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US airlines are collectively burning more than $10 billion in cash a month and averaging fewer than two dozen passengers per domestic flight because of the coronavirus pandemic, industry trade group Airlines for America said in prepared testimony seen by Reuters ahead of a US Senate hearing on Wednesday.

Even after grounding more than 3,000 aircraft, or nearly 50% of the active US fleet, the group said its member carriers, which include the four largest US airlines, were averaging just 17 passengers per domestic flight and 29 passengers per international flight.

“The US airline industry will emerge from this crisis a mere shadow of what it was just three short months ago,” the group’s chief executive, Nicholas Calio, will say, according to his prepared testimony.

Net booked passengers have fallen by nearly 100% year-on-year, according to the testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee. The group warned that if air carriers were to refund all tickets, including those purchased as nonrefundable or those canceled by a passenger instead of the carrier, “this will result in negative cash balances that will lead to bankruptcy.”

Separately, Eric Fanning, who heads the Aerospace Industries Association, will ask Congress to consider providing “temporary and targeted assistance for the ailing aviation manufacturing sector,” in testimony made public by the group.

Boeing Co said last week it would cut 16,000 jobs by the end of the year, while GE Aviation plans to cut up to 13,000 jobs and airplane supplier Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc is cutting 1,450 jobs.

Fanning will say at the hearing that “there is strong support in our industry for a private-public partnership to protect jobs and keep at-risk employees on the payroll through the pandemic,”

He will also raise concerns about some Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury lending programs that have “conditions that prevent companies from accessing this aid with the speed and flexibility required.”

‘DIFFICULT ROAD AHEAD’

US airlines have canceled hundreds of thousands of flights, including 80% or more of scheduled flights into June as US passenger traffic has fallen by 95% since March. They are conducting additional cleaning measures and requiring all passengers to wear facial coverings.

Calio said airlines “anticipate a long and difficult road ahead. … History has shown that air transport demand has never experienced a V-shaped recovery from a downturn.”

The US Treasury has awarded nearly $25 billion in cash grants to airlines to help them meet payroll costs in exchange for them agreeing not to lay off workers through Sept. 30. Major airlines have warned they will likely need to make additional cuts later this year to respond to a long-term decline in travel demand.

United Airlines Co said on Monday it planned to cut at least 3,450 management and administrative workers on Oct. 1, or 30% of those workers and has also said it will reduce hours for thousands of other workers.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers sued United on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York for what it called an “illegal implementation of drastic pay and benefit cuts.”

United said in a statement that the lawsuit was “meritless,” and that the reductions were in compliance with the terms of its $5 billion in federal assistance and its collective bargaining agreements.

US airlines are collectively burning more than $10 billion in cash a month and averaging fewer than two dozen passengers per domestic flight because of the coronavirus pandemic, industry trade group Airlines for America said in prepared testimony seen by Reuters ahead of a US Senate hearing on Wednesday.

Even after grounding more than 3,000 aircraft, or nearly 50% of the active US fleet, the group said its member carriers, which include the four largest US airlines, were averaging just 17 passengers per domestic flight and 29 passengers per international flight.

“The US airline industry will emerge from this crisis a mere shadow of what it was just three short months ago,” the group’s chief executive, Nicholas Calio, will say, according to his prepared testimony.

Net booked passengers have fallen by nearly 100% year-on-year, according to the testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee. The group warned that if air carriers were to refund all tickets, including those purchased as nonrefundable or those canceled by a passenger instead of the carrier, “this will result in negative cash balances that will lead to bankruptcy.”

Separately, Eric Fanning, who heads the Aerospace Industries Association, will ask Congress to consider providing “temporary and targeted assistance for the ailing aviation manufacturing sector,” in testimony made public by the group.

Boeing Co said last week it would cut 16,000 jobs by the end of the year, while GE Aviation plans to cut up to 13,000 jobs and airplane supplier Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc is cutting 1,450 jobs.

Fanning will say at the hearing that “there is strong support in our industry for a private-public partnership to protect jobs and keep at-risk employees on the payroll through the pandemic,”

He will also raise concerns about some Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury lending programs that have “conditions that prevent companies from accessing this aid with the speed and flexibility required.”

‘DIFFICULT ROAD AHEAD’

US airlines have canceled hundreds of thousands of flights, including 80% or more of scheduled flights into June as US passenger traffic has fallen by 95% since March. They are conducting additional cleaning measures and requiring all passengers to wear facial coverings.

Calio said airlines “anticipate a long and difficult road ahead. … History has shown that air transport demand has never experienced a V-shaped recovery from a downturn.”

The US Treasury has awarded nearly $25 billion in cash grants to airlines to help them meet payroll costs in exchange for them agreeing not to lay off workers through Sept. 30. Major airlines have warned they will likely need to make additional cuts later this year to respond to a long-term decline in travel demand.

United Airlines Co said on Monday it planned to cut at least 3,450 management and administrative workers on Oct. 1, or 30% of those workers and has also said it will reduce hours for thousands of other workers.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers sued United on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York for what it called an “illegal implementation of drastic pay and benefit cuts.”

United said in a statement that the lawsuit was “meritless,” and that the reductions were in compliance with the terms of its $5 billion in federal assistance and its collective bargaining agreements.

The global lockdown caused by Covid-19 risks a “devastating” surge in tuberculosis cases, with nearly 1.4 million additional deaths from the world’s biggest infectious killer by 2025, new research showed Wednesday.

TB, a bacterial infection that normally attacks patients’ lungs, is largely treatable yet still infects an estimated 10 million people every year. In 2018, it killed around 1.5 million people, according to the World Health Organization, including more than 200,000 children.

Since effective medication exists, the world’s TB response is centred on testing and treating as many patients as possible.

But as Covid-19 forces governments to place populations on lockdown, new disease models showed that social distancing could lead to a disastrous rebound in TB infections — the effects of which are set to persist for years.

This is because social distancing will make it impossible for health care workers to test vulnerable populations and for patients to access ongoing treatments.

“In spite of having drugs and treatment… we are not yet close to ending it and TB remains the biggest infectious disease killer,” said Lucica Ditiu, executive director of the Stop TB Partnership.

“COVID has hit us very hard. The more people we have not diagnosed and treated the more problems we will have in the coming years.”

Length of lockdown crucial

Models developed in partnership with epidemiologists at Imperial College London used TB response data from three high-incidence countries: India, Kenya and Ukraine.

They showed that a two-month global lockdown and a rapid recovery in response programmes could lead to more than 1.8 additional TB infections globally over the next five years, and a predicted 340,000 deaths.

But if countries fail to quickly re-implement their testing and treatment, the models showed things would get much worse.

For example, a three-month lockdown followed by a 10-month “recovery” period could lead to an additional six million infections and 1.4 million TB deaths by 2025.

“TB is actually curable with affordable drugs. So a lot of control efforts in recent decades have really been focused in diagnosing cases as quickly as possible,” said Nimalan Arinaminpathy, associate professor in mathematical epidemiology at Imperial.

“Lockdowns and other measures against coronavirus are affecting these systems for managing tuberculosis. In fact (in the models) it takes several years for this elevated TB burden to come down to pre-lockdown levels.”

‘Dire situation’

The research did not look at the comorbidity between TB, an acute lung infection that leaves even survivors’ lungs compromised, and Covid-19, a viral infection that often leads to lung problems.

Cheri Vincent, head of TB division at USAID, said several studies were looking into how TB puts an individual at a higher risk of getting sick with Covid-19.

“As that information becomes available we may be looking at a much more dire situation,” she said.

Suvunand Sahu, deputy executive director of Stop TB Partnership, said there was significant concern over the millions of people living with the infection as COVID-19 spreads.

“We know that TB does create damage in the lungs, so when your lung capacity is limited adverse outcomes of COVID would naturally be expected to be higher,” he said.

The Trump administration failed to prepare for the onslaught of the coronavirus, then sought a quick fix by trying to rush an unproven drug to patients, a senior government scientist alleged in a whistleblower complaint Tuesday.

Dr Rick Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, alleges he was reassigned to a lesser role because he resisted political pressure to allow widespread use of hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug pushed by President Donald Trump. He said the Trump administration wanted to “flood” hot spots in New York and New Jersey with the drug.

“I witnessed government leadership rushing blindly into a potentially dangerous situation by bringing in a non-FDA approved chloroquine from Pakistan and India, from facilities that had never been approved by the FDA,” Bright said Tuesday on a call with reporters. “Their eagerness to push blindly forward without sufficient data to put this drug into the hands of Americans was alarming to me and my fellow scientists.”

Bright filed the complaint with the Office of Special Counsel, a government agency that investigates retaliation against federal employees who uncover problems. He wants his job back and a full investigation.

The Department of Health and Human Services had no immediate comment. Zachary Kurz, a spokesman for the Office of Special Counsel, said the office couldn’t comment or confirm the status of open investigations.

Representative Anna Eshoo (Democrat-California), chair of the House energy and commerce subcommittee on health, said a hearing over the complaint would be held next week. Bright’s lawyers said he would testify.

His complaint comes as the Trump administration faces criticism over its response to the pandemic, including testing and supplies of ventilators, masks and other equipment to stem the spread. There have been nearly 1.2 million confirmed cases in the United States and more than 70,000 deaths.

Bright said his superiors repeatedly rejected his warnings that the virus would spread in the US, missing an early opportunity to stock up on protective masks for first responders. He said he “acted with urgency” to address the growing spread of Covid-19 – the disease the virus causes – after the World Health Organization issued a warning in January.

Bright said he “encountered resistance from HHS leadership, including Health and Human Services Secretary (Alex) Azar, who appeared intent on downplaying this catastrophic event.”

During a February 23 meeting, Azar, as well as Bright’s boss, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Robert Kadlec, “responded with surprise at (Bright’s) dire predictions and urgency, and asserted that the United States would be able to contain the virus and keep it out,” the whistleblower complaint said.

Bright said White House trade adviser Peter Navarro was a rare exception among administration officials, extremely concerned about the potential consequences of an outbreak. He described working with Navarro to break a bureaucratic logjam and set up military transport from Italy for swabs needed in the US.

Navarro was the author of several urgent memos within the White House. Bright said Navarro asked for his help, saying the trade adviser told him the memos were needed to “save lives.”

Navarro’s memos to top officials raised alarms even as Trump was publicly assuring Americans that the outbreak was under control.

Bright’s allegation that he was removed over his resistance to widespread use of the malaria drug was already public, but his whistleblower complaint added details from emails and internal communications while bringing to light his attempts to acquire N95 respirator masks early on, which he said were ignored by superiors.

In late January, Bright said he was contacted by an official of a leading mask manufacturer about ramping up production. It was estimated that as many as 3.5 billion would be needed, while the national stockpile had about 300 million.

The complaint said that when Bright tried to press the issue about masks with superiors at HHS, he was ignored or rebuffed. “HHS publicly represented not only that Covid-19 was not an imminent threat, but also that HHS already had all the masks it would need,” the complaint said.

As the epidemic spread in the US and engulfed the New York metropolitan area, Bright alleges that political appointees at HHS tried to promote hydroxychloroquine “as a panacea.” The officials also “demanded that New York and New Jersey be ‘flooded’ with these drugs, which were imported from factories in Pakistan and India that had not been inspected by the FDA,” the complaint says.

Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration warned doctors against prescribing the drug except in hospitals and research studies. In an alert, regulators flagged reports of sometimes fatal heart side effects among coronavirus patients taking hydroxychloroquine or the related drug chloroquine.

Bright felt officials had “refused to listen or take appropriate action to accurately inform the public” and spoke to a reporter about the drug. He said he had to tell the public about the lack of science backing up its use, despite the drug being pushed by the president at press briefings.

“As the death toll mounted exponentially each day, Dr. Bright concluded that he had a moral obligation to the American public, including those vulnerable as a result of illness from Covid-19, to protect it from drugs which he believed constituted a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety,” the complaint says.

On January 20, according to the complaint, the WHO held an emergency call that was attended by many HHS officials, and WHO officials advised that “the outbreak is a big problem.”

Trump has accused the UN agency of mismanaging and covering up the spread of the virus after it emerged in China. He has also said he wants to cut the WHO’s funding.

Bright’s agency works to guard against pandemics and emergent infectious diseases and is working to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus.

Top officials also pressured him to steer contracts to a client of a lobbyist, he reported.

“Time after time I was pressured to ignore or dismiss expert scientific recommendations and instead to award lucrative contracts based on political connections,” Bright said in the call with reporters. “In other words, I was pressured to let politics and cronyism drive decisions over the opinions of the best scientists we have in government.”

Government-backed hackers are attacking healthcare and research institutions in an effort to steal valuable information about efforts to contain the new coronavirus outbreak, Britain and the United States said on Tuesday in a joint warning.

In a statement, Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said the hackers had targeted pharmaceutical companies, research organisations and local governments.

The NCSC and CISA did not say which countries were responsible for the attacks. But one US official and one UK official said the warning was in response to intrusion attempts by suspected Chinese and Iranian hackers, as well as some Russian-linked activity.

The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss non-public details of the alert. Tehran, Beijing and Moscow have repeatedly denied conducting offensive cyber operations and say they are the victims of such attacks themselves.

State hacking groups “frequently target organisations in order to collect bulk personal information, intellectual property and intelligence that aligns with national priorities,” the NCSC and CISA said.

“For example, actors may seek to obtain intelligence on national and international healthcare policy or acquire sensitive data on Covid-19 related research.”

The warning follows efforts by a host of state-backed hackers to compromise governments, businesses and health agencies in search of information about the new disease and attempts to combat it.

Reuters has reported in recent weeks that Vietnam-linked hackers targeted the Chinese government over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak and that multiple groups, some with ties to Iran, tried to break into the World Health Organization.

The officials said the alert was not triggered by any specific incident or compromise, but rather intended as a warning – both to the attackers and the targeted organisations that need to better defend themselves.

“These are organisation that wouldn’t normally see themselves as nation-state targets, and they need to understand that now they are,” said one of the officials.

The agencies said hackers had been seen trying to identify and exploit security weaknesses caused by staff working from home as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

In other incidents, the attackers repeatedly tried to compromise accounts with a series of common and frequently-used passwords – a technique known as “password spraying”.

“It’s no surprise that bad actors are doing bad things right now, in particular targeting organizations supporting Covid-19 response efforts,” a CISA spokesman said.

“We’re seeing them use a variety of tried and true techniques to gain access to accounts and compromised credentials.”

New York state is reporting more than 1,700 previously undisclosed deaths at nursing homes and adult care facilities as the state faces scrutiny over how it’s protected vulnerable residents during the coronavirus pandemic.

At least 4,813 people have died from COVID-19 in the state’s nursing homes since March 1, according to a tally released by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration late Monday that, for the first time, includes people believed to have been killed by the coronavirus before their diagnoses could be confirmed by a lab test.

Exactly how many nursing home residents have died remains uncertain despite the state’s latest disclosure, as the list doesn’t nursing home residents who were transferred to hospitals before dying.

The revised list shows that 22 nursing homes, largely in New York City and Long Island, have reported at least 40 deaths.

Parker Jewish Institute in Queens and Isabella Geriatric Center – one of New York City’s largest nursing homes with 705 beds – have reported the highest number of deaths: 71 and 64, respectively.

Audrey Waters, a spokeswoman for Isabella Geriatric Center, said in an email last week, “Isabella, like all other nursing homes in New York City, initially had limited access to widespread and consistent in-house testing to quickly diagnose our residents and staff. This hampered our ability to identify those who were infected and asymptomatic, despite our efforts to swiftly separate anyone who presented symptoms.” In many cases, the state’s new figures reveal many more deaths than previously reported at nursing homes: Isabella Geriatric Center had 13 COVID-19 deaths reported as of May 1, and now reports the deaths of 21 patients who were confirmed to have COVID-19 along with 43 deaths of residents presumed to have COVID-19. And Ozanam Hall of Queens now is reporting a total of 53 deaths, up from just 10.

Several veterans home have been especially hard-hit by the virus: The Long Island State Veterans Home has reported 53 deaths; including 48 confirmed and five presumed Covid-19 deaths. The New York State Veterans Home at St. Albans in Queens has reported 33 deaths while New York State Veterans Home at Montrose in Westchester says 22 residents have died.

Cuomo promised on March 2, when only a handful of coronavirus cases had been reported in New York, to make a “special effort” for nursing homes and congregate homes housing senior citizens. The state directed nursing homes to screen visitors and consider modifying visiting hours on March 6, and later suspended visits to nursing homes statewide March 12.

But the governor is facing criticism over his administration’s role in overseeing and supporting New York’s overwhelmed, state-regulated nursing homes as many have struggled to treat Covid-19 patients, amass enough personal protective gear or ensure adequate staffing.

Advocacy groups for the elderly and family members of nursing home residents have called for greater transparency over Covid-19 cases at each state-regulated nursing home and criticized an April 1 state law granting some immunity to hospitals and nursing homes from civil and criminal liability. They also questioned the state’s March 25 policy that says “no resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to a nursing home solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of Covid-19.”

The governor and his administration have defended that policy as ensuring nursing home residents aren’t left lingering in hospitals or without anywhere else to go. Cuomo’s spokesman tweeted Monday that the policy follows federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services guidance. But the federal guidance says only that a nursing home “can accept a resident diagnosed with Covid-19” so long as the nursing home can follow federal guidance on transmission precautions.

Cuomo has also said the state has facilities that can house transferred Covid-19 nursing homes patients, and he recently said that nursing homes that tell the state up-front that they can’t care for a Covid-19 patient wouldn’t face regulatory scrutiny. His administration hasn’t responded to a request for questions on the state’s current capacity to care for Covid-19 nursing home residents and whether nursing homes were informed.

READ | Air India to operate 64 repatriation flights from May 7, private airlines may join later: Govt

WATCH | India to evacuate around 15,000 Indians from 12 countries on more than 60 flights

Over 190 Pakistanis who were stranded in India for over two months due the coronavirus-induced lockdown on Tuesday returned to Pakistan through the Wagah Border.

The Border Security Force (BSF) handed over 193 people, including women and children, to the Pakistan Rangers at the Wagah Border.

These Pakistanis had been stranded in different parts of India for about two months because of the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, a Pakistani Rangers official said.

Most of them had gone to India to visit their relatives, seek medical treatment or to attend religious ceremonies.

On their return to Pakistan, they were screened and transferred to quarantine centres in Lahore where they will stay for 72 hours.

“If their coronavirus test comes in negative they will be allowed to go home after 72 hours otherwise they will be quarantined for 14 days,” he said.

Those who returned were reportedly also quarantined in various cities in India. Before their entry into Pakistan, they were screened at Attari, the Indian side of the border.

They were handed over to the Pakistani authorities after none of them was symptomatic.

The relatives of those repatriated from India were not allowed to enter the Wagah Border to meet them.

Around 49 of them arrived here from Nagpur, 33 from Madhya Pradesh, 12 from Ahmedabad, nine each from Mumbai, Delhi, Raipur and Jaipur, six each from Bijnor and Anand, five each from Lucknow and Bhopal, four from Gurugram, three each from Agra, Raebareli, Rampur, Kaushambi, Kohlapur, Kota and Ferozepur, two from Kolkata, and one each from Burhanpur, Jodhpur and Ludhiana.

The first batch of 41 Pakistanis who were stranded in India since the start of the lockdown arrived here via the Wagah Border in mid of April.

The Indian government, on the request of the Pakistan High Commission, extended visas of all Pakistanis who were told to apply for extension online.

READ | Covid-19 lockdown: Repatriation flights from London to Indian cities set from May 7

READ | Coronavirus: Repatriation of Indian nationals from UAE to start from May 7, first to Kerala

READ | Air India to operate 64 repatriation flights from May 7, private airlines may join later: Govt

WATCH | India to evacuate around 15,000 Indians from 12 countries on more than 60 flights

For much of the last two months, President Donald Trump has rarely left the grounds of the White House as he’s dealt with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and sought to minimise his own exposure to the disease.

But that changes Tuesday, when Trump is scheduled to travel to Arizona to visit a Honeywell facility that makes N95 masks in what the president suggests will mark the return to more regular travel.

The trip also means a small army of advisers, logistical experts and security staff – a coterie of hundreds that includes personnel from the White House, Defense Department, Secret Service and more – will resume regularly hitting the road again and taking a measure of risk to assist Trump.

In addition to Tuesday’s trip to Honeywell, Trump says he will travel soon to Ohio, to New York in June for the US Military Academy graduation, and to South Dakota in July for a holiday fireworks display at Mount Rushmore. Trump says he’s also eager to get back on the campaign trail, though he acknowledged during a Fox News forum Sunday that it might not be able to hold his signature big-stadium rallies until the final months before the November 3 election.

“I’ve been at the White House now for many months, and I’d like to get out, as much as I love this. … Most beautiful house in the world,” Trump said in announcing his travel plans.

At a moment when public health officials have asked Americans to postpone non-essential travel to help stem the coronavirus, Trump is looking to rev the engines of Air Force One as he tries to prod a shell-shocked American electorate – reeling from the death and economic destruction wrought by the virus – to edge back to normal life.

But White House officials are also taking precautions to try to prevent Trump and Vice President Mike Pence from exposure to the virus. Honeywell workers who meet Trump on Tuesday – just like anyone else who comes in close proximity to the president and vice president – will be first required to take a rapid point-of-care test to determine if they’re carrying the virus.

“When preparing for and carrying out any travel, the White House’s operational teams work together to ensure plans to incorporate current CDC guidance and best practices for limiting Covid-19 exposure are followed to the greatest extent possible,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said.

But Matt Bennett, who served as Vice President Al Gore’s trip director, said he worries that Trump is putting his staff, military personnel and local and state officials at unnecessary risk.

“I think there is a value of seeing our leaders out in the country and escaping the White House,” said Bennett, executive vice president at the center-left think tank Third Way. “But it has to be balanced against the cost. The cost here could be the health and safety of a lot of people.”

James McCann, a Purdue University political scientist who has studied presidential travel, said that Trump early in his term traveled significantly less frequently on official presidential business compared to his four predecessors. But now that a big campaign rally is not possible, Trump is searching for a way to assert himself.

“Trump is itching to get into campaign mode,” McCann said.

Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff, told reporters the vice president, who last week traveled to Indiana and Minnesota, has been debriefing the White House Military Office after each trip to discuss planning and protocols.

Typically, White House advance staff fly commercial airlines when traveling to scout a location before a presidential or vice presidential visit. But Short said staffers are now taking military aircraft. Ahead of Pence’s trip to an Indiana plant where ventilators are being manufactured, advance staffers were not allowed to leave the military base where Air Force Two landed, Short said.

The Secret Service, which is tasked with protecting the president and his family, wouldn’t get into the details of how it’s altering operations but said it’s following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance.

“Since the beginning of this pandemic, the Secret Service has been working with all of our public safety partners and the White House Medical Unit to ensure the safety and security of both our protected persons and our employees,” said Justine Whelan, a spokeswoman for the agency.

In addition to the White House advance staff, which is tasked with plotting out the smallest details of the president’s visit, the Secret Service sends its own advance team that maps out security for the visit. Officials from the White House communications office advance team are dispatched to set security telephone access for the president should he need it.

The president flies on Air Force One, military-operated aircraft, on all trips, regardless of whether it is White House business, political or personal travel. The Defense Department also airlifts equipment such as armored limousines and occasionally helicopters for the president’s travel.

The Military Working Dog Programme and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Programme are dispatched to support protection of the president. Typically, about a dozen members of the news media travel with the president on Air Force One at their organization’s expense.

The president usually travels with a representative from the press office, the chief of staff’s office and the National Security Council, as well as a personal assistant. Other aides, like his economic advisers, a Cabinet secretary or lawmakers, also may join depending on the nature of the visit.

READ | Coronavirus: Repatriation of Indian nationals from UAE to start from May 7, first to Kerala

READ | Air India to operate 64 repatriation flights from May 7, private airlines may join later: Govt

WATCH | India to evacuate around 15,000 Indians from 12 countries on more than 60 flights

he first two special flights that will operate from Thursday to evacuate Indians stranded in the UAE due to the coronavirus pandemic will begin with applicants from Kerala, who formed the majority of the expatriates who have registered to be repatriated from here, Indian Ambassador to the UAE Pavan Kapoor has said.

On Monday, the Indian government announced plans to begin a phased repatriation of its citizens stranded abroad from May 7.

“The missions have prioritised the list of passengers and have given it to Air India. We would call and email each passenger to contact Air India to get their tickets issued. The first two flights on Thursday would be to Kerala, considering the high number of applicants from the state,” Kapoor was quoted as saying by the Gulf News.

He said the priority list includes blue collar workers in distress, people with medical emergencies, including the elderly and pregnant women, and those who have lost jobs, the report added.

The passenger list for the two flights — Abu Dhabi to Kochi and Dubai to Kozhikode — will be finalised by the Embassy of India, Abu Dhabi, and the Consulate General of India, Dubai, the Indian Consulate in Dubai announced on Monday.

The list will be made on the basis of registrations in the Embassy or Consulate database which was launched for this purpose a few days back, it added.

The envoy said that there would be flights almost on a daily basis to destinations mentioned by the applicants.

In Kochi, a defence ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday that a naval ship has been sent to Dubai. The INS Shardul was diverted to Dubai to evacuate the expatriates and it will return to Kochi, he said.

A total of 200,000 expatriates have registered so far to travel back to India.

Stranded visit/tourist visa holders and those with cancelled visas would also be given preference in returning home. Nearly 20 Indians who were stranded at Dubai Airport would also be given priority, Consul General of India in Dubai Vipul was quoted as saying by the report.

Meanwhile, air tickets for repatriation flights to India will not be exorbitantly priced, an official source was quoted as saying by the Khaleej Times on Tuesday.

The official pricing of tickets is yet to be revealed by the Indian ministries of Civil Aviation and External Affair. Also social distancing norms within the aircraft are yet to be notified, the report said.

“The ticket prices will be nominal, an amount everyone can afford. However, the final pricing of air tickets will be revealed by the Indian missions in the UAE shortly,” said the source.

The Indian expatriate community of approximately 3.42 million is reportedly the largest ethnic community in the UAE constituting roughly about 30 per cent of the country’s population, according to information available on the Indian Embassy website.

IndiaToday.in has plenty of useful resources that can help you better understand the coronavirus pandemic and protect yourself. Read our comprehensive guide (with information on how the virus spreads, precautions and symptoms), watch an expert debunk myths, and access our dedicated coronavirus page.

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Britain reported the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe on Tuesday and infections rose sharply again in Russia, even as other nations made great strides in taming the virus. China marked its third week with no new virus deaths and South Korea restarted its professional baseball season.

In the US, some states began halting steps to lift the lockdown restrictions being blamed for throwing millions out of work even as thousands of new US infections and deaths were being reported daily.

Britain’s death toll from the novel coronavirus pandemic appears to have surpassed Italy as Europe’s hardest-hit nation.

The government said 28,734 people with Covid-19 had died in UK hospitals, nursing homes and other settings. But official UK statistics released Tuesday that take into account people who died with suspected, rather than confirmed, Covid-19, put Britain’s toll at more than 30,000 dead. Those figures also suggested the true toll could be a third higher than the government virus figure. Italy has reported 29,079 fatalities.

Tallies from both nations are likely to be underestimates because they only include people who tested positive and testing was not widespread in Italian and British nursing homes until recently.

In Russia, the number of infections rose sharply again, with Moscow reporting more than 10,000 new cases for three days in a row.

At the same time, many European countries that have relaxed strict lockdowns after new infections tapered off were watching their virus numbers warily.

“We know with great certainty that there will be a second wave – the majority of scientists is sure of that. And many also assume that there will be a third wave,” Lothar Wieler, the head of Germany’s national disease control centre, said Tuesday.

Widely seen as a success story, South Korea reported only three new cases of the virus, its lowest total since February 18. Schools will be reopened in phased steps, starting with high school seniors on May 13, but the highlight Tuesday was the baseball season.

Cheerleaders danced beneath rows of empty seats and umpires wore protective masks as one of the world’s first major professional sports returned to action in games broadcast to starved sports fans around the world. The Korea Baseball Organisation employed other protective measures, including fever screenings for players and coaches before they entered the stadiums.

With Major League Baseball in the US still mulling plans on what to do about its own season, American sports network ESPN signed a contract to broadcast six KBO games per week, starting with Tuesday’s season opener between Daegu’s Samsung Lions and Changwon-based NC Dinos, which the Dinos won 4-0.

The country’s professional soccer leagues will kick off Friday, also without spectators.

In China, it has been three weeks since any new deaths have been reported in the country where the pandemic began late last year. Just one new case of infection was confirmed, and fewer than 400 patients are still being treated for Covid-19, health officials said.

Other places in the Asia-Pacific region have also suppressed their outbreaks, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand, which has had zero new cases for two days. Bu experts say India, a nation of 1.3 billion people, has yet to see the peak of its outbreak.

In Britain, which unlike other European nations remains in lockdown, a trial began Tuesday of a mobile phone app that authorities hope will help contain the outbreak. The app, which warns people if they have been near an infected individual, is being tested on the Isle of Wight, off England’s south coast.

The government hopes it can be rolled out across the country later this month.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to soon detail a route out of a nationwide lockdown that began March 23 and runs through Thursday. His Conservative government is facing mounting criticism over the country’s high death toll.

In the US, a shuttered pork processing plant in South Dakota took its first steps toward reopening after more than 800 employees were infected with the virus. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, one of the first to impose a statewide stay-home order, announced that some businesses can reopen as early as Friday, with restrictions.

In Louisiana, state lawmakers were restarting their legislature – but feuded over whether they should return at all. Political battles have become increasingly embedded in US coronavirus policy.

The moves to open U.S. states came even as daily new infections continue to exceed 20,000 and daily deaths were over 1,000, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

Governments around the world have reported 3.5 million infections and more than 251,000 deaths, including nearly 69,000 deaths in the United States. Deliberately concealed outbreaks, low testing rates and the severe strain the disease has placed on health care systems mean the true scale of the pandemic is undoubtedly much greater.

With pressure growing in many countries for more measures to restart the economy, politicians were trying to boost funding for research into a vaccine for Covid-19. There are hopes one could be available in months, but many scientists warn it could take much longer.

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Israeli Defence Minister Naftali Bennett has said that scientists at the country’s main biological research institute have made a “significant breakthrough” in developing an antibody to the novel coronavirus, as the researchers wrapped up the development phase and moved to patent and mass produce the potential treatment.

Bennett visited the labs of the Israel’s Institute for Biological Research (IIBR), supervised by the Prime Minister’s Office and mandated to develop a vaccine for coronavirus, in Ness Ziona on Monday and was shown the “antibody that attacks the virus in a monoclonal way and can neutralize it within the bodies of those ill”, a statement from his office said.

The statement said that the antibody’s development had been completed and that the institute was in the process of patenting the find “and in the next stage, researchers will approach international companies to produce the antibody on a commercial scale”.

“I am proud of the institute staff for this terrific breakthrough,” Bennett said, adding that “their creativity and the Jewish mind brought about this amazing achievement”.

In March, Israeli daily Ha’aretz, quoting medical sources, had reported that scientists at the institute had made a significant breakthrough in understanding the biological mechanism and qualities of the virus, including better diagnostic capability, production of antibodies for those who already have the virus and development of a vaccine.

It was not immediately clear if the breakthrough presented to Bennett was in addition to progress that was reported in late March, and no further details were provided.

The statement also did not specify whether human trials were conducted.

The IIBR was established in 1952 as part of the Israel Defence Forces’ Science Corps, and later became a civilian organization.

It is technically under the supervision of the Prime Minister’s Office, but is in close communication with the Defence Ministry.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to have ordered the institute to devote resources to develop a vaccine for Covid-19 on February 1.

The Defence Ministry in March had denied any breakthrough simply stating that “if and when there will be something to report, it will be done in an orderly fashion”, the Defence Ministry told Ha’aretz at the time.

“The biological institute is a world-renowned research and development agency, which relies on experienced researchers and scientists with great knowledge and quality infrastructures. There are now more than 50 experienced scientists working at the institute on researching and developing a medical remedy for the virus”, it had said.

The normal process of development of such a vaccine requires a long process of pre-clinical trials on animals, followed by clinical trials. This period allows for a full characterization of side effects and a better understanding of how different populations are affected.

Five shipments of virus samples arrived in Israel from Japan, Italy and other countries, news portal Ynet reported in February.

They were brought by a specially secured Defence Ministry courier to IIBR and had been frozen at -80 degrees Celsius.

There has been intensive work, including by leading experts, to develop the vaccine since then.

Experts believe that the length of time needed to develop a vaccine runs from a few months to a year and a half.

Numerous research teams all over the world are participating in the race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. Many of them at this point are focusing on the way the virus presents itself in animals, with the biggest hurdle being the way it morphs when it moves from animals to human beings.

China released the genetic sequence of the virus on open scientific databases shortly after its outbreak in January so that research institutes and commercial companies could try to develop treatments and vaccines without requiring to obtain samples.

Many private companies have also made claims of having successfully developed treatment against Covid-19, but there isn’t a proven track record on display yet.

The novel coronavirus, which first emerged in China in late December, has so far killed over 2.5 lakh people and infected more than 3.6 million globally.

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World leaders, organisations and banks on Monday pledged 7.4 billion euros ($8 billion) for research to find a vaccine against the new coronavirus, but warned that it is just the start of an effort that must be sustained over time to beat the disease.

The funds, pledged at a video-conference summit hosted by the European Union, fell marginally short of the 7.5 billion euros being sought, but more money could arrive in coming days. Notably absent from the event was the United States, where more than 67,000 people have died, and Russia.

Despite the shortfall, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, the target being sought Monday to help find a vaccine, new treatments and better tests for the disease would only ever amount to a “down-payment” on the tools that will be needed to fight the virus.

“To reach everyone, everywhere, we likely need five times that amount,” Guterres said.

Governments have reported around 3.5 million infections and more than 247,000 deaths from the virus, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University. But deliberately concealed outbreaks, low testing rates and the strain on health care systems mean the true scale of the pandemic is much greater.

People in many countries across the globe, and notably in Europe this week, are cautiously returning to work but authorities remain wary of a second wave of infections, and a vaccine is the only real golden bullet to allow something like normal life to resume.

“In the space of just a few hours we have collectively pledged 7.4 billion euros for vaccines, diagnostics and treatments,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, wrapping up the event after three hours. “All this money will help kick-start unprecedented global cooperation.”

The original aim was to gather around 4 billion euros ($4.37 billion) for vaccine research, some 2 billion euros for treatments and 1.5 billion ($1.64 billion) for testing.

The pledges were hard to track, beyond coming in various currencies. Some countries announced money for their own national research efforts combined with those they would offer to international organizations. Others also proposed a mix of loans with their funding. Pledges made toward vaccine research since Jan. 30 were also counted.

Apart from many European leaders, heads of state and government from Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Jordan, South Africa and Turkey spoke at the event, along with China’s EU ambassador.

President Emmanuel Macron warned that “a race against time is underway,” as he donated 500 million euros on behalf of France.

Apart from many European leaders, heads of state and government from Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Jordan, South Africa and Turkey were also due to speak, along with China’s EU ambassador.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that “the race to discover the vaccine to defeat this virus is not a competition between countries, but the most urgent shared endeavor of our lifetimes.”

Among the larger contributions, Japan pledged more than $800 million while Germany offered 525 million euros. Italy and Spain, perhaps the hardest hit by the virus in Europe, each said they would provide more than 100 million euros. Switzerland, the Netherlands and Israel also pledged 378 million euros, 192 million euros and 60 million dollars, respectively.

Melinda Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said that beating the virus “will take more than making a vaccine available to the very highest bidder. It is going to take more than delivering it only to people in wealthy nations. The pandemic won’t end until people everywhere can be immunised against it.”

About 100 research groups are pursuing vaccines, with nearly a dozen in early stages of human trials or poised to start. But so far there’s no way to predict which — if any — vaccine will work safely, or even to name a front-runner.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top expert, has cautioned that even if everything goes perfectly, developing a vaccine in 12 to 18 months would set a record for speed.

Even if a first useful vaccine is identified, there won’t be enough for everyone initially. A growing number of vaccine makers say they’re already starting to brew tons of doses — wasting millions of dollars if they bet on the wrong candidate but shaving a few months off mass vaccinations if their choice pans out.

Asked about the U.S. absence, which comes after it suspended funding to the World Health Organisation, a senior official said that “the United States is in the process of providing $2.4 billion in global health, humanitarian, and economic assistance towards the Covid-19 response, and we continue to ensure that the substantial U.S. funding and scientific efforts on this front remain an essential and coordinated part of this worldwide effort against Covid-19.”

The official wasn’t authorised to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

French president Emmanuel Macron said he is confident that the U.S. will join the initiative at some point, stressing that he personally discussed the issue with President Donald Trump. Macron noted that the U.S. “is on the sidelines” but added that it doesn’t compromise or slow down the project.

IndiaToday.in has plenty of useful resources that can help you better understand the coronavirus pandemic and protect yourself. Read our comprehensive guide (with information on how the virus spreads, precautions and symptoms), watch an expert debunk myths, and access our dedicated coronavirus page.

Watch India Today TV live here. Catch the latest TV debates and video reports here.