CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC: Latest Updates

US REGULATOR APPROVES LIMITED     USE OF MALARIA DRUGS

A limited emergency-use authorisation for two antimalarial drugs touted as game-changers by President Donald Trump has been issued by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat coronavirus patients. In a statement published Sunday, the US Department of Health and Human Services detailed recent donations of medicine to a national stockpile -- including chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, both being investigated as potential Covid-19 treatments.

Australia unveils 'job keeper' payments

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday committed a A$130 billion ($79.86 billion) package to help save jobs as shockwaves from the coronavirus pandemic rip through the economy. The package includes a A$1,500 ($923.10) "job keeper" payment to be paid to employers every two weeks, for each worker under the scheme. "Our goal is to protect the lives and livelihoods," Morrison said in a televised briefing from Canberra.

Van Gogh painting stolen from Dutch museum

Thieves stole a painting by Vincent van Gogh after breaking into a Dutch museum closed to the public because of the coronavirus pandemic, the museum's director said yesterday."There has been a break-in last night and a painting by Van Gogh was stolen," said Evert van Os of the Singer Laren Museum, in Laren, about 30 kilometres southeast of Amsterdam.

Libya frees over 450 inmates

Libya's justice ministry announced Sunday over 450 prisoners were being freed in a bid to protect against the spread of coronavirus in the wake of the war-torn country's first declared infections. Judicial officials decided to "free 466 detainees from correctional facilities" in Tripoli, according to a statement by the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord's justice ministry. The detainees were in pretrial detention or had qualified for conditional release, the statement added.

Medical staff push a Covid-19 patient on a stretcher towards a French medical helicopter in Strasbourg yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

Cruise company searching for    port for virus ship

Passengers on a virus-stricken cruise liner entered the Panama Canal in Central America Sunday after they were told the company was still searching for a port which will allow them to disembark, even as they pleaded for help. The Panama Canal Authority said the Zaandam liner had entered the canal, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, on Sunday afternoon after transferring healthy passengers to another ship and restocking supplies.

Belgian virus death toll passes 500

Belgium's death toll from the novel coronavirus passed the 500 mark yesterday, with almost 12,000 cases detected since the start of the epidemic. Health authorities in the country of 11.4 million said 513 Covid-19 deaths had been recorded and 11,899 cases confirmed by laboratory tests. But officials said the rise in admissions to hospital slowed slightly over the previous 24 hours.