Juneteenth: Trump changes Tulsa Oklahoma rally date 'out of respect'

US President Donald Trump is postponing his first post-coronavirus lockdown election rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma so it does not fall on a holiday commemorating the end of US slavery.

He tweeted that the 19 June rally would be held a day later out of respect for the occasion, known as Juneteenth.

The choice of date had drawn criticism amid nationwide anti-racism protests.

The location was also controversial, as Tulsa saw one of the worst massacres of black people in US history in 1921.

Up to 300 people died when a white mob attacked the prosperous black neighbourhood of Greenwood, known as the "Black Wall Street", with guns and explosives. About 1,000 businesses and homes were also 

Why is Juneteenth significant?

Juneteenth is not a federal holiday, but is widely celebrated by African Americans.

It celebrates the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation to enslaved African Americans in Texas.

Texas was the last state of the Confederacy - the slaveholding southern states that seceded, triggering the Civil War - to receive the proclamation, on 19 June 1865, months after the end of the war

President Trump initially defended the timing of his rally, telling Fox News: "Think about it as a celebration. My rally is a celebration. In the history of politics, I think I can say there's never been any group or any person that's had rallies like I do."

But critics accused him of disrespecting the date and the significance of Tulsa to US history.

"This isn't just a wink to white supremacists - he's throwing them a welcome home party," said Democratic Senator Kamala Harris 

Explaining the decision to move his rally, Mr Trump tweeted: "Many of my African American friends and supporters have reached out to suggest that we consider changing the date out of respect for this Holiday, and in observance of this important occasion and all that it represents. I have therefore decided to move our rally to Saturday, June 20th, in order to honor their requests..."

America Great Again" rally in Tulsa will be the president's first campaign event since 2 March, when the coronavirus pandemic put a halt to mass gatherings.

Mr Trump is seeking re-election in November 2020, but polls show him lagging behind his Democratic rival, Joe Biden.

Campaign rallies are seen as a key method of energising his base, and Oklahoma is traditionally a Republican-voting state. 

event will proceed against a backdrop of ongoing protests against racial inequality and police brutality, triggered by the death of African American man George Floyd on 25 May. Mr Floyd, who was unarmed, died in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota after a policeman knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.

The rally is being held in a 19,000-seat indoor arena, and concerns have been raised about the potential risks.

The US has the world's highest official death toll from coronavirus. More than 114,600 people have died there with the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, and there have been more than two million confirmed infections.

Oklahoma has one of the country's lowest infection rates, and businesses are reopening - but the state's Governor Kevin Stitt has urged residents to keep social distancing and to "minimise time spent in crowded environments".

People buying tickets for the Tulsa rally online have to click on a waiver confirming that they "voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to Covid-19" and will not hold the president's campaign responsible for "any illness or injury".

Correspondents say that while the virus remains a threat, Mr Trump's campaign considers that large crowds at the recent protests will make it harder for his opponents to criticise his rallies.

The president has said he plans to hold further events in Florida, Texas, North Carolina and 

Is Donald Trump's re-election bid in peril?

Polls indicate that the president is trailing Joe Biden - by double digits in some surveys. A recent Economist magazine analysis gives Biden a five in six chance of winning by an electoral margin reminiscent of Barack Obama's comfortable win in 2008.

Trump is running with the same strategy as in 2016, but his struggles suggest that this year the national mood may be different. The American public, grappling with more than 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic, a resulting economic slump and now nationwide protests about racial injustice and policing, may have no stomach for further confrontation. The president's bellicosity and bravado, which has served him in the past, at times seems out of step with a public that wants empathy, healing and reconciliation.

The president is touting "law and order" at a time when public opinion has dramatically shifted in favour of the Black Lives Matter movement and toward the belief that racial and ethnic discrimination is a real problem that will be a priority when voting in November.

relationship with President Buhari, IBB’s families

One of the sons of Nigeria’s late Head of State, Sani Abacha, Sadiq, has disclosed how the family relates with President Muhammadu Buhari.

Sadiq said his family relates fine with President Buhari’s family.

Speaking with BBC Hausa service on Wednesday, the son of the late dictator said his family also relates well with that of ex-Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida, IBB.

He also lamented that most of his father’s friends abandoned them after his demise.

According to Sadique: “We relate well with the Babangida family.

“Our present relationship with some of our late father’s friends is surprising. We exchange pleasantries with the family of General Babangida. We are in good terms.

READ ALSO : Gov Oyetola’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Adebisi is dead: Police officer regains freedom

“It is only with members of the Babangida family that whenever we meet, we associate and share stories.

“We also relate well with family members of President Muhammadu Buhari. But it’s only with the Babangida’s family that we recall the past.”

Gov Oyetola’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Adebisi is dead

Governor Gboyega Oyetola’s Deputy Chief of Staff on General Administration, Barrister Mikhail Adejare Adebisi, is dead.

DAILY POST gathered that  Adebisi died at an undisclosed hospital in Lagos State after a long illness.

The deceased, from Irepodun Local Government, died less than a year after he was inaugurated into office.

Details later….

Democracy Day: I have recorded notable achievements, Buhari boasts

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Friday assessed his regime as the nation commemorates Democracy Day and returned a verdict that he has recorded “notable achievements.”

Buhari made the declaration in his nationwide broadcast to the nation.

The President said, “We have recorded notable achievements in the course of implementing our nine priority objectives and are establishing a solid foundation for future success.

“On the economic front, our objectives have remained to stabilise the macroeconomy, achieve agricultural and food security, ensure energy sufficiency in power and petroleum products, develop infrastructure, fight corruption and improve governance.

“We have witnessed eleven quarters of consecutive GDP growth since exiting recession. The GDP grew from 1.91% in 2018 to 2.27% in 2019 but declined to 1.87% in the first quarter of 2020 as a result of the decline in global economic activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

UK economy shrinks record 20.4% in April due to lockdown

2009 economic downturn.

But analysts said April was likely to be the worst month, as the government began easing the lockdown in May.

The ONS also published figures for the three months from February to April, which showed a decline of 10.4% compared with the previous three-month period.

"April's fall in GDP is the biggest the UK has ever seen, more than three times larger than last month and almost 10 times larger than the steepest pre-Covid-19 fall," said Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician for economic statistics at the ONS.

"In April, the economy was around 25% smaller than in February.

What is GDP and how is it measured?

What is a recession?

"Virtually all areas of the economy were hit, with pubs, education, health and car sales all giving the biggest contributions to this historic fall."

Carmakers and housebuilders were particularly badly hit, Mr Athow added.

However, he told the BBC's Today programme: "It's highly likely April will be the low point.

"Our own surveys and wider indicators have suggested a pick-up in economy activity, but I think it's really too early to know how quickly economic activity will recover in the coming months."

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: "In line with many other economies around the world, coronavirus is having a severe impact on our economy.

"The lifelines we've provided with our furlough scheme, grants, loans and tax cuts have protected thousands of businesses and millions of jobs - giving us the best chance of recovering quickly as the economy reopens.

"We've set out our plan to gradually and safely reopen the economy. Next week, more shops on the High Street will be able to open again as we start to get our lives a little bit more back to normal."

A fifth of the economy lost in the month of April, a quarter since lockdown began.

These numbers are not just records for a month, they are completely off the scale.

And yet at the same time, it's not entirely surprising that if the lifeblood of an economy is locked down that the hit should be so severe.

Empty streets, empty shops, empty offices and empty skies lead to numbers such as this.

The charts make the financial crisis of 2008-09 look like a blip.

The ONS numbers add to the pressure to ease the lockdown more quickly, but fears around the control of the disease have led to a step-by-step cautious approach.

There is some pressure on the Treasury to consider similar economic rescue packages to those made across Europe.

Germany, for example, has cut VAT and offered billions in a package to help families with children and purchasers of green cars. France is offering huge rescue funds to the car and aerospace industry.

The unprecedented jobs schemes here will help to protect livelihoods. But with this scale of hit, it will not be enough.

Deep recession

During the global financial crisis, from the peak in February 2008 to the lowest point of March 2009, a total of 13 months, GDP shrank by 6.9%.

April's unprecedented contraction is three times that.

The UK's economy was already shrinking even before April.

It contracted by 2% in the first three months of 2020, as just a few days of impact from the virus pushed it into decline.

Economists expect an even bigger slump in the April-to-June period, plunging the country into a deep recession.

"Given the lockdown started to be eased in May, April will mark the trough in GDP. So we are past the worst," said Andrew Wishart, UK economist at Capital Economics.

"But the recovery will be a drawn-out affair, as restrictions are only lifted gradually and businesses and consumers continue to exercise caution.

"And while the trough in activity is now behind us, the fiscal cost of the collapse and the rise in the unemployment rate to over 8% that will result are only just starting to emerge."

Tej Parikh, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, said coronavirus had caused "unparalleled" economic turmoil which was "likely to scar the UK economy for some time yet".

"Having provided businesses life support, the government must now figure out how to stimulate activity," he added.

"Waiting until later in the year to act will risk more businesses and jobs will be lost."

Coronavirus: Fracas on Brazil's Copacabana over Covid-19 'graves'

Activists angry at Brazil's response to Covid-19 have created 100 graves on Rio's Copacabana beach to remember the country's nearly 40,000 victims.

However, organisers said supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro had mocked the event with one man pulling out crosses.

The president's opposition to lockdowns and his downplaying of the virus have deeply divided the nation.

Brazil has the world's second-highest number of cases - and the third-highest number of deaths in the world.

Brazil's domestic workers cut adrift in pandemic

In pictures: Indigenous nurse on frontline in virus fight

'Our biggest problem is fake news'

The symbolic graves, with black crosses, were dug before dawn opposite the Copacabana Hotel by members of the Rio de Paz group.

Organiser Antonio Carlos Costa told Reuters news agency: "The president has not realised that this is one of the most dramatic crises in Brazil's history.

"Families are mourning thousands of dead, and there is unemployment and hunger."

But he said some supporters of the president had mocked the project.

"They feel such rage - and I think they're reproducing the behaviour of the person occupying the highest position in the land," he said.

One man went around knocking down the crosses.

Only the US has more confirmed Covid-19 cases than Brazil figures from Johns Hopkins University show.

Brazil has the third-worst figure on deaths, now at 40,919 according to latest health ministry release, and this is expected to pass the UK's number soon.

Fears of second coronavirus outbreak hit global shares

Financial markets have tumbled amid fears that an uptick in coronavirus cases will hurt the economic recovery.

The global declines came a day after America's central bank warned the US faced a long road to economic recovery.

In the US, the three main financial indexes saw their worst day in weeks, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down almost 7%.

The falls followed a weeks-long rally that had helped shares recover some ground from March lows.

Energy and travel stocks were among the biggest losers, as oil prices also took a hit.

Earlier, European and Asian shares also dropped, with the UK's FTSE 100 sinking about 4%. In Germany, the Dax fell 4.4%, while in France the CAC 40 ended 4.4% lower.

"Government, companies and people would be better prepared for a second wave than for the first one," said Roland Kaloyan, European equity strategist at Societe Generale.

"But the problem is there is a limit to governments injecting money."

Slow recovery

Share prices had gained amid hopes that the economy would rebound as authorities loosened the controls put in place to try to slow the spread of the virus.

Last week's surprise report showing US employers had restarted hiring in May helped to push the Nasdaq index to new highs.

But the recovery remains tentative. On Thursday, the US Labor Department reported that another 1.5 million people had filed new unemployment claims last week. More than 30 million continue to collect the benefits, it said.

US Federal Reserve policymakers said on Wednesday that the unemployment rate could remain above 9% at the end of the year - close to the worst level of the financial crisis,

At his press conference, Fed chairman Jerome Powell warned that assessment may prove optimistic, should infection and hospitalisation rates rise.

Several states that have moved to reopen, including Arizona and South Carolina, have seen an uptick in cases in recent days.

"It could hurt the recovery, even if you don't have a national level pandemic. Just a series of local ones, of local spikes, could have the effect of undermining people's confidence in travelling, in restaurants and in entertainment," he said. "It would not be a positive development."

The Dow dropped 1,861.8 points or 6.9% to end at 25,128, while the S&P 500 slid 188 points or 5.9% to 3,002.1. The Nasdaq closed 527.6 points lower or 5.2% at 9,492.7.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he did not want to see a return of the lockdowns that kept the world's largest economy frozen for weeks this spring.

But economists have warned that people will stay home voluntarily if they are afraid of becoming ill.

June 12: Nigeria must be restructured to federating units – Gani Adams explodes

To free Nigerians from “bondage”, Nigeria must be restructured into federating units.

This is according to the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, in a statement sent to DAILY POST on Thursday in commemoration of the June 12, 1993, anniversary.

He expressed joy that part of the dreams of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), has been realized with the official naming of June 12 as the Democracy Day.

Adams, however, regretted that despite the sacrifices of the activists and pro-democracy groups, democracy is yet to take its root in Nigeria.

He stated that Nigeria can only get it right with true federalism, pointing out that the only way out of the political logjam is to let the federating states develop at their own pace.

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Adams noted that when federating units are allowed to develop at their own pace, there will be mutual benefits and progress.

He said the issue of security and state police would be taken care of without fear or favour.

“The kind of democracy we fought for during the June 12 struggle. It is far different from what we are seeing now. The struggle for the actualisation of the mandate given freely to the late M.K.O. Abiola in a free and fair election then was a long, hard battle to survive the military onslaughts”

“Those of us alive today still remember those moments with a lot of regrets, and surprises. We think of how we were able to survive those trying periods. The journey for this democracy has been tortuous. Today, our democracy is at best, one step forward and five steps backward. But in all, we thank God that we are alive to tell the story.

“We got it wrong right from the outset. We got it wrong with leadership. Nigeria has been crippled by bad leadership. This has always been our problem. All our leaders have lost touch with the people at the grassroots, that is why we must continue to press for justice until we get the best for Nigeria and Nigerians.”

Adams added that the lesson of the June 12 election is for a lifetime for everybody, stressing that no matter how long the long arm of lies persists, the truth will one day prevail.

Coronavirus yet to reach its peak – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has warned that that the coronavirus pandemic is yet to reach its peak

Buhari warned against laxity in the fight against the pandemic and charged the ECOWAS Commission to come up with an economic recovery plan to help member-states to recover from COVID-19 shock.

He spoke on Thursday at a virtual meeting with the President of the Commission, Jean Kassi-Brou.

Buhari promised to provide logistic support to enable the sub-region receive and distribute procured and donated medical equipment using Abuja as the hub for the distribution.

The Nigerian leader expressed ECOWAS appreciation for the “swift interventions made to the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) and the Africa Centre for Disease Control by the Jack Ma Foundation.”

He commended development partners such as the European Union, African Development Bank, France and Germany for their “financial contributions in the procurement of medical supplies.”

Speaking, Kassi-Brou advocated additional strategies to assist the sub-region in fighting the health and economic impact of COVID-19.

He listed them as advocacy at continental and global levels including the G20, World Bank, United Nations and the African Development Bank, to get their support to negate the health and economic damage to the ECOWAS sub-region.

England test and trace system identifies 31,000 contacts

More than 31,000 close contacts were identified during the first week of the test and trace system in England, figures show.

Of those, 85% were reached in 24 hours and asked to self-isolate for 14 days.

This was from 8,000 people testing positive for coronavirus - two-thirds of whom provided details of their close contacts.

Around 25,000 contact tracers were recruited in England and started work at the end of May.

The NHS figures, which cover 28 May to 3 June, are the first to be released showing the progress of the contact tracing scheme.

'More to do'

Baroness Dido Harding, who runs NHS Test and Trace in England, said there was still "more to do to improve the speed" of the system but she said "the vast majority of people are participating and playing their part".

"I want to say thank you to people for protecting themselves and their communities," she added.

The system has been unable to reach 15% of close contacts, either because they were unavailable, their contact details were wrong or they did not respond to texts, emails or calls from contact tracers.

They are told to try calling 10 times in a 24-hour period.

Some who were reached did not agree to self-isolate.

But Baroness Harding said there had been "good numbers of compliance".

As lockdown eases, and people start to return to work and go out to shops, it's expected the number of contacts people have will start to grow from a low starting point.

Does this represent a good start?

The data from the test and trace system in England has been eagerly anticipated - after all, this system will be crucial in helping contain local outbreaks, enabling the country to ease out of lockdown.

It is still early days, but how should we interpret these findings?

Firstly, the system seems to be pretty good at reaching the contacts of people who have tested positive, if those positive cases engage with the contact tracers and provide details in the first place.

The problem is a third of people who test positive are not providing details.

This could be because the contact tracers are not as good as they should be at tracking those who do not engage with the online forms (the first point of call for the system).

There have been suggestions that sufficient translation support is not always available, for example.

But incorrect contact details being provided and people simply refusing to take calls - despite repeated attempts - are certainly factors too.

The key to the success of the system will be both an efficient service and public engagement in taking calls and following the advice to self-isolate.

What is test and trace?

It's a way of controlling the spread of the virus by asking people who have tested positive for coronavirus to share information on who they have been in close contact with.

It starts with getting a test if you have symptoms.

If you test positive for the virus, tracers will text, email or call you and ask you to log on to the NHS Test and Trace website to provide details of contacts.

Close contacts will then be told to stay at home for 14 days, even if they don't have symptoms.

This process is organised slightly differently around the UK.

What happens around the UK?

In Scotland, the system is called NHS Test and Protect, Between 28 May and 7 June 2020, 741 contacts were traced from 681 positive tests for the virus - an average of 1.5 contacts per case.

Northern Ireland was the first part of the UK to bring in contact tracing.

Contact tracing started in Wales on 1 June and is called 'test, trace, protect'.

Coronavirus: Ministers consider NHS contact-tracing app rethink

Concerns about the risks of deploying a go-it-alone UK coronavirus contact-tracing app are causing further delays.

A second version of the smartphone software was due to have begun testing on the Isle of Wight on Tuesday, but the government decided to postpone the trial.

Ministers are considering switching the app over to tech developed by Apple and Google.

But countries testing that model are experiencing issues of their own.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock had originally said the NHS Covid-19 app was to be launched across England - and possibly other parts of the UK - by 1 June.

But he subsequently said the government had decided it would be better to establish a network of human contract tracers first.

However, the BBC has discovered that one of the main reasons the initiative is running behind schedule is that developers are having problems using Bluetooth as a means to estimate distance.

Even so, they still believe they are better placed to tackle the challenge than counterparts overseas who are working under constraints imposed by the two US tech firms.

Bluetooth handshakes

Contact-tracing apps are designed to prevent a second wave of infections by keeping a log of when two people are in close proximity to each other and for how long.

If one of the users later tests positive for the disease, the records are used to determine how likely it is they infected the other. If required, an alert is triggered to help prevent the further spread of the virus.

The UK has adopted what is known as a "centralised" approach, meaning that the contact-matching process is carried out on a remote computer server. One benefit is it offers epidemiologists more data to tackle the pandemic. France and India are other countries to have adopted this model.

By contrast, Apple and Google's "decentralised" approach carries out the matches on the handsets themselves, on the grounds this better protects users' privacy.

Poland switched its app from a centralised to decentralised approach on Tuesday. Switzerland, Ireland, Germany, Italy and Latvia are among others to have adopted the tech giants' design.

Both systems rely on Bluetooth "handshakes" to work.

Number 10 is concerned that iPhones will not always detect each other because of a restriction Apple has imposed on apps that do not adopt its model.

But the UK team has devised a workaround and is more concerned about other limitations of using Bluetooth.

Train trouble

Some of these issues were outlined in a study published by Trinity College Dublin last month.

It highlighted problems with using received Bluetooth signal strength as a means to estimate distance.

Researchers warned signal strength "can vary substantially" depending on:

• how deeply a handset is placed in a bag
• whether the signal has to pass through a human body to reach the other phone
• if the two people are walking side-by-side or one behind the other
• if the devices are indoors rather than outdoors
• whether the smartphone is surrounded by metal objects

The report highlighted troubling results when Singapore's TraceTogether app was tested.

An experiment within a stationary train carriage found that when users moved from a distance of 3.5m (11.5ft) to 4m, signals became stronger rather than weaker because of the way metal objects were reflecting the radio waves.

A trial in a supermarket also found the received signal strength was the same whether two people were walking close together or 2m apart.

Follow-up tests using Apple-Google's tech are currently under way.

"The work is ongoing, but preliminary results are broadly consistent with previous observations," said Dr Brendan Jennings, who has been tasked with assessing the effectiveness of Ireland's Covid-19 app.

Hidden data

The team behind Switzerland's SwissCovid app is carrying out tests of its own.

Its Bluetooth measurement chief believes the issue can be partly addressed by taking a range of readings over a period of five minutes or more.

But he added that Apple and Google had placed curbs on what could be achieved.

"The Google and Apple API [application programming interface] limits the amount of raw information that is actually exposed to the app," Prof Mathias Payer told the BBC.

"For maximum utility, we would get all the different measurements, but this has privacy implications."

Apps using Google and Apple's tech do not get to see the actual signal strength but rather one of three values, based on calculations used to normalise the different ways Bluetooth behaves on different handsets,

By contrast, the UK team can currently obtain the measurements directly.

Those responsible believe a further advantage of their centralised approach is that the data can be processed on the server involved, since it would be too taxing a task to be done on smartphones.

But part of their challenge is communicating this to Baroness Dido Harding - who heads up the wider Test and Trace programme - and 10 Downing Street itself.

A spokesman for the prime minister declined to comment.

Coronavirus: Could social distancing of less than two metres work?

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised to keep the 2m (6ft) rule for social distancing "under constant review".

It comes after increasing pressure from MPs and the hospitality industry to cut it to 1m to help businesses after they reopen.

However, scientists continue to question whether that would be safe, given how little is known about how far coronavirus can spread.

What does the science say?

The simple answer is that the nearer you are to someone who is infected, the greater the risk of catching the virus.

The World Health Organization says that a distance of 1m is safe. Some countries have adopted this guidance, while others, including the UK, have gone further:

• 1m distancing rule - China, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Lithuania, Singapore
• 1.4m - South Korea
• 1.5m - Australia, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal
• 1.8m - US
• 2m - Canada, Spain, UK

It's not just about distance

Timing is also key. The longer you spend in close proximity with an infected person, the bigger the risk.

Scientists advising the UK government say that spending six seconds at a distance of 1m from someone is the same as spending one minute at a distance of 2m.

Being exposed to someone coughing is riskier. Being 2m away from a cough carries the same risk as someone talking to you for 30 minutes at the same distance.

What's the latest research?

In a study published in the medical journal The Lancet, scientists evaluated recent research into how coronavirus spreads.

They conclude that keeping at least 1m from other people could be the best way to limit the chances of infection.

The risk of being infected is estimated to be 13% within 1m, but only 3% beyond that distance.

And the study says that for every extra metre of distance up to 3m, the risk is further reduced by half.

Where does the distancing rule come from?

It can be traced back to research in the 1930s.

Scientists found that droplets of liquid released by coughs or sneezes evaporate quickly in the air or fall to the ground.

Most of those droplets, they reckoned, would land within 1-2m.

That is why it is said the greatest risks come from having the virus coughed at you from close range, or from touching a surface that someone coughed onto, and then touching your face.

Can the virus travel further in other ways?

Proximity and surface contact are considered the main transmission routes.

But some researchers fear coronavirus can also be transported through the air in tiny particles called aerosols.

If true, then the flow of wind from someone's breath could carry the virus over longer distances.

Prof Lydia Bourouiba from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) used high-speed cameras to capture a cough projecting miniature specks as far as 6m.

And a study carried out in Chinese hospitals which found traces of coronavirus in Covid-19 wards and intensive care units, estimated that 4m was a better safe distance.

But the US Centers for Disease Control says the role of aerosols in spreading the virus is "currently uncertain".

And what's still not known is whether any virus that spreads further than 2m can still be infectious.

• Coronavirus: Can we stay safe as lockdown eases?

What else makes a difference?

It is widely accepted that the infection is more easily passed on indoors than outside in the fresh air.

Japanese researchers investigated 110 cases of Covid-19, following up the contacts of those infected.

They estimated that the odds of the infection being passed on were nearly 19 times greater indoors than outside.

In many countries, including England and Scotland, people are being encouraged to wear face coverings on public transport and "enclosed spaces where social distancing is not always possible".

Why don't we have definite answers?

It is only a few months since the coronavirus emerged, and in that short time scientists have learned a great deal about it.

But there is a long way to go, and confirming exactly the right distance is one of the unanswered questions.

Answering it will require careful studies of how the virus can be carried, and how viable it remains, which will all take time.

China coronavirus outbreak: All the latest updates

The death toll in China from the deadly coronavirus outbreak that originated in the central city of Wuhan, rose to at least 361 on Monday, as the Philippines became the first country outside China to confirm a death from the infection.



The National Health Commission said there were 57 new fatalities on Sunday, all but one of them in Hubei, which has been effectively sealed off from the rest of the country for more than a week.


The total number of people infected with the virus rose to 17,205 across the country, after 2,829 new cases were reported.

Other countries have rushed to evacuate their citizens from Hubei province and its capital city, Wuhan, while many have also imposed extraordinary travel restrictions on travellers to and from China.

About 150 cases have been reported in two dozen other countries.

Here are the latest updates:

Monday, February 3
WHO combats virus misinformation
The World Health Organization said it was working around the clock with internet and social media giants to combat widespread misinformation surrounding the deadly novel coronavirus outbreak.

"We have worked with Google to make sure people searching for information about coronavirus see WHO information at the top of their search results," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in his opening remarks to the UN health agency's executive board meeting in Geneva.

"Social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Tencent and Tiktok have also taken steps to limit the spread of misinformation," he added.