Coronavirus live update: Vietnam goes three straight days without new infection

Coronavirus today update April 19 sees Japan medical facilities are on the verge of collapsion with a surging addition of COVID-19 patients. Meanwhile in Vietnam, the Health Ministry confirmed no new infection for three consecutive days, keeping total count at 268.

Jasmine Le

April 19, 2020 | 07:58

	International press says: Vietnam poised to be big post-pandemic winner
	Coronavirus updates in US and Canada: Trump tweets support for anti-lockdown protests, Ontario reports highest new case in Canada
	Overcoming obstacles due to COVID-19, Vinamilk exports first batch of condensed milk to China

coronavirus live update vietnam goes three straight days without new infection

The US has been seeing a surge in new infections and deaths for days (Photo: AS)

Coronavirus today updates: The US

As of April 18, the US is still the No.1 country worldwide with the highest number of infections, 710,272 cases – nearly four times higher than Spain, the second hardest-hit country. The addition of new infections in the country has been surging for days, with some 30,000 cases.

Meanwhile, its death tolls stand at 37,175.

New York is the No.1 state with the highest number of infections, over 223,699 cases in total, which has surpassed Spain, the second worst-hit country in the world and 15,406deaths. New Jersey is the second state to be affected most from the virus, followed by Connecticut, Louisiana, Michigan, Massachusetts.

Trump tweets support for anti-lockdown protests

After saying governors would decide when to reopen, Trump urges supporters to 'LIBERATE' some states led by Democrats, Al Jazeera reported.

In a provocative series of tweets on Friday, United States President Donald Trump appeared to support protest movements popping up around the country calling for an immediate end to the lockdowns imposed on Americans in an order to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump began his tirade with a call to "LIBERATE MINNESOTA". He quickly followed with two more missives calling for similar action in Michigan and Virginia. All three states are currently headed by Democratic governors, and Michigan is considered crucial to the president's re-election bid in the November general election.

The tweets - which were posted just moments after a report on Fox News Channel about the protests - marked a reversal from Trump's tone on Thursday, when he said he would defer to state governors about when and how quickly to remove the quarantine orders. When asked about the protests on Thursday, Trump said he sided with the governors.

Responding to Trump's tweets, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, accused the president of encouraging "illegal and dangerous acts".

Coronavirus today update: Canada

31,927 infections, 1,310 fatalities reported. The country sees 10,543 have recovered, meanwhile, 20,074 are still active, 557 in critical condition.

Ontario and Quebec reported the most new cases of the novel coronavirus in Canada, with Ontario seeing its largest single-day increase since the outbreak began.

Spain: death toll surpasses 20,000

The number of people who have died after contracting COVID-19 rose by 565 on Saturday to reach 20,043. This marked a smaller daily increase than on Friday, when the government said 585 more people had died, according to Independent.

More than 191,700 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the country to date, according to Saturday’s figures. The number of confirmed infections is up from 188,068.

Coronavirus today update: The UK sees an increase of 5,525 new cases within 24 hours, total infections thus raised to 114,217, making it the 6^th worst-hit country in global list. 15,464 patients have died, meanwhile, 85,400 have recovered.

The UK care home COVID-19 deaths 'maybe five times government estimate'

Care England, Britain’s largest representative body for care homes, told the Daily Telegraph that up to 7,500 care home residents may have died of the virus.

This is significantly higher than the figure of 1,400 people estimated to have died by the government earlier this week.

The figure is also significantly higher than the 217 care home deaths recorded in the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which runs up to 3 April.

The official death toll in Britain topped 15,464 on Saturday, but this only includes data recorded in hospitals. This data can take some days to register and does not include deaths in the community, such as those occurring in care homes.

Public Health England said there were 3,084 care homes with COVID-19 outbreaks in England, as of 15 April.

The UK care home COVID-19 deaths 'maybe five times government estimate' (Photo: Getty Images)

Coronavirus today updates: Russia

The federal service for surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well being (Rospotrebnadzor) April 18 said it recorded an additional 4,785 nCoV infections, 40 deaths, bringing the total number of infections and deaths to 36,793 and 313, respectively.

This is the highest one-day increase in Russia since the outbreak begins in Russia. The Moscow epidemic alone recorded 2,649 nCoV infections and 21 deaths.

Russian President Putin today asked the government to make a daily forecast of the number of potential COVID-19 patients in the country.

nCoV infections in Russia increased sharply since April, although in the early stages of the outbreak, the country reported fewer cases than many Western European countries. Like many other countries, Russian health authorities do not conduct mass tests but only prioritize cases with severe signs.

Test results in Moscow show reveal an increasing number of asymptomatic cases, meaning the number of infected people may be more than the official statistics, according to Moscow Times.

Coronavirus today update: Japan

New wave of infections threatens to collapse Japan hospitals

According to CNBC, hospitals in Japan are increasingly turning away sick people as the country struggles with surging coronavirus infections and its emergency medical system collapses.

The Japanese Association for Acute Medicine and the Japanese Society for Emergency Medicine say many hospital emergency rooms are refusing to treat people including those suffering strokes, heart attacks and external injuries.

The outbreak has highlighted underlying weaknesses in medical care in Japan, which has long been praised for its high-quality insurance system and reasonable costs.

Apart from a general unwillingness to embrace social distancing, experts fault government incompetence and a widespread shortage of the protective gear and equipment medical workers need to do their jobs.

Hospitals in Japan are threatened to collapse (Photo: Bloomberg)

Coronavirus today updates: South East Asia has over 27,000 infections reported, Singapore sees record new infections

ASEAN countries report a total of top 27.013 nCoV patients, an increase of 1.569 cases within 24 hours. 1,084 lives have been claimed.

On April 19, Indonesia has taken over the Philippines’ first place to become the hardest-hit nation in the region by the novel virus. The country reported more 325 new cases within 24 hours, and currently has the highest number of infections. Its total infections stand at 6,248 while death tolls is 535.

The Philippines ranks second after four consecutive days stand in the first place. It has 6,078 cases, 397 deaths, an increase of 209 and 10 cases respectively.

Malaysia has 54 new cases, the lowest since its government issues the nationwide lockdown since March 18. The country, which used to be the biggest epicenter of ASEAN, now has 5,305 cases, 88 deaths, only 2 more deaths reported within 24 hours.

Singapore reports 5,992 cases, with 942 new cases, the biggest increase in the region today. Thailand reports 2,733.

Vietnam, Brunei, and Campuchia are the three ASEAN countries with three-figures cases, which are 268, 136, 122 respectively, all three report no new infection in three consecutive days.

Timor-Leste has 18 infections in total, the lowest in the region, no death reported.

Regarding death tolls, Indonesia still has the highest (535), the Philipines (397), Malaysia (88), Thailand (47), Singapore (11).

Four countries with no deaths reported since the outbreak are Vietnam, Campuchia, Laos, and Timor-Leste.

Medics in Vietnam in protective gears (Photo: International News)

Coronavirus today updates: Vietnam keeps COVID-19 slate clean for three consecutive days

The Health Ministry confirmed Saturday evening that Vietnam has no new confirmed COVID-19 infection, keeping the national count at 268.

Of these, 201 have been discharged and 67 are active patients.

Among those being treated at Vietnamese hospitals, five patients have tested negative twice and 14 have done so once.

Nearly 63,000 people are being quarantined in Vietnam – 279 in hospitals specialized for COVID-19 treatment, over 11,300 at centralized facilities and the rest at home.

Of the total number of infections in the country, around 40 percent were transmitted within the community while the other patients contracted the virus overseas.