We are encouraging parents to keep their children at home.” The Labor-Greens government in the Australian Capital Territory said its schools would shift to on-line learning from Tuesday: here.

No corporate bailouts! Direct financial resources to the working people, not the capitalist elite! 23 March 2020. The ruling class is seeking to exploit this crisis to engineer another multitrillion-dollar redistribution of wealth, on a scale even greater than the 2008 bank bailout: here.

Coronavirus spread rapidly this weekend in Africa, jumping to over 1,300 detected cases, while there are over 335,000 confirmed cases and 14,000 deaths worldwide. At least 33 of the continent’s 54 countries are affected, though it is certain that many undetected cases or asymptomatic coronavirus carriers are circulating in Africa: here.

Catastrophic worldwide medical ventilator shortfall despite years of warning: here.