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Latin America’s second largest airline files for bankruptcy
Avianca, the second largest airline in Latin America, filed for bankruptcy on Sunday. The Colombian company with around 20,000 employees is said to be in urgent need of government help. The airline has been unable to fly since the end of March due to the corona virus crisis. Talks with the Colombian government to obtain state aid have so far been unsuccessful.
According to an Avianca representative, the airline has not yet given up hope. Many airlines around the world have had to keep their planes grounded for weeks and complain about massive economic problems.
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Now it starts
The long wait has come to an end for restaurateurs: from tomorrow they will be able to serve guests again. However, various protective measures are necessary for both clients and staff. There is much to prepare.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces easing
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces a slight relief from the restrictions. People are no longer asked to stay home, but to be “vigilant”. Starting Monday, those who couldn’t work from home should go back to work.
Starting Wednesday, people with family members in their home are allowed to be outdoors as often as they like if they follow distance rules. Until now, they have only been allowed out of their homes once a day to play sports. Travel within England will also be allowed, for example, to national parks or to the coast. Stores and schools could gradually open in early June at the earliest. Starting in July, it is possible to think about a partial opening of restaurants and businesses with public traffic.
Johnson also introduced a five-tier warning system to assess the situation in the UK in the future. The classification will depend on the level of transmission of the virus, which is now slightly below one. He will present more details of his schedule in parliament on Monday, the conservative politician said.
Excerpt from his evening television speech on Sunday night.
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Gradual relief in France
Starting Monday morning, people in the country can go out without a pass and for good reason, sports or hiking are no longer limited in time and place. Stores are supposed to reopen, but restaurants and bars remain closed. Schools are also gradually reopening for some cohorts, as are daycares. Masks are mandatory for local and long-distance transportation.
If you want to travel more than 100 kilometers from your place of residence, you still need a certificate and this is only allowed for urgent family or professional reasons. Entry restrictions to France also remain until at least June 15.
Traffic chaos threatens Paris. At peak times, only people with a certificate from their employer should be able to use local transportation. This is to ensure that the distance rules are observed. Marks were placed on stations and trains. At the same time, around 60 metro stations are closed and only 75 percent of trains run. The city has established additional bike trails.
Culture on the garden fence
For weeks, culture has only been on the Internet. If you want to perform in front of a real audience, you must make your home in front of your own family. Or: touring the country and visiting people. The two writers Rolf Hermann and Matto Kämpf currently travel to various Swiss cities. They come and read their stories from the sidewalk to the window, in the garden or on the roof terrace, keeping physical distance. They say: otherwise they will be bored. And so you can quench people’s thirst for culture. Listen to the “Echo of Time” report here.
Less approval of government action in France
The French are obviously more critical of the government in the Corona crisis than the people of the other major European countries. This is shown in a survey published by the French newspaper “Le Figaro”. Consequently, only a third of the French surveyed said that their government had adequately responded to the crown pandemic. In the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy it was more than half.
State-imposed restrictions due to the crown pandemic were also evaluated differently in the survey: although more than 70 percent of Germans judged the measures to be appropriate, only 48 percent in France.
How green are the aid packages?
This week, the Swiss parliament approved the record sum of just under 60 billion Swiss francs to support the economy in the Corona crisis. Similar things are happening around the world. Politicians are launching unprecedented support programs to cushion the economic consequences of pandemic measures.
The call to align these measures to also help the climate and biodiversity is getting stronger. So far, however, these have been primarily lawsuits with no consequences.
Robotic dog in Singapore
Meanwhile, Singapore is taking a perhaps somewhat strange path in the fight against the coronavirus. Authorities have a four-legged dog-shaped robot that patrols a park. Equipped with cameras and sensors, it finds park visitors who are too close to each other. A computer voice reminds them of the distance rules. This is still a remotely controlled test robot. In the future, however, you should take a surveillance tour completely autonomously.
Singapore has 876 new confirmed corona infections today. The total number of cases is 23,336, reports the Ministry of Health. Most of the new infections occurred among migrant workers who are in shared accommodation.
Unemployment in the United States is likely to rise further
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin believes that the unemployment rate in the United States, which has risen to its highest level since World War II, will increase. “The reported numbers are likely to worsen before they improve,” Mnuchin told Fox News.
He indicated that the ongoing talks at the White House on new fiscal measures to cushion the economic burdens caused by the pandemic. However, the federal government does not want to help states with weak management. The Presidential Office is lobbying for lower wage taxes.
New protests in Hong Kong during the crown crisis
In Hong Kong, hundreds of people protested in various shopping malls against the friendly government of China. Police arrested at least eleven people, including a twelve-year-old girl, media reported Sunday. In addition, dozens of people were fined for not complying with the authorization rules for containing the corona virus. Accordingly, groups of more than eight people are prohibited from meeting in public.
Protesters accused the authorities of using the pandemic measures to reduce civil liberties in China’s Special Administrative Region.
Police officers clear a shopping center with suspected protesters in Hong Kong. The high police presence in the special administrative zone prevented a protest march, instead of protesters gathered in shopping malls.
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Free use of the toilet, disinfectant dispenser and cleaning equipment on the train.
With the resumption of the schedule on Monday, SBB is strengthening the cleaning of trains and train stations. According to the company, about a thousand cleaning employees will be on the trains. They are supposed to clean certain trains while driving. At train stations, cleaning teams are increasingly concerned with disinfecting contact surfaces such as armrests, handrails, and machines. These are cleaned six times a day instead of just three times as before, as an SBB spokesperson said Sunday at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency.
Disinfectant dispensers are installed at the entrances to larger train stations. Passengers would have the opportunity to use hygiene centers or health services that would otherwise be paid at Basel SBB, Bellinzona, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Locarno, Lucerne and Zurich HB stations free of charge until further notice, according to SBB.
Mafiosi thanks to Corona at vacation home
The coronavirus is a blessing to them: More than 300 gangsters have been able to get out of their jails in Italy in the past few weeks and are now under house arrest. They are old and seriously ill gangsters who belong to the high-risk group and who, according to the judges, would be in great danger in overcrowded prisons. This triggers fierce criticism.
Soccer clubs are allowed to train, but then lose the right to work for a short time
The Swiss Football League announced Thursday that it would decide on May 29 to resume the season in the Super and Challenge League. And: As of May 11, teams can resume their training, although in compliance with all protective measures. But because short-term work can no longer be claimed when training resumes, 9 out of 10 Super League clubs start later.
Dozens of announcements after the crown show.
After protests against the federal crown measures in four cities in German-speaking Switzerland on Saturday, Bern and St. Gallen city police, according to the SDA-Keystone news agency, issued “several dozen” of advertisements.
A police spokeswoman said the exact number of reports was not yet known in Bern because the deployment took a long time and numerous police officers were involved. In St. Gallen, personal details were recorded by 32 protesters. You can expect to be charged with violating the Covid 19 regulation. In addition to the event ban, they would also have partially violated the two-meter distance requirement. Furthermore, protesters would have needed approval for the rally even in normal times.
In Zurich and Basel, law enforcement officers had given directions or buses. But also in these two cities, more than a hundred people had gathered on Saturday afternoons and demonstrated against the closure. In Zurich, the concentration at Sechseläutenplatz was dissolved at the request of the police. Police did not intervene in Basel, where about a hundred people had gathered in the market square.
“Pandemic training” for tourism staff in Turkey
Turkey is preparing to open up to tourism with crown requirements for hotels and restaurants. Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Ersoy told CNN Türk on Sunday that tourism would begin gradually in late May. International flights are expected to gradually return in June.
Hotels and restaurants are subject to strict requirements, Ersoy said. Turkey has developed a certification program with 132 criteria. Among other things, the facilities would have to comply with the rules of distance and hygiene. The staff also received pandemic training. There are buffets, but without self-service. The staff will distribute the food and drinks.
Tourism is one of the most important economic sectors in Turkey. Ersoy said 58 million tourists were expected before the crown pandemic this year. One should not have too high expectations now; if 50 or 60 percent of hotels were to open, it would be a good season. If the Corona pandemic ends in 2021, the hope is 63 million tourists a year.
Closed shops in Istanbul. Turkey is gradually easing the measures again. This weekend there is only a curfew in 24 cities and provinces instead of 31 locations previously. Also, for the first time since March 21, people 65 and older can go outside for several hours.
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New confirmed infection in Wuhan
China has been reporting a coronavirus infection in the Wuhan metropolis for more than a month, where the outbreak of the epidemic was originally discovered. The case is one of 14 confirmed infections that China launched on Sunday. The last time an infection was found in Wuhan was April 3.
The BLS before the relaxation step
Quiet at the train stations, with plenty of space on the trains, to the delight of the few remaining travelers. But if more crown loosening is applied tomorrow in Switzerland, that should be the end. Transportation companies are preparing for more travelers. With great effort, as shown by the BLS in Bern.
Japan is considering lifting the state of emergency
The Japanese government is considering prematurely lifting the Corona emergency in most of the country’s provinces. As reported by Japanese media on Sunday, citing government officials, the government may want to lift the state of emergency in 34 of the 47 prefectures due to the pandemic until May 31 of next Thursday. The other provinces, including the Tokyo metropolitan area, as well as Osaka and Kyoto, continue to be considered areas where “special caution” is required.
To date, Japan has more than 16,400 infections and more than 630 deaths. According to official information, the trend of new infections is now pointing down. In the capital city of Tokyo, only 22 more cases were confirmed on Sunday. The number of new daily infections in Tokyo has been below the 40 mark for five days.
A state of emergency in Japan does not mean a foreclosure as harsh as in Europe. Citizens are only asked to stay home if possible.
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Italian Prime Minister gives hope for a beach vacation
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte gave his compatriots hope for a summer beach vacation. In the newspaper “Corriere della Sera”, Conte said, without giving an exact date, that this summer it would be possible to go to the sea in Italy or to the mountains. He did not say whether this would also apply to foreign tourists.
In order to provide accurate information about the appointment, Conte wants to wait for developments. The number of new infections in Italy has been decreasing for some time.
Obama criticizes Trump for dealing with the crown crisis
Former United States President Barack Obama criticized his successor Donald Trump. Obama described Trump’s handling of the crown crisis in a private event as “an absolute chaotic mess,” reports the US press. They refer to the participants in the event.
In his speech, Obama also criticized the fact that more and more people were selfish and saw dissidents as enemies. Supporters of likely Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden would be won at the event.
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