The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. Trump blasts WHO over China, UN agency has no response
By The Associated Press
The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.
TOP OF THE HOUR:
As United States, Europe reopen more, big nations see rising virus toll.
— European Union urges all nations to back World Health Organization.
— Russian prime minister returns to work after bout of coronavirus.
— Shakespeare’s Globe theater in London may be shuttered due to virus.
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BRUSSELS — The European Union is supporting the World Health Organization. The EU is urging all countries to back the U. N. agency after President Donald Trump threatened to permanently cut U. S. funding.
European Commission spokeswoman Virginie Battu-Henriksson says global cooperation is “the only effective and viable option to win this battle.”
She says “this is the time for solidarity. It is not the time for finger pointing or undermining multilateral cooperation.”
In a letter to WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Trump wrote the agency’s “repeated missteps” in its response to the pandemic have proven “very costly for the world.”
Trump’s threatened to cut U. S. WHO funding unless it commits to “substantive improvements” in the next 30 days.
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JAKARTA, Indonesia — This year celebration for the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan will be muted in Indonesia’s capital as authorities extended the enforceable restrictions.
Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan announced that a large-scale social restriction, initially slated to end Friday, will be extended to June 4.
He urged Muslims to suspend communal gathering, including religious activities in mosques, during Eid-al Fitr celebration because the risk of new waves of coronavirus remains high.
Eid-al Fitr is one of Islam’s two major religious holidays. It marks the end of Ramadan, the holiest month for Muslims, who fast from dawn to sunset. It’s expected to fall on May 24 after Islamic clerics agreed on the sighting of the moon.
Muslims usually congregate for Eid prayers in mosque and fields and share meals among communities while forgiving one another.
Jakarta has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in Indonesia. It recorded 6,155 confirmed cases with 470 deaths as of Tuesday. Nationwide, there’s been 18,496 cases and 1,221 deaths.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Long-haul carrier Etihad Airways says it has fired staff because of fewer flights during the coronavirus.
The Abu Dhabi-based, state-owned carrier says in a statement “it is clear the demand for travel in the near future will be significantly reduced and as a result we must make difficult decisions to ensure Etihad will weather this storm.”
The airline offered no figures for the number of employees let go. Etihad competes with Dubai-based Emirates and Qatar Airways for long-haul flights from East to West.
Since 2016, Etihad has lost a total of $5.62 billion after its failed strategy of aggressively buying stakes in airlines from Europe to Australia.
In February, Etihad announced it would sell 38 aircraft to an investment firm and a leasing company in a deal valued at $1 billion.
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MOSCOW — Russia’s prime minister has fully resumed his duties after recovering from the coronavirus.
Mikhail Mishustin, 54, announced he was infected on April 30.
On Tuesday, Mishustin’s office says he’s checked out of the hospital and returned to his duties in the Cabinet headquarters. He’s set to take part in a video conference with President Vladimir Putin later in the day.
Several Cabinet ministers and Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov also have been infected. Peskov says he had double pneumonia caused by the virus. He noted he hadn’t met with Putin in person for more than a month.
Putin has limited public appearances and held most of his meetings online during the virus pandemic.
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LONDON — Shakespeare’s Globe theater, one of London’s major tourist attractions, says it could be forced to close because of the coronavirus pandemic.
All of Britain’s theaters have been shut since March, when the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the virus.
While some venues receive government subsidy, the Globe gets 95% of its revenue from ticket sales. The theater says the blow from the pandemic “has been financially devastating and could even be terminal.
