The Latest: Typhoon hits Philippines during virus lockdown
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:
—Typhoon Vongfong slams into eastern
—Japan is preparing to end a state of emergency for most of the country.
—United Nations chief calls for mental health needs to be addressed.
—Australia to continue to push for investigation into origin of coronavirus.
The first typhoon to hit the country this year rapidly gained force as it blew from the Pacific then barged ashore in San Policarpio town in Eastern Samar province around noon. Video showed fierce rain and wind swaying coconut trees, rattling tin roofs and obscuring visibility. Some towns lost power.
Typhoon Vongfong was packing maximum sustained winds of 150 kilometers per hour (93 miles per hour) and was forecast to blow northwestward and barrel across densely populated eastern provinces and cities before exiting in the north Sunday.
Governors say social distancing will be nearly impossible in emergency shelters. Some shelters are now serving as quarantine facilities, and they may have to be turned back into emergency storm shelters.
The typhoon is forecast to largely bypass
Transportation Minister
“Traffic companies, customers and workplaces share the responsibility for making public transport work efficiently and health-wise correctly now that we again expect more passengers,” he said.
Engelbrecht urged, among others, people that when possible to avoid rush hour, walk or bicycle “to give other travellers, who do not have the same opportunity, better space in public transport.”
Public transportation in
Economy Minister
Prime Minister
Abe is expected to explain details later Thursday. Experts are also expected to provide basis for easing the measure, as well as its possible tightening in case of a resurgence of the outbreak.
The Ehime prefecture in western
Experts and officials have urged people to adopt “new lifestyles” and continue practicing distancing measures such as remote working and avoid out-of-town trips, even after the state of emergency is lifted.
He pointed to “grief at the loss of loved ones, shock at the loss of jobs, isolation and restrictions on movement, difficult family dynamics, and uncertainty and fear for the future.”
The
Guterres said those most at risk and in need of help are front-line health care workers, older people, adolescents, young people, those with pre-existing mental health conditions, and those caught up in conflict and crisis.
He said “mental health services are an essential part of all government responses to COVID-19” and must be expanded and fully funded.
Prime Minister
“We have always been independent, we have always pursued our national interests, and we always will,” he told reporters. “We will always be Australians in how we engage with the rest of the world, and we will always stand our ground when it comes to the things that we believe in and the values that we uphold.”
Follow AP news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.
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