Divisions over the how to stem the spread of Covid-19 have caused an almighty row in America and President Trump is right in the middle of it.
Trump vs Cuomo
In New York State, more than 14,000 people have died from coronavirus and Governor, Andrew Cuomo, says widespread testing for the virus is vital.
“New York will not be able to reactivate its economy until it has the capacity to carry out massive tests, for which it needs help from the Federal Government,” said Cuomo.
That incensed the US President who immediately took to Twitter with a scathing reply.
“Get out there and do the job, stop talking!" he tweeted. "We built thousands of hospital beds that you did not need or use, we gave a large number of respirators that you should have had and we helped you with the tests that you should be doing,” said President Trump.
Trump supporters have hit the streets in several states demanding that the coronavirus restrictions be lifted immediately and it would appear that they have the support of the President who tweet several messages on Friday.
"Liberate Virginia, and save your great 2nd Amendment. "It is under siege", "Free Michigan" and "Free Minnesota,” he said.
More than 3,000 patients have died from coronavirus in Nursing Homes in New York State, 55 of them were at the Cobble Hill Health Centre, in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of New York.
There's political disagreement in Brazil too where Nelson Teich took over as Health Minister when the Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro sacked Luiz Henrique Mandetta after furious disagreements over coronavirus restrictions.
In Sao Paulo, where 928 fatalities and 12,841 people are infected, State Governor, Joao Doria, has extended the Covid-19 quarantine until May 10.
Debt relief
On Friday the UN called for debt relief for Latin America and the Caribbean saying the coronavirus crisis will cause the worst recession in history.
"We must do everything possible to avoid what could be a devastating debt crisis, with uncontrolled defaults; relieving devastating debts is absolutely crucial,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who also welcomed the G20's temporary suspension of debt service in the poorest countries until the end of 2020.
Updated impact in Ecuador
In Ecuador there’s been 421 fatalities and 8.450 confirmed infections but experts believe that the figures do not include probable deaths in the province of Guayas in April.
The capital, Guayaquil is the worst affect province by far with 5,777 cases of coronavirus, 68.4% of the total nationwide.
Another region of concern in Ecuador is the Galapagos Islands, where 78 people have tested positive for Covid-19.
Meanwhile the World Health Organisation has asked each affected country to review their figures for COVID-19 infections and deaths "as soon as possible" to find out the true extent of the disease.
"Sometimes it is difficult in an epidemic to identify all infections and deaths, especially if the health system is saturated, so I anticipate that many countries will have similar situations, in which they will have to review their statistics to see if they have identified all the cases,” said Maria van Kerkhove, head of the WHO Emerging Diseases Unit.
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