Judges slow abortion bans in Texas, Ohio, Alabama amid virus

March 31, 2020

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Federal judges on Monday temporarily blocked efforts in Texas and Alabama to ban abortions during the coronavirus pandemic, handing Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers a victory as clinics across the U.S. filed lawsuits to stop states from trying to shutter them during the outbreak.

A new Ohio order is also unconstitutional if it prevents abortions from being carried out, a separate judge ruled Monday. The ruling instructed clinics to determine on a case-by-case basis if an abortion can be delayed to maximize resources — such as preserving personal protective equipment — needed to fight the coronavirus. If the abortion is deemed necessary and can’t be delayed, it’s declared legally essential.

The rulings indicated judges were pushing back on Republican-controlled states including abortion in sweeping orders as the outbreak grows in the U.S. In Texas, the ruling came down after state Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, said abortion was included in a statewide ban on nonessential surgeries.

But U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel said the “Supreme Court has spoken clearly" on a woman's right to abortion. One abortion provider in Texas, Whole Woman's Health, said it had canceled more than 150 appointments in the days after the Texas order went into effect.

“There can be no outright ban on such a procedure," Yeakel wrote. Paxton said the state would appeal. The rulings happened Monday as lawsuits were also filed in Iowa and Oklahoma, after governors in those states similarly ordered a stop to non-emergency procedures and specifically included abortion among them.

The lawsuits were filed by Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Reproductive Rights and local lawyers in each state. Their aim, like abortion providers in Texas, is to stop state officials from prohibiting abortions as part of temporary policy changes related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt announced Friday that abortions were included in his executive order banning all elective surgeries and minor medical procedures until April 7, unless the procedure was necessary to prevent serious health risks to the mother. Stitt said the order was needed to help preserve the state’s limited supply of personal protective equipment, like surgical masks and gloves.

A spokesman for Stitt referred questions about the challenge to Attorney General Mike Hunter, who vowed in a statement to defend the ban. “My office will vigorously defend the governor’s executive order and the necessity to give precedence to essential medical procedures during this daunting public health crisis," Hunter's statement said. "Make no mistake, this lawsuit will itself drain significant resources, medical and legal, from emergency efforts, and likely, directly and indirectly, bring harm to Oklahomans as a result."

Monday night, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson issued a temporary restraining order against Alabama's order, saying the ruling with be in effect through April 13 while he considers additional arguments.

Thompson wrote the state’s concerns about conserving medical equipment during the pandemic, does not “outweigh the serious, and, in some cases, permanent, harms imposed by the denial of an individual’s right to privacy."

Attorneys for the Alabama clinics said facilities had canceled appointments for 17 people scheduled this week. “Patients that have already had their appointments canceled have been devastated; in many instances the calls cancelling the appointments have ended in tears,” lawyers for the clinics wrote.

Alabama closed many nonessential businesses with a state health order, effective Saturday. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said earlier Monday the state would not offer a “blanket exemption" to abortion clinics.

In Ohio, Planned Parenthood and abortion clinics that sued last year to try to thwart a law that bans most abortions after a first detectable fetal heartbeat are asking a court to speed up its decision in that case and to consider a recent coronavirus order by the state health director. In filings Monday, the groups’ attorneys argued “the state is again attempting to ban abortions” through Dr. Amy Acton’s directive barring all “non-essential” procedures and Attorney General Dave Yost’s threats that it will be rigidly enforced.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds spokesman Pat Garrett said the governor “is focused on protecting Iowans from an unprecedented public health disaster, and she suspended all elective surgeries and procedures to preserve Iowa’s health care resources.”

Reynolds said Sunday the move was not based on her personal ideology but a broad order to halt nonessential procedures to conserve medical equipment. The Iowa lawsuit said abortion procedures do not require extensive use of medical equipment and do not use N95 respirators, the devices in shortest supply during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Patients’ abortions will be delayed, and in some cases, denied altogether," the lawsuit states. “As a result, Iowa patients will be forced to carry pregnancies to term, resulting in a deprivation of their fundamental right to determine when and whether to have a child or to add to their existing families.”

The lawsuits seek court orders halting action pertaining to abortions and ask judges for immediate hearings.

Weber reported from Austin, Texas. AP Writers Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City; Kimberly Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama; Julie Smyth in Columbus, Ohio contributed to this story.

Dismantling democracy? Virus used as excuse to quell dissent

March 31, 2020

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Soldiers patrol the streets with their fingers on machine gun triggers. The army guards an exhibition center-turned-makeshift-hospital crowded with rows of metal beds for those infected with the coronavirus. And Serbia’s president warns residents that Belgrade's graveyards won’t be big enough to bury the dead if people ignore his government's lockdown orders.

Since President Aleksandar Vucic announced an open-ended state of emergency on March 15, parliament has been sidelined, borders shut, a 12-hour police-enforced curfew imposed and people over 65 banned from leaving their homes — some of Europe’s strictest measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Serbian leader, who makes dramatic daily appearances issuing new decrees, has assumed full power, prompting an outcry from opponents who say he has seized control of the state in an unconstitutional manner.

Rodoljub Sabic, a former state commissioner for personal data protection, says by proclaiming a state of emergency, Vucic has assumed “full supremacy” over decision-making during the crisis, although his constitutional role is only ceremonial.

“He issues orders which are automatically accepted by the government,” Sabic said. “No checks and balances." In ex-communist Eastern Europe and elsewhere, populist leaders are introducing harsh measures including uncontrolled cellphone surveillance of their citizens and lengthy jail sentences for those who flout lockdown decrees.

The human rights chief of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said while she understands the need to act swiftly to protect populations from the COVID-19 pandemic, the newly declared states of emergency must include a time limit and parliamentary oversight.

“A state of emergency — wherever it is declared and for whatever reason — must be proportionate to its aim, and only remain in place for as long as absolutely necessary," said the OSCE rights chief, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir.

In times of national emergency, countries often take steps that rights activists see as curtailing civil liberties, such as increased surveillance, curfews and restrictions on travel, or limiting freedom of expression. China locked down whole cities earlier this year to stop the spread of the virus as India did with the whole nation.

Amnesty International researcher Massimo Moratti said states of emergency are allowed under international human rights law but warned that the restrictive measures should not become a “new normal." “Such states need to last only until the danger lasts," he told The Associated Press.

In European Union-member Hungary, parliament on Monday passed a law giving Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government the right to rule by decree for as long as a state of emergency declared March 11 is in effect.

The law also sets prison terms of up to five years for those convicted of spreading false information about the pandemic and up to eight years for those interfering with efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus, like a curfew or quarantine.

Rights groups and officials say the law creates the possibility of an indefinite state of emergency and gives Orbán and his government carte blanche to restrict human rights and crack down on freedom of the press.

“Orban is dismantling democracy in front of our eyes,"said Tanja Fajon, a member of the European Parliament, “This is a shame for Europe, its fundamental values and democracy. He (Orban) abused coronavirus as an excuse to kill democracy and media freedom."

“This is not the way to address the very real crisis that has been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said David Vig, Amnesty International’s Hungary director. Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga said criticism of Hungary's bill were "political attacks based on the wrong interpretation or intentional distortion" of its contents.

Other governments have also adopted extreme measures. In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu's caretaker government passed a series of emergency executive measures to try to quell the spread of the new virus. These include authorizing unprecedented electronic surveillance of Israeli citizens and a slowdown of court activity that forced the postponement of Netanyahu's own pending corruption trial.

In Russia, authorities have turned up the pressure on media outlets and social media users to control the narrative amid the country's growing coronavirus outbreak. Moscow went on lockdown Monday and many other regions quickly followed suit.

Under the guise of weeding out coronavirus-related “fake news,” law enforcement has cracked down on people sharing opinions on social media, and on media that criticize the government’s response to the outbreak.

In Poland, people are worried about a new government smartphone application introduced for people in home quarantine. Panoptykon Foundation, a human rights group that opposes surveillance, says some users who support government efforts to fight the pandemic worry that by using the app they could be giving too much private data to the conservative government.

While nearly 800 coronavirus cases and 16 deaths have been recorded in Serbia, according to Johns Hopkins University, testing has been extremely limited and experts believe the figures greatly under-represent the real number of victims. Most people suffer mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, from the virus but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, more severe illness can occur, including pneumonia and death.

Images of the transformation of a huge communist-era exhibition hall in Belgrade into a makeshift hospital for infected patients has triggered widespread public fear of the detention camp-looking facility that is filled with row-upon-row of 3,000 metal beds.

The Serbian president said he was glad that people got scared, adding he would have chosen even a worse-looking spot if that would stop Serbs from flouting his stay-at-home orders. “Someone has to spend 14 to 28 days there,” Vucic said. “If it’s not comfortable, I don’t care. We are fighting for people’s lives."

“Do not Drown Belgrade,” a group of civic activists, has launched an online petition against what they call Vucic’s abuse of power and curtailing of basic human rights. It says his frequent public appearances are creating panic in an already worried society.

“We do not need Vucic’s daily dramatization, but the truth: Concrete data and instructions from experts,” the petition says.

Associated Press writers Jovana Gec, Pablo Gorondi in Budapest, Hungary, and Vanessa Gera in Warsaw contributed to this report.

Hungary approves extra government powers, with no end date

March 30, 2020

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary's parliament on Monday approved a bill giving Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government extraordinary powers during the coronavirus pandemic, and setting no end date for them.

The bill was approved by Orban's Fidesz party and other government supporters by 137 votes in favor to 53 against. It needed 133 votes to pass. President Janos Ader signed the bill into law shortly after its approval in parliament and it will take effect from Tuesday.

The legislation has been criticized by opposition parties, international institutions and civic groups for failing include an expiration date for the government's ability to rule by decree. It also includes measures against false information which have raised concerns they they could be used by the government to muzzle independent media.

“The extraordinary measures are related to the pandemic, to its prevention, its elimination and the prevention of the damaging economic consequences,” said Csaba Domotor, a deputy minister in Orban's Cabinet Office. “A time limit cannot be declared in this situation because there is no one ... who can say how many months of struggle we have to prepare for.”

Opposition lawmakers said they were willing to give the government the requested powers, but only if they were set for a certain period, with the possibility of extensions. “The opposition is united on the issue of giving the government powers which are significantly more extensive than the authority in the Constitution,” said Tamas Harangozo, a lawmaker with the opposition Socialist Party." The opposition's request is that “the government accept that it can only do this within time limits.”

The human rights chief at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe also expressed concerns about the new legislation. “It is clear that states need to act swiftly in order to protect their populations from the COVID-19 pandemic, and I understand that extraordinary measures may be required to do so,” said Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

“However, a state of emergency — wherever it is declared and for whatever reason — must be proportionate to its aim, and only remain in place for as long as absolutely necessary.” The opposition criticized as insufficient the government's economic measures meant to alleviate the effects of the pandemic. While Orban has announced numerous tax breaks and the postponement until 2021 of debt payments by households and companies, critics have cited the lack of direct payments to employers to save jobs. Opposition parties have also called on salaries to be doubled for workers in the health sector.

Orban said the government would announce a package of economic measures on April 6 or 7 to boost growth. He said it would be the largest action of its kind in Hungarian history. A rights group known in part for its advocacy for refugees and asylum-seekers said that checks on the government's rule by decree would now have to come from external institutions to a greater extent.

“Parliament, as the legislative body representing the people, practically will be in recess from now on. Law will be essentially made by the government,” the Hungarian Helsinki Committee said. “In the absence of the proper function of parliament, civic control of the government and its institutions — especially by the press, civic groups, and human rights watchdogs — becomes more valuable.”

The opposition parties were also critical of the government's refusal to consider allowing lawmakers to vote from home. Hungary's Constitution does not allow parliamentary sessions or votes to be held via teleconferencing or other remote methods and the government said it has no plans for a Constitutional amendment needed to create the option.

“If we’re asking the whole country to stay home, then the Hungarian parliament should be able to do the same if the virus situation justifies it,” said independent lawmaker Bernadett Szel. A decree setting restrictions on leaving home, with exceptions for going to work or for essential needs like food shopping, took effect on Saturday.

Hungary declared a state of emergency on March 11 due to the spread of coronavirus. So far 447 cases have been confirmed in the country, with 15 deaths.

With more infections than China, Spain tightens lockdown

March 30, 2020

MADRID (AP) — Spain enforced even tighter stay-at-home rules Monday for its 47 million people, as the country overtook China as the nation with the third-highest number of reported infections in the world, after the United States and Italy.

But the new measures, which confused many Spaniards, came under attack from business leaders who say the government is hurting the economy beyond repair, and opposition parties who accuse it of improvising in its response to the outbreak.

Already stretched beyond breaking point in at least one third of the country, hospitals are seeing scores of medical workers falling ill and requiring quarantine, while the arrival of protective gear is suffering delays.

The government's decision to impose a two-week halt effective Monday to all non-essential economic activity. came even as authorities claimed that the previous two weeks of confinement were starting to pay off with a slower pace of the pandemic’s expansion,

The president of Spain's main business association, CEOE, warned that the stricter measures would create “a very grave economic problem that can lead to a social problem” through potential job and income losses.

Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards have already applied for unemployment subsidies since the confinement measures began in mid-March, and a 200-billion euro aid package, much of it from public funds, has been rolled out to help workers and companies cushion the drop in production.

"If you stop the country, we'll have a huge social problem within five months," Antonio Garamendi told Spain's public broadcaster, TVE. Only workers in hospitals, pharmacies, the food supply chain and other essential industries are required to work until the end of Easter, in mid-April. In a call for Spaniards to “hibernate,” as described by a Cabinet member of Spain's left-wing coalition government, the rest were asked to scale back operations to weekend-level.

But the new measures surprised and confused many Spaniards, who woke up on Monday not knowing whether their jobs were part of the exceptions to the government's new emergency decree that wasn't fully published until midnight on Sunday.

“Spaniards don't deserve more lies, incompetence and internal fighting,” opposition conservative Popular Party leader Pablo Casado said on Monday. In hard-hit Madrid, which has seen nearly half of the country’s deaths, flags flew at half-staff for an official mourning period that began Monday. During a minute of silence observed for the dead, bells tolled across the Spanish capital's empty Puerta del Sol central square. Speakers blasted U.S. composer Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings.

With a population thirty times smaller than China’s 1. 4 billion, Spain's official tally of infections was for the first time higher: more than 85,000, an 8% rise from the previous day but smaller than earlier increases that had rocketed up to 20%. The health ministry also reported 812 new deaths, raising its overall confirmed death toll to 7,340.

Crews of workers and soldiers were frantically building more field hospitals in the capital and surrounding towns. The region is among six of Spain's 17 regions at their limit of ICU beds. Three more, according to officials, are close to it.

Spanish health official Dr. Maria José Sierra said there's no end to the stay-at-home restrictions yet in sight. “Reducing the pressure on the ICUs will be important for considering de-escalation measures,” said Sierra, who took over Monday as the health emergency center's spokesperson after its director tested positive.

Nearly 15% of all those infected in Spain, almost 13,000 people, are among the country's 646,000 health care professionals. This hampers hospitals' efforts to help the tsunami of people gasping for breath.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the virus can cause severe symptoms like pneumonia and can be fatal. More than 155,000 people have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins.

Moscow goes into lockdown, rest of Russia braces for same

March 30, 2020

MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian capital, Moscow, on Monday woke up to a lockdown obliging most of its 13 million residents to stay home, and many other regions of the vast country quickly followed suit to stem the spread of the new coronavirus.

A stern-looking President Vladimir Putin warned his envoys in Russia's far-flung regions that they will be personally responsible for the availability of beds, ventilators and other key equipment. “We have managed to win time and slow down an explosive spread of the disease in the previous weeks, and we need to use that time reserve to the full,” Putin said.

Russia so far has been relatively spared by the outbreak, with 1,836 confirmed cases and nine deaths, but the number of people testing positive has risen quickly in recent days and authorities are bracing for the worst.

Putin has declared that only people employed by essential sectors should work this week, leaving it to regional authorities to spell out the details. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin followed up by ordering Muscovites to stay home starting Monday except for medical emergencies and runs to nearby shops. He said the city will issue special passes for those who need to keep working and track all others with electronic surveillance.

“We will steadily tighten controls," Sobyanin told a Cabinet meeting. “I hope that by the week's end we will have information systems allowing us to fully control citizens' movements and prevent possible violations.”

On Tuesday, the Russian parliament is scheduled to approve a bill that imposes prison terms of up to seven years and fines of up to 2 million rubles (about $25,000) — a huge sum in a country where an average monthly salary hovers around $500 — on violators of the lockdown.

Moscow has a sprawling system of surveillance cameras complete with facial recognition technology, which were tested during anti-Kremlin rallies last year to track down protesters. City authorities have also used cell phone location data from mobile providers to monitor those who were ordered to self-quarantine for two weeks after arriving from abroad.

Russia took early steps to counter the outbreak, closing the borders with China and then barring access to Chinese citizens last month when China was still the world's hottest coronavirus spot. Authorities followed up by screening arrivals from Italy, France, Spain and other countries worst-affected by the outbreak, and obliging them to self-quarantine. Last week Russia cut all international commercial flights and finally fully closed its borders effective Monday, with the exception of diplomats, truck drivers and a few other categories.

Russian officials said those measures helped slow down the spread of COVID-19, but acknowledged that the disease is accelerating rapidly and relatively low numbers of confirmed cases could be explained by insufficient screening.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older adults and people with prior health problems, it can cause severe symptoms like pneumonia and can be fatal.

Authorities have converted several hospitals in Moscow to treat coronavirus patients and thousands of construction workers labored around the clock at a construction site on Moscow's outskirts to build a new specialized hospital to be ready in a few weeks.

The Defense Ministry also launched a massive effort to build 16 hospitals across the country in a matter of weeks. Last week, the military also conducted massive drills across Russia to disinfect and quarantine broad areas.

Despite those efforts, many in Russia worry that the nation's underfunded health care system that just recently underwent massive cuts could be easily overwhelmed by the crisis. Putin told his envoys in the regions Monday that they must quickly report the real situation with ventilators and other essential equipment, prepare for moving seriously ill patients between regions and mobilize medical personnel, including medical students. He also ordered a sharp increase in screening. Until last week, just one laboratory in Siberia was analyzing the coronavirus tests.

In a move reflecting the gravity of the crisis, Putin last week postponed a vote on constitutional amendments that would allow him to stay in office until 2036 if he chooses. Russian authorities haven’t restricted travel to and from the capital city. Many residents of the Moscow region commute to work in the capital.

In a sign of lack of sync between various state agencies amid quick-paced developments, police in the Moscow region on Sunday night announced a curfew on top of the lockdown, but the authorities quickly denied the announcement.

Putin has hailed Moscow's lockdown as “necessary and justified." St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city, and over a dozen other regions from the westernmost exclave of Kaliningrad to Tatarstan on the Volga River to the Yekaterinburg region in the Urals quickly followed Moscow's example and imposed similar lockdowns.

Russia's leading opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, on Monday blasted the Kremlin for longtime neglect of the country's hospitals and called for public donations to help them. He posted a letter from a doctor at one of Moscow's hospitals treating coronavirus patients who said staff have run out of protective suits and have to reuse those they have worn.

Kremlin critics also voiced concern that the government would use the lockdown to further tighten political controls and crack down on dissent. The authorities already have declared a campaign against “fake news” about the coronavirus, tracking down social media users making claims that contradict official figures on coronavirus figures. Some already have been given heavy fines.

The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Spain's hospitals at breaking point as infections pass China

March 30, 2020

MADRID (AP) — Spain overtook China on Monday in confirmed coronavirus infections as the pandemic stretched scores of Spanish hospitals to their breaking point. As confirmed virus deaths in New York surpassed 1,000, President Donald Trump extended stay-at-home recommendations for a month in an abrupt turnaround.

With a population of only 47 million people to China's 1.4 billion, Spain’s tally of infections reached 85,195, an 8% rise from the previous day but down from earlier increases that had rocketed up to 20%. Spain also reported 812 new deaths, raising its overall confirmed death toll to 7,340.

Experts say those figures — and ones in every other country — are much lower than the actual impact of the pandemic, due to limited testing, counting irregularities and mild cases that have been missed.

Spain and Italy make up more than half the world's death toll of over 34,800 people from the virus that has upended the lives of billions and devastated world economies. Their health systems have been crumbling over the weight of caring for so many desperately ill patients at once. Italy has by far the most reported virus deaths, at nearly 11,000.

At least six of Spain's 17 regions were at their limit of ICU beds and three more were close to it, authorities said Monday. Crews of workers were frantically building more field hospitals. Despite the declining infection rate, Spanish health official Dr. Maria José Sierra said there's no end to the stay-at-home restrictions yet in sight.

“Reducing the pressure on the ICUs will be important for considering de-escalation measures,” said Sierra, who took over Monday as the health emergency center's spokesperson after its director tested positive.

Nearly 15% of all those infected in Spain, almost 13,000 people, are health care workers, hurting hospitals' efforts to help the tsunami of people gasping for breath. In hard-hit Madrid, flags were hoisted at half staff for an official mourning period. During a minute of silence for the dead, Madrid's Puerta del Sol central square was empty as bells tolled.

In a situation unimaginable only a month ago, Italian officials were cheered when they reported only 756 deaths in one day. Italy has 97,689 confirmed infections but said the number of positive cases in the last day increased just 5.4% and the number of deaths have dropped about 10% a day since Friday.

‘’We are saving lives by staying at home, by maintaining social distance, by traveling less and by closing schools," Dr. Luca Richeldi, a lung specialist, told reporters. In a stark reversal of his previous stance, Trump extended federal guidelines recommending that Americans stay home for another 30 days until the end of April to slow the spread of the virus. The turnabout came after Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said up to 200,000 Americans could die and millions become infected if lockdowns and social distancing did not continue.

“We want to make sure that we don't prematurely think we're doing so great,” Fauci said. The U.S. now has more than 143,000 infections and 2,500 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, while around the world more than 735,000 people are infected.

Moscow went on its own lockdown Monday as all of Russia braced for sweeping nationwide restrictions. The Russian capital of 13 million accounts for more than 1,200 of the country's 1,836 coronavirus cases.

“The extremely negative turn of events we are seeing in the largest European and U.S. cities causes extreme concern about the life and health of our citizens,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. Experts say the critical situations seen in hospitals in Italy and Spain will be soon heading toward the United States.

Coronavirus patient Andrea Napoli, 33, told The Associated Press he didn't remotely expect that he would be hospitalized, struggling for his life, since he was young and fit. But what he saw shocked him.

While he was being treated in Rome, three patients died in his ward. He saw doctors stressed and exhausted from the long hours, out of breath from pushing equipment around, dressed in protective masks, suits and gloves.

‘’What I saw was a lot, a lot of pain. It was very hard,’’ Napoli said. ‘’I heard screams from the other rooms, constant coughing from the other rooms.’’ For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the virus can cause severe symptoms like pneumonia and be fatal. More than 156,000 people have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins.

China’s National Health Commission on Monday reported 31 new COVID-19 cases, among them just one domestic infection. At the peak of China’s restrictions, some 700 million people were ordered to stay home, but those rules are easing.

New York state remained the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, with the vast majority of the deaths in New York City. But infections were spiking not only in cities but in Midwestern towns and Rocky Mountain ski havens. West Virginia reported its first death, leaving only two states — Hawaii and Wyoming — with none linked to COVID-19.

The virus is moving fast through nursing homes and other places for vulnerable people, spreading “like fire through dry grass," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. Britain's National Health Service said EasyJet and Virgin Atlantic were asking cabin crew who have been laid off — especially those with first aid training — to see if they would work in makeshift hospitals under the supervision of doctors and nurses.

Britain's political elite have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with the country's prime minister, health minister, chief English medical director and Brexit negotiator all testing positive and in isolation, as well as the heir to the throne, Prince Charles.

Cases across Africa rose close to 5,000 in 46 countries. Zimbabwe began a three-week lockdown Monday and more cities across the continent were shut down. The pandemic was also taking a harsh economical toll around the world.

A lockdown in India covering the country's 1.3 billion people has put day laborers out of work and left families struggling to eat. With no jobs, those in the country's crowded cities are walking back to their native villages.

In Europe, budget airline EasyJet grounded its entire fleet of aircraft — parking all 344 planes — amid a collapse in demand due to the COVID-19 crisis. Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. halted production at its auto plants in Europe at least until April 20. Toyota has facilities in France, Great Britain, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Turkey and Portugal. All its plants in China resumed production Monday.

Asian markets started the week with fresh losses. Japan's benchmark fell nearly 3% and other regional markets were mostly lower. Shares in Australia, however, surged 7% after the government promised 130 billion Australian dollars ($80 billion) to pay up to 6 million workers the minimum wage for the next six months.

“We want to keep the engine of our economy running through this crisis," said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Rising reported from Berlin; Isachenkov reported from Moscow. Associated Press writers around the world contributed to this report.

Un-baaaaa-lievable: Goats invade locked-down Welsh town

March 31, 2020

LONDON (AP) — Un-baaaaa-lievable: This wild bunch is completely ignoring rules on social distancing. With humans sheltering indoors to escape the new coronavirus, mountain goats are taking advantage of the peace and space to roam in frisky clumps through the streets of Llandudno, a town in North Wales.

Andrew Stuart, a video producer for the Manchester Evening News, has been posting videos of the furry adventurers on his Twitter feed and they are racking up hundreds of thousands of views. He said the goats normally keep largely to themselves, in a country park that butts up against Llandudno. But now emboldened by the lack of people and cars, the long-horned animals are venturing deeper into the seaside town. The U.K. has been in lockdown for the past week to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

“There’s no one around at the moment, because of the lockdown, so they take their chances and go as far as they can. And they are going further and further into the town,” Stuart told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday from his parents’ pub in Llandudno, where he is waiting out the pandemic.

His videos show the goats munching on people’s neatly trimmed hedges and trees in front yards and loitering casually on empty streets as if they own the place. “One of the videos on my Twitter shows that they were on a narrow side street and I was on the other side and they were scared of me. They were edging away from me. So they are still scared of people,” Stuart said. “But when there’s hardly anyone around on the big streets, they are taking their chances, they are absolutely going for it. And I think because it’s so quiet, and there’s hardly anyone around to scare them or anything, that they just don’t really care and are eating whatever they can.”

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.