All efforts to address coronavirus in Syria impeded by fragile health system, senior UN official warns UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock warned the Security Council on Monday that the 10 cases of Covid-19 and one death confirmed in Syria are just the tip of the iceberg, and judging from other countries a devastating impact can be expected on vulnerable communities. Lowcock said: “All efforts to prevent, detect and respond to Covid-19 are impeded by Syria’s fragile health system,” noting only around half of the country’s hospitals and primary health care facilities were fully functional at the end of 2019. He said efforts to prevent and combat the virus are also are face the challenges of population movement, obtaining critical supplies including protective equipment and ventilators, and difficulties of isolating in crowded camps for the displaced with “low levels of sanitation services.” In these extraordinary times, the Guardian’s editorial independence has never been more important. Because no one sets our agenda, or edits our editor, we can keep delivering quality, trustworthy, fact-checked journalism each and every day. Free from commercial or political bias, we can report fearlessly on world events and challenge those in power. Your support protects the Guardian’s independence. We believe every one of us deserves equal access to accurate news and calm explanation. No matter how unpredictable the future feels, we will remain with you, delivering high quality news so we can all make critical decisions about our lives, health and security – based on fact, not fiction. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you. Make a contribution - The Guardian In Colombia, the police have come up with a novel way to dissuade people from leaving their homes. An empty coffin, decorated with flowers and and a the word “Coronavirus” in gold lettering, driven around in a hearse: A hearse drives along a street as part of a campaign, carried out by the Colombian National Police and the San Vicente funeral home, calling for residents to stay home, in Medellin, Colombia, 29 March 2020. Photograph: Luis Eduardo Noriega/EPA A hearse drives along a street as part of a campaign, carried out by the Colombian National Police and the San Vicente funeral home, calling for residents to stay home, in Medellin, Colombia, 29 March 2020. Photograph: Luis Eduardo Noriega/EPA The coronavirus pandemic is having an impact on abortions. In Australia, travel restrictions and isolation requirements due to Covid-19 have left doctors unable to fly interstate to perform later gestation abortions, prompting an urgent call for assistance. The travel restrictions had especially affected a later gestation clinic in Victoria, which provides services to women whose lives may be at risk by continuing with the pregnancy or in cases of severe foetal abnormalities, according to the national not-for-profit sexual and reproductive health organisation Marie Stopes. The doctors can not afford to quarantine when they get back to South Australia as they also provide services in their home state. They are trained provide the service up to 24 weeks’ gestation. There are very limited numbers of specialised doctors who can provide these terminations, making it hard for clinics to fill the gap with other staff. In Australia, abortion is largely classified to be an elective or semi-elective procedure. While non-urgent elective surgeries have been cancelled to increase capacity for Covid-19 patients, critical gynaecological procedures, including abortion, are classified as essential and urgent. But there are other challenges to access. In the US, there is some hope, as providers in the states of Ohio and Texas are granted temporary relief. In Texas, a federal district judge granted abortion providers a temporary restraining, allowing them to continue through April 13, after attorney general Ken Paxton sought to ban abortion access during the coronavirus pandemic, saying it did not qualify as “essential” health care. In Ohio, a judge struck down a similar policy put forth by the state’s health department. “Patients will suffer serious and irreparable harm,” said Judge Lee Yeakel of the Western District of Texas. Only the Supreme Court has the power to decide whether a ban on abortions during a national crisis is constitutional, Yeakel said. Women’s health advocates are seeking similar rulings in Oklahoma, Iowa, and Alabama, which have also sought to restrict abortion access amid the pandemic. In Italy, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, Pope Francis’ vicar for the archdiocese of Rome, on Monday became the highest-ranking Catholic official known to test positive for coronavirus. De Donatis’ office said he was tested for the virus after feeling unwell and was admitted to a Rome hospital. His closest aides had gone into voluntary quarantine as a precaution, a statement said. A pope is also the bishop of Rome but appoints someone to act as his vicar to administrate the vast archdiocese. De Donatis, 66, is not believed to have had personal contact with Pope Francis recently. The Vatican said on Saturday that the pope and his closest aides did not have the virus. Coronavirus has killed 11,591 people in Italy, about a third of the deaths around the world. Bangladesh garment manufacturers say fashion retailers have cancelled or put on hold more than US$3bn in orders due to the coronavirus outbreak, though a handful have agreed to pay anyway, AP reports. The data from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association released Monday reflected both orders already made or in the works and planned orders from the country, which is the world’s second largest exporter of clothing after China. The cancelled orders, according to reports to the BGMEA from manufacturers, included tens of millions in purchases from many big buyers, including European buyers C&A and Inditex, Primark of Ireland and Britain’s Marks & Spencer. A survey of factory owners in Bangladesh released Friday showed millions of Bangladesh factory workers being sent home without the wages or severance pay they are owed. The BGMEA reported that $1.8bn in orders have been put on hold and another $1.4bn have been cancelled. Cancellations of planned orders, for April-December, amounted to nearly $1.7bn, it said. The figures are conservative because they exclude orders that would go to multiple buyers. Sweden’s H&M has said it was pausing new orders and reevaluating plans but will pay suppliers and take delivery of orders already under production or already made, according to terms already agreed on. And below are some of the US president’s most misleading claims about the pandemic, including around testing, from my colleague Oliver Milman. The scary question is: If the US has not done a lot of testing and the numbers are still this high, what are the real numbers? “Without basis, Trump has claimed the US has done an excellent job in testing people for the coronavirus. As early as January, the president said the situation was ‘totally under control’. Just six weeks later the US had emerged as the new global center of the pandemic. “In reality, healthcare providers faced a severe shortage of testing kits as coronavirus hit the US, with the situation exacerbated by faults in the testing system and restrictions on who could actually take a test. A big disparity opened up whereby rich or famous people were able to get tests while others struggled to do so.” US cases are double those in China The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the US is almost double those in China, where the outbreak began, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University. The US has 160,020 cases and China has 82,198. Italy, while still 60,000 behind the US, has become the second country to record over 100,000 cases, with 101,739. Spain, with the third-highest number of cases, has 85,195. The first comprehensive study of Covid-19 deaths and hospitalisations in mainland China has revealed in stark detail the increase in risk for coronavirus patients once they reach middle age. The analysis found that while the overall death rate for confirmed cases was 1.38%, the rate rose sharply with age – from 0.0016% in the under 10s, to 7.8% in 80s and over. The study showed only 0.04% of 10 to 19-year-olds required hospital care compared with more than 18% of those in their 80s and above. Dramatic rises were seen among middle-aged groups too, with 4% of people in their 40s needing hospital treatment and more than 8% of patients in their 50s. Hello and welcome to today’s live coronavirus coverage. As the world passes another sombre milestone, with more than three quarters of a million confirmed coronavirus cases, the gap between cases in the US and other countries is growing, with 160,000 cases. Italy has passed 100,000 cases, Spain has over 85,000 and China has 82,198. I’ll be taking you through the latest developments for the next few hours. Please do reach out to me with news, tips or questions on Twitter @helenrsullivan. New coronavirus study reveals increased risks from middle age. The first comprehensive study of Covid-19 deaths and hospitalisations in mainland China has revealed in stark detail the increase in risk for coronavirus patients once they reach middle age. France sees its worst daily death toll. French health authorities have reported 418 new deaths, taking the total to 3,024 or an increase of 16%. The country has become the fourth to cross the 3,000 fatalities threshold after China, Italy, and Spain. Global cases pass three quarters of a million. Johns Hopkins University researchers, who have been keeping track of the spread of the virus, say the global number of cases is now at least 755,591. Global death toll passes 37,000. According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, at least 37,140 people have now died as a result of the outbreak. The institution says it has counted 745,308 confirmed cases worldwide, while at least 156,875 people have recovered. Italy records hundreds more deaths – but a slower infection rate. The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has climbed by 812 to 11,591, the country’s civil protection agency says, reversing two days of declines in the daily rate. But the number of new cases rose by just 4,050; the lowest nominal increase since 17 March. A total 101,739 people have now tested positive. Virus poses ‘existential threat’ to South America’s indigenous communities. Indigenous leaders from across the continent are warning that the outbreak poses an “existential threat” to them. Tribes in the Amazon and Chaco regions are urging governments to ensure their territories are protected against outsiders possibly carrying the coronavirus. Tens of thousands of people stranded abroad will be flown back to the UK by airlines including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Titan Airways on chartered planes as part of a partnership between the government and private enterprise announced by the country’s foreign secretary, Dominic Raab. Israeli prime minister in self-isolation. Benjamin Netanyahu and his key advisers isolate themselves after one of the prime minister’s aides tested positive for the coronavirus. Concerns over powers secured by Hungary’s nationalist PM. Viktor Orbán secures sweeping new powers to fight the outbreak. The country’s parliament passed a law submitted by his government handing Orbán an open-ended mandate, triggering criticism by the domestic opposition, human rights groups and the Council of Europe, Europe’s main rights forum, as it contains no clear timeframe. Dubai’s Expo 2020 to be postponed. The six-month multibillion-dollar trade fair that organisers had hoped would attract 25 million visitors will not go ahead as scheduled in October. Dubai was pinning many of its economic forecasts on the trade it was expected to generate. Austria makes face masks compulsory for shoppers. Introducing the requirement is a “necessary step” to help to prevent the airborne transmission of the virus, says the Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz. Shoppers are to be handed masks covering their mouthes and noses at the entrance of supermarkets from Wednesday.