Trump hijacks Barbados coronavirus ventilators, other news

This 4 April 2020 video from the USA says about itself:

Andrew Cuomo thanks China for ventilators as New York prepares for coronavirus peak

The New York [governor] has said the Chinese government will facilitate a donation of 1,000 ventilators to arrive into JFK airport on Saturday as the city prepares to hit its coronavirus ‘apex’. Andrew Cuomo said: ‘This is a big deal and it’s going to make a significant difference for us. We’re not at the apex so we’re still in the stage where we have the luxury – if you will – of gathering as much as we can’,

The ventilator shortage, capitalism and the fight for socialist planning. By Jerry White, 6 April 2020. Millions are asking why is there a shortage of breathing machines and what must be done about it.

By Steve Sweeney in Britain:

Monday, April 6, 2020

US accused of ‘modern piracy’ after seizing ventilators bound for Barbados

BARBADOS is seeking answers after the US seized a consignment of ventilators destined for the country in its battle to fight the global coronavirus pandemic, prompting accusations of “modern piracy”.

The Caribbean country’s Health Minister Jeffrey Bostic confirmed that the shipment had been barred from export by Washington for unknown reasons.

“They were seized in the United States. Paid for, but seized, so we are trying to see exactly what is going to transpire there,” he said on Sunday.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain, 6 April 2020:

GREECE: The Malakasa refugee camp north-east of Athens was placed in quarantine yesterday after a resident tested positive for Covid-19, the second migrant facility in the past four days.

Last Thursday the Ritsona camp was placed on lockdown for 14 days after a woman in labour tested positive for the disease.

No cases have yet been recorded on the Greek islands, where thousands of refugees live in squalid and overcrowded camps.

Refugee camps are a tinderbox for the spread of the coronavirus.

Coronavirus and the war on the working class. Capitalists and the ‘concerned billionaires’ of the world are clamouring to ignore the health professionals and restore the accumulation process immediately, says ZOLTAN ZIGEDY.

Ontario warns of more than 10,000 COVID-19 deaths as pandemic spreads rapidly across Canada. By Roger Jordan, 6 April 2020. The figures presented are horrifying, but likely an underestimation of the catastrophe threatening the province and country unless urgent counter-measures are taken.

Indian medical staff speak to WSWS on COVID-19 pandemic. By Yuan Darwin and Nanda Kumar, 6 April 2020. Indian medical staff are struggling to fight COVID-19 under conditions of a run-down public health system and high-population densities without basic facilities.

Australian Committee for Public Education holds successful online meeting on pandemic crisis: here.

New Zealand school at centre of escalating COVID-19 outbreak. By John Braddock, 6 April 2020. At 72 cases and still rising, Auckland’s Marist College contains the country’s biggest cluster of COVID-19 infections.