Britain Surpasses 10,000 Coronavirus deaths as Boris Johnson leaves hostipal

Britain Surpasses 10,000 Coronavirus Deaths as Boris Johnson Leaves Hospital; Pope Speaks of ‘Contagion of Hope’: Live Coverage

Lockdowns are beginning to lift in Europe, under intense debate. Israel’s prime minister and president are under fire for breaking their own lockdown rules.

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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected the resignation of Turkey’s interior minister, who took responsibility for an abruptly announced curfew over the weekend that set off panic buying.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Lockdowns in some European countries are shifting, but not without heated debate.
• Britain surpasses 10,000 deaths, and Boris Johnson is released from the hospital.
• Erdogan rejected the resignation of the minister who oversaw Turkey’s rushed lockdown.
• Saudi Arabia, Russia and others agree to slash oil production to balance falling demand caused by lockdowns.
• In a live-streamed Easter Mass, Pope Francis says the pandemic is ‘testing our whole human family.’
• Amid an exploding caseload in the U.S., Easter services take on many forms.
• Latest in science news: Researchers are studying the role of ‘superspreaders’ who infect many others.

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Empty streets in London this week. The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Britain has reached nearly 79,000.Credit...Andrew Testa for The New York Times

Erdogan rejected the resignation of the minister who oversaw Turkey’s rushed lockdown.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declined on Sunday to accept the resignation of Turkey’s interior minister, who offered it after taking responsibility for an abruptly announced curfew over the weekend that set off panic buying.

The minister, Sulyeman Soylu, announced his resignation late Sunday on Twitter, saying that he was responsible for implementing the lockdown. Within an hour, the president’s director of communications announced that Mr. Erdogan had refused to accept his resignation.

Mr. Soylu is one of the most powerful ministers of Mr. Erdogan’s cabinet, and his attempted resignation, following the removal of another minister two weeks ago, is an indication of the political fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

Confirmed cases have risen to more than 56,000 in Turkey’s population of 80 million, and deaths are at 1,198.

The lockdown for 31 provinces was announced just two hours before it went into force at midnight on Friday, sending thousands of citizens rushing to late-night stores to buy provisions, undoing the government’s efforts to encourage social distancing.

At the time, Mr. Soylu said the lockdown was ordered by the president, but on Sunday, he said, that the responsibility for “implementing the weekend curfew decision, which was aimed at preventing the epidemic, belongs entirely to me.”

Turkey had seemed to be controlling the spread of the virus better than some European nations, and Mr. Erdogan introduced gradual restrictions while keeping some businesses working. The country was suffering double-digit unemployment and inflation even before the pandemic began.

Mr. Erdogan has sought to reassure citizens that the government will manage the health and financial fallout of the pandemic, but complaints are rising that a government compensation plan is inadequate. Many casual laborers are without income, and thousands of workers are being laid off.

Saudi Arabia, Russia and others agree to slash oil production to balance falling demand caused by lockdowns.

Saudi Arabia, Russia and other oil-producing nations completed an agreement to slash production, aiming to bolster prices that collapsed when global demand cratered amid the pandemic.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia had reached a tentative agreement on Thursday. The final agreement will cut 9.7 million barrels a day.

The plan was delayed after the lone holdout, Mexico, stood firm on its position to cut 100,000 barrels a day and not the 400,000 barrels that Saudi Arabia had pushed for. The United States, Brazil and Canada promised to make up the 300,000-barrel-a-day difference.

The collapse in economic activity caused by the virus reduced demand by an estimated 30 million to 35 million barrels a day, according to international energy agencies and oil consultants. Analysts expect oil prices, which soared above $100 a barrel only six years ago, to remain below $40 for the foreseeable future.

Russia and Saudi Arabia — which only a month ago hoped to undercut American producers — have retreated from threats to pump more oil into the already-saturated market. President Trump had lobbied both countries to lower production.


https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/world/coronavirus-news.html