New world news from Time: Wuhan’s Favorite Noodles Return in Tasty Sign Coronavirus-Crippled City Is Inching Back to Normal

(WUHAN, China) — The reappearance of Wuhan’s favorite breakfast noodles is a tasty sign that life is slowly getting back to normal in the Chinese city at the epicenter of the global cornavirus outbreak.

Zhou Guoqiong still isn’t allowed to serve customers inside her shop as part of social distancing rules that are some of the strictest in the world.

But the steady stream of customers who leave with bags of “reganmian,” or “hot dry noodles,” smothered in peanut sauce, testifies to a powerful desire to enjoy the familiar again after months of lockdown since the virus was first detected in December. The favorite snack, usually sold from carts or in small restaurants, is as much a trademark of Wuhan as deep-dish pizza is for Chicago or spaghetti is for Rome.

“I’m happy as long as there is business,” Zhou said. Five days since they reopened, she and her husband now sell several hundred bags of noodles every day, less than before the outbreak but more than enough to keep them busy.

Earlier in the lockdown, Zhou said she would receive messages from customers complaining about how long they hadn’t had their noodles, deepening her anxiety after the city was closed off on Jan. 23 and its hospitals were overwhelmed with patients. In all, the city has recorded 2,548 deaths from virus and more than 50,000 cases.

Despite radically falling numbers of infections, Wuhan and the rest of China aren’t out of the woods yet, as officials repeatedly point out.

“At present, the epidemic situation in China is not over. It’s still stressful to control imported cases and prevent a resurgence of indigenous cases, and the demand for related medical supplies also remains high,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily briefing Tuesday.

The head of the National Health Commission, Ma Xiaowei, said Tuesday that the “most dangerous, most critical stage” of the domestic outbreak appears to have passed. But he was insistent that strict quarantines on travelers and other restrictions such as school closures will only be lifted gradually and very, very carefully.

Across the country, the economy is just starting to revive, and the government announced Tuesday it plans to delay the national college entrance exam by a month until July 7-8. The capital, Beijing, and hardest-hit Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, were also given special permission to make alternative scheduling plans, the education ministry said.

China says almost all of its coronavirus cases are now brought into the country by travelers from abroad, and Wuhan has not recorded any new confirmed or suspected cases in a week. Officials have said it must go a full 14 consecutive days without new cases before they lift draconian travel restrictions and social distancing demands, although residents are anticipating they will be allowed to travel again to some degree by April 8.

That can’t come soon enough for Mr. Xiao, who runs a small butcher shop and is guardedly optimistic about the future. He said his stock can last for 10 days at the most and he needs to see a big jump in business.

“I estimate in the next several months, I can sell half a cow every day,” said Xiao, who declined to give his full name.

Questions remain, though. Will his three partners rejoin the business? And with no other work skills, what will he do if sales don’t pick up?

Along Yanzhi Road in Wuhan’s Wuchang district, shops were doing a brisk business in staples such as meat and noodles, with loudspeakers blaring to attract customers.

Outside a food market, a long line formed of mostly elderly customers who kept their distance from each other. All were wearing masks as required, and some added hats and rubber gloves.

The market operates only from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and allows in just 30 customers at a time who can stay a maximum of 20 minutes each. Others who can’t or don’t want to make the trip can have items brought to their homes, and delivery men were exiting with rolls of toilet paper and bags of rice.

One of those in line, 70-year-old retired civil servant Xiao Yuxia, said she lives by herself and plans to eat fish for the first time in two months.

Her biggest challenge during the lockdown was a leg injury, she said. Not feeling safe going to a hospital, she endured pain while walking and used up all her remaining medication.

While many Chinese ordered what they needed using phone apps, 75-year-old retired worker Wang Haitao said he found that too confusing, and he and his wife are finding fewer choices on the list of options provided by community volunteers.

Buying food and medicine is his main concern, Zhang said. Though he leaves the house for only up to two hours a day because he is still worried about the risk of infection, he’d already been standing in line for half an hour.

Along with meat, fresh vegetables appear to be in good supply, although the selection may be a little monotonous. The food boxes delivered by volunteers to low-rise compounds typical of older neighborhoods such as Yanzhi Street were loaded mainly with carrots and cabbages.

The variety may be slightly better at the vegetable stalls set up around residential compounds, but here social distancing rules get scant attention. Customers and sellers gathered in groups with little distance between them, bargaining and exchanging cash.

A delivery man who works in the area but declined to give his name said he leaves all his packages at the fences set up to isolate residential compounds. After resuming his job two days earlier, he has his work cut out for him, with warehouses stuffed with packages that have been stuck there for months, he said.

“We are still delivering the packages that people bought before the Lunar New Year,” he said. “It’s hard to tell which are daily necessities bought after the virus outbreak.”

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AP video journalist Olivia Zhang contributed to this story.

New world news from Time: French Government to House Domestic Abuse Victims in Hotels as Cases Rise During Coronavirus Lockdown

Th French government announced on Monday it would put victims of domestic violence in hotel rooms and finance pop-up counselling centres in grocery stores, amid a surge of reported domestic violence cases since the lockdown began on March 17.

Around the world, there has been concern that there is a rise in the number of domestic violence cases as governments have placed their citizens under lockdown to avoid the spread of Covid-19, which has infected at least 803,313 and killed 38,743 people.

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Since France imposed strict measures prohibiting citizens from leaving their homes except to buy food or medication, to see a doctor, or to get exercise, France has witnessed a 36% increase in the number of reported domestic violence cases to the police in Paris and a 32% rise throughout the rest of France. Two women have been killed since the lockdown began, in a country with higher rates of deaths by domestic violence compared to its European neighbors. While the lockdown is currently in place until April 15, there is a high likelihood it will be extended, further jeopardizing the safety of victims of domestic violence.

The French Gender Equality Minister, Marlène Schiappa said the government would pay for 20,000 hotel nights for victims and put in place approximately 20 counseling centers at stores across the country in order for women to able seek out help while they leave their home to run errands.

“My biggest concern is to multiply the points of contact with women,” Schiappa told French newspaper Le Parisien. “As it’s difficult for women to get out, we want to make sure that support systems can go to women.”

The French Interior Minister, Christophe Castaner, announced on March 26 that victims of domestic violence could alert pharmacists if they are in danger. The government also plans on giving anti-domestic abuse organizations an additional 1 million euros ($1.1 million) in funds to help them manage increased demand for their services.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline via text or call at 1-800-799-7233. If you are in France, please dial 3919.

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New world news from Time: Rights Group Calls for Moratorium on Internet Shutdowns Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

Internet shutdowns could be jeopardizing lives as the coronavirus pandemic wrecks havoc across the world, Human Rights Watch warns.

Governments currently imposing blackouts amid the crisis should immediately lift restrictions so that people can have access to crucial health information, the New York-based rights groups said in a statement Tuesday.

Human Rights Watch listed India, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Ethiopia as countries where government-imposed internet blackouts are limiting the flow of information on health measures, movement restrictions and other critical guidance.

“During this global health crisis, shutdowns directly harm people’s health and lives, and undermine efforts to bring the pandemic under control,” says Deborah Brown, a senior digital rights researcher and advocate at Human Rights Watch.

“Governments should ensure immediate access to the fastest and broadest possible service for all, Brown says, adding that it is “time to impose a moratorium on internet shutdowns.”

According to digital rights advocacy group Access Now, 33 countries experienced government-imposed internet shutdowns in 2019. Official justification for the restrictions ranged from national security to the need to fight online misinformation.

India recorded 121 incidents of internet blackouts last year, topping the list of countries ordering shutdowns. While internet in the region of Kashmir has largely been restored, high-speed internet remains blocked, according to Al Jazeera. Doctors there have reported that the slow internet speed has handicapped them when it comes to downloading COVID-19 medical research.

In Bangladesh, internet restrictions are hindering humanitarian groups from administering much-needed aid to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Human Rights Watch says.

Over 786,000 people globally have been infected with the coronavirus and 37,800 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University’s virus tracker.

New world news from Time: Modi’s Hasty Coronavirus Lockdown of India Leaves Many Fearful for What Comes Next

Jaya Kumari worked as a cook and cleaner for a couple in an affluent New Delhi neighborhood until two weeks ago. She lost her job when the family she worked for decided to leave the crowded capital and move to their hometown 200 miles away as the coronavirus began to spread in the city.

Then, on March 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now Kumari and her husband, a taxi driver, are stuck indoors in New Delhi with no income and no way to earn money. “We will use up the little we have saved to get through this,” she says. “What happens after that, I leave it to God.”

Modi’s hasty announcement of the unprecedented lockdown gave hundreds of millions of Indians less than four hours to prepare. In an address to the nation, he said “Forget about leaving home for the next 21 days. If you cross the threshold of your house, you will invite the virus home.” It has thrown much of the country into chaos.

Modi assured Indians that essential services would continue, but was vague regarding how people would be able to buy food and other necessary items. As a result, people rushed to shops to stock up before the decree took effect. People were seen lining up outside stores late into the night and traffic congestion was reported from across the country.

The lockdown has also triggered a massive exodus of migrant laborers and wage workers from cities back to the rural villages they are from—where many won’t have to pay rent and food is cheaper. Many migrants were seen defying the curfew. Some have told news outlets that they are walking up to 500 miles to get back home. Videos of chaotic scenes at train stations showed people struggling to get on their last train home, some crying uncontrollably as they missed them. Overcrowding at public transport stations have raised concerns about further spread of the virus. Modi later apologized for the hardships caused by the lockdown, but said the measures were necessary.

Bhuvan Bagga–AFP/Getty Images Migrant workers and their family members lineup outside the Anand Vihar bus terminal in New Delhi on March 18 to leave for their villages during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown.

Mass congregations like this carry the risk of spreading COVID-19 even further, says Oommen C. Kurian, head of the health initiative at the Observer Research Foundation, an independent think-tank based in New Delhi. He worries that migrants might carry the virus to rural areas, where health infrastructure is weak, or even non-existent.

“The lack of clear risk communication from top leadership and mixed messages from across the system spooked the poorer migrants who chose to start uncertain journeys,” Kurian says. “The exodus of migrants may have spread out the virus far and wide, adding another layer to India’s problems.”

Most experts agree that a lockdown in India is necessary to contain the spread of COVID-19. A

As of March 30, India has reported more than 1,200 cases of COVID-19. Given its densely populated cities, experts worry that the country’s fragile health system will not be able to adequately respond to a spike in cases. So far, India has administered more than 38,000 tests. While the country initially faced criticism for its low testing numbers, the number of tests has been ramped up in the days following the lockdown. Experts say India should use the time bought by the lockdown to test more and find and contain hotspots.

“Prevention is a stronger strategy, given the acute shortage of hospital beds, ventilators and protective gear,” says Shamika Ravi, Director of Research at Brookings India, referring to the need for a lockdown. “To understand how this will play out after the lockdown, we need to get more aggressive with testing.”

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But for the majority of Indians, social distancing is a luxury they can’t afford. Many face hunger and starvation in the absence of daily wages that have been disrupted as the world’s seventh-largest economy grinds to a halt. On March 26, India announced a $22.5 billion relief package to help the country’s poorest people sustain and feed themselves. The government plans to use existing welfare schemes to roll out the relief measures, which include free food distribution and cash transfers to millions of low-income families across the country.

As part of the relief measures, low-wage earners like Kumari will get 500 rupees (less than $7) per month for the next three months. That’s a fraction of the 4,000 rupees ($53) she was making before she lost her job. As of now, her husband is not eligible for any of the measures announced as his income doesn’t qualify him as the “poorest of the poor” covered by government assistance. Kumari worries that the money from the government will not be enough to feed her family of four if the lockdown continues.

Most of those who come under the purview of the new scheme belong to India’s massive informal economy, which employs about 424 million Indians, some 90% of the workforce, according to data from the country’s finance ministry. That’s a population greater than the combined size of the U.S., the U.K. and Australia. Auto rickshaw drivers, milkmen, vendors who sell vegetables and snacks from carts are all part of this economy, Most live on daily wages, do not receive any benefits and work jobs that do not exist on paper.

“This crisis shines a torch on the fragilities of the Indian economy that must be attended to,” says Samir Saran, president of Observer Research Foundation. He praises the government’s decision to use existing welfare schemes for the poor to provide immediate relief, but says much more will need to be done when the full implications of the lockdown become apparent.

“These immediate measures are only intended to blunt the worst short-term effects and should not be thought of as a stimulus,” he adds.

To make matters worse, India’s economy was already struggling—with slumping growth and rising unemployment. Even some businesses that are thriving elsewhere in the world are hampered in India.

For instance, Mumbai’s famous dabbawalas (lunch box carriers), have worked rain or shine to deliver people’s home-cooked lunches to their offices, schools and colleges for almost 130 years. They have braved heavy floods and terrorist attacks, but services were halted due to coronavirus even before the lockdown was announced, forcing 5,000 delivery men to stay at home.

“Even if we resume operations, it will be pointless because everyone is staying at home,” says Subhash Gangaram Talekar, president of Mumbai Dabbawala Association, referring to how dabbawalas have been affected even as food delivery services around the world are surging in popularity at the moment. “Who will we deliver the dabbas [lunch boxes] to?”

But shutting down a country like India for longer periods will be difficult, given the poverty levels prevalent across the country, says Suyash Rai, a fellow at Carnegie India, an international center for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. With so many livelihoods disrupted, he believes that the government might struggle to keep the country’s poor afloat.

“There is the question of where the government is going to get the money to keep the country running in case of an extension [of the lockdown,]” Rai says. “It is important to identify the hotspots during this lockdown and reopen the remaining parts of the economy while finding ways to work within this COVID world.”

For many, waiting out what could be a miserable, prolonged crisis is the only option.

Prakash, who goes only by his first name, is an autorickshaw driver in Thiruvananthapuram in the southern Indian state of Kerala. His daily income started seeing a dip two weeks before the lockdown was announced. Kerala was the first state in India to report cases of COVID-19 and panic set in long before it spread to other parts of the country. Before the outbreak, he was concerned with paying for his son’s college expenses. But, as he stays at home with no daily income, his main concern is putting food on the table. He estimates his savings can last for a month. After that, he’s not sure what he will do.

“The virus doesn’t worry me as much as the uncertainty that waits on the other side of this crisis.”

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New world news from Time: Why Is Germany’s Coronavirus Death Rate So Low?

With more than 63,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of March 30, Germany is one of the countries worst-affected by the pandemic, according to official statistics.

But only 560 people known to be suffering from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus have died there, putting Germany’s case fatality rate at just 0.9%. That gives Germany one of the lowest rates in the world, making it an outlier compared to places like Italy, where 11.0% of confirmed patients have died from the disease, and even the U.S., which has a rate of 1.8%.

According to experts, Germany’s case fatality rate is so low due to its widespread testing. “In some countries only very symptomatic cases are tested (e.g. in Italy) and in others a broader testing strategy is done (e.g. in Germany),” writes Dr. Dietrich Rothenbacher, the director of the Institute for Epidemiology at Ulm University in Germany, in an email to TIME. That means that while Germany is currently the country with the fifth-most infections in the world, chances are that it has fewer unreported cases than many other countries, where testing is harder to come by.

“Between countries there are several reasons why the death rate might vary, but they’re very small compared to the impact of how many people get tested,” says Dr. Liam Smeeth, a professor of clinical epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “Germany very rapidly rolled out testing to a very large number of people, relative to the population.”

As of March 15, Germany was behind only the UAE, South Korea and Australia as the country to have administered the most tests in the world per capita, at an estimated 2,023 per million people. (In South Korea, the only of these countries where the pandemic is at a similarly advanced stage to Germany, the case fatality rate stands at around 1.6%.) On March 20, Lothar Wieler, the president of the Robert Koch Institute—Germany’s main public health body—said German laboratories are now able to conduct some 160,000 tests per week, about as many as they performed in the entire two months to March 15.

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Back in January, Germany became one of the first countries to develop a reliable method for testing for COVID-19. Unburdened by a restrictive central regulatory body, since healthcare is administered at the state level in Germany, private companies moved quickly to mass produce those tests, meaning they could be rolled out rapidly to the population. At least 1.4 million of the tests distributed worldwide by the World Health Organization by the end of February were produced by one German company based in Berlin.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration stalled. It took until early March to allow some large companies to manufacture their own tests, leading to a shortage.

“Because Germany rolled testing out so quickly as the epidemic was growing, it meant they were selectively more likely to identify milder cases,” Smeeth tells TIME. Countries without such capabilities were forced to prioritize testing severe cases while leaving mild cases undiagnosed and therefore not included in the official numbers. “The more cases you ascertain, the death rate is going to go down,” Smeeth says.

Even though Germany and Italy’s populations have similar average ages—they’re the two most elderly nations in the European Union—the median age of Germany’s population known to be infected by COVID-19 is lower: 46 as opposed to Italy’s 63. Smeeth says the lower average age is likely to just be a side effect of widespread testing. “If you are testing more people, then you will get a much younger age distribution of positive cases,” Smeeth says. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that the true age distribution of the virus is radically different between the two countries.”

Germany also has a high number of intensive care beds, meaning its hospitals have so far not been overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients in the same way some hospitals in Northern Italy have. According to a paper published in 2012, Germany had 29.2 critical care beds per 100,000 people—more than double Italy’s 12.5. (In the U.S., it’s even higher, at 34.2.) And these beds are currently only 70-80% occupied, according to Germany’s Deutsche Krankenhausgesellschaft (DKG), an umbrella group of hospital operators. “This means that there is for now sufficient capacity for seriously ill coronavirus patients,” the DKG says on its website.

But Germany’s comparatively low death toll will not last, even if the ratio does. COVID-19 can leave patients critically ill for weeks before killing them, and the country is at an earlier stage than Italy in terms of transmission of the disease.

“We in Germany are in an early phase of the pandemic,” Rothenbacher says. “Fatality numbers always have a lag-time—in two to three weeks the numbers may look different.”

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New world news from Time: U.K. Government Changes Regulations on Abortion Pills During the Coronavirus Outbreak

The U.K. government has changed its regulations on abortion to allow for women to take abortion pills at home without having to travel to a clinic, after an initial change to the regulations was announced in error last week. The new guidance means that women can access abortion care while also following the U.K. government advice relating to the coronavirus outbreak, which advises residents to only leave their homes for very limited purposes.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson confirmed to TIME Monday that current guidance will be updated so women who need an abortion up to ten weeks and can’t access a clinic can use abortion pills at home. The change will be on a temporary basis only, limited for two years, or until the coronavirus crisis is over, in line with the same timetable as the emergency legislation introduced by the U.K. government last week.

“Public safety and continued access to key services is our priority during this difficult period,” the spokesperson said. “This measure will be on a temporary basis and must follow a telephone or e-consultation with a doctor.”

The move comes after an earlier announcement that the current laws would be amended was first made last week, when new guidance was published on the government’s website for four hours. The post was later deleted, with an accompanying explanation stating: “This was published in error. There will be no changes to abortion regulations”.

Under the existing legislation, women in England must take the first of the two pills required for a medical abortion in an abortion clinic, but may take the second pill at home, which should be taken 48-72 hours later. In Scotland and Wales, women can collect both pills to take home.

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In 2018, there were more than 200,000 abortions in England and Wales, and medical abortions accounted for 71% of total abortions. Several organisations, including the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), The Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists wrote to Health Secretary Matt Hancock last week urging him to change the current law.

BPAS, which has campaigned for the new guidelines to allow women access to safe and effective abortion treatment while at home, welcomed the new measures. The charity had to close a quarter of its abortion clinics last week due to staff sickness and isolation.

“This service will not only support the thousands of women that would usually attend one of our clinics, it will also protect our staff and the many other people these women could come into contact with,” BPAS tweeted Monday. The charity has also said it hopes to be able to offer women a service where the pills are delivered straight to them.

In other parts of the U.K., abortion rights campaigners are advocating for the same measures. In Northern Ireland, where abortion became lawful relatively recently in October 2019, groups are petitioning the devolved government there to allow remote abortion provision and enable telemedical services and home use of both sets of pills as in the rest of the U.K.

Ann Furedi, CEO of BPAS, warned in a statement that women in Northern Ireland “are being forced to travel hundreds of miles via ferry and public transport to clinics in England at a time when they are also being told to stay at home to save lives.”

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New world news from Time: Dutch Museum Says van Gogh Painting Stolen in Overnight Raid

(THE HAGUE, Netherlands) — A Dutch museum that is currently closed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus said Monday a painting by Vincent van Gogh on loan for an exhibition was stolen in a raid overnight.

The Singer Laren museum east of Amsterdam says “Spring Garden” by the Dutch master was taken in the early hours of Monday.

Museum director Evert van Os said the institution that houses the collection of American couple William and Anna Singer is “angry, shocked, sad” at the theft of the painting.

The value of the work, which was on loan from the Groninger Museum in the northern Dutch city of Groningen, was not immediately known. Police are investigating the theft.

Before the closure, the museum was hosting an exhibition titled “Mirror of the Soul” with works by artists ranging from Toorop to Mondrian, in cooperation with Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum.

The museum’s collection has a focus on modernism such as neo-impressionism, pointillism, expressionism and cubism.

New world news from Time: Tokyo Olympics Rescheduled to Start July 2021

(TOKYO) — The Tokyo Olympics will open next year in July, the same slot scheduled for this year’s games.

Tokyo organizers say the opening ceremony will take place July 23, 2021. That is almost exactly one year after the games were due to start this year. The IOC and Japanese organizers last week postponed the Olympics because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The rescheduled Olympics will start July 23, with the closing ceremony on Aug. 8. The Paralympics were rescheduled to Aug. 24-Sept. 5.

New world news from Time: One of Europe’s Biggest Airlines Is Grounding Its Entire Fleet Amid Coronavirus

(LONDON) — EasyJet says it is grounding its entire fleet of aircraft amid a collapse in demand due to the COVID-19 crisis.

The Luton-based carrier has parked all 344 of its planes, removing a significant cost as it copes with the impact of the virus.

EasyJet also says it has a strong balance sheet and is in “ongoing discussions with liquidity providers.’’ The budget carrier also announced it has reached an agreement with the Unite union on furlough arrangements for its cabin crew.

The announcement comes as Scottish regional airline Loganair said it expects to ask for a government bailout.

Britain’s government has so far demurred from creating a rescue package for aviation but has said it is ready for negotiations with individual firms once they had “exhausted other options.”

New world news from Time: Bangladesh Garment Makers Say $3 Billion in Orders Lost Due to Coronavirus

(DHAKA, Bangladesh) — Bangladesh garment manufacturers says fashion retailers have cancelled or put on hold more than $3 billion in orders due to the coronavirus outbreak, though a handful have agreed to pay anyway.

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, Britain’s Marks & Spencer and Tesco and U.S. retailers like Walmart and Target.

Bangladesh is just beginning to feel the direct impact of the pandemic and its government has ordered a shut down of most businesses to help contain it. But shocks to the country’s export markets have been cascading into its economy for weeks.

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 $1.8 billion in orders have been put on hold and another $1.4 billion have been cancelled. Cancellations of planned orders, for April-December, amounted to nearly $1.7 billion, it said. The figures are conservative because they exclude orders that would go to multiple buyers.

The new data were incorporated into a report by Pennsylvania State University’s Center for Global Workers’ Rights and the Worker Rights Consortium, a Washington, D.C.-based labor rights organization,.

Bangladesh manufacturers and labor groups have been appealing to big retailers to honor their commitments to suppliers.

Sweden’s H&M has said it will pay suppliers for orders already under production.

PVH, which owns the Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Heritage brands, has told suppliers it is releasing invoices that had been put on hold since March 18. Later invoices will gradually be processed.

The commitment for orders already under production or finished products not yet shipped would enable factory owners to get financing to tide them over, said a letter to suppliers seen by The Associated Press.

“PVH and H&M are doing the right thing, in contrast to the long list of brands refusing to pay for goods workers have already made for them,” said Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium.

Big Western brands came under heavy pressure to improve conditions in factories after huge fires and other disasters killed hundreds of workers.

The store closures and other disruptions from the virus outbreak are straining a fragile supply chain in which big buyers have been squeezing their suppliers for years.

More than 1 million of the more than 4 million garment workers in Bangladesh already have lost their jobs or have been furloughed because of order cancellations and the failure of buyers to pay for canceled shipments.

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AP Asia Business Editor Kurtenbach reported from Bangkok.

New world news from Time: Prisoners Riot in Iran Amid the Region’s Worst Coronavirus Outbreak

(TEHRAN, Iran) — Prisoners in southern Iran broke cameras and caused other damage during a riot, state media reported Monday, the latest in a series of violent prison disturbances in the country, which is battling the most severe coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East.

Iran had temporarily released around 100,000 prisoners as part of measures taken to contain the pandemic, leaving an estimated 50,000 people behind bars, including violent offenders and so-called “security cases,” often dual nationals and others with Western ties.

Families of detainees and Western nations say Iran is holding those prisoners for political reasons or to use them as bargaining chips in negotiations.

The state-run IRNA news agency quoted Gov. Enayatollah Rahimi of the southern Fars province as saying a riot broke out at Adel Abad Prison, the main lockup in the city of Shiraz. Rahimi said prisoners broke cameras and caused other damage in two sections housing violent criminals. No one was wounded and no one escaped.

IRNA reported Friday that 70 inmates had escaped Saqqez Prison in Iran’s western Kurdistan province. Prisoners beat guards during the chaos, a local prosecutor said. Several inmates later returned on their own to the prison.

Since the beginning of the year, riots have broken out in prisons in Aligudarz, Hamedan and Tabriz as well, with some prisoners escaping, IRNA reported.

Iran has reported more than 38,000 infections and 2,640 deaths from COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.

The virus causes mild symptoms, including fever and cough, in most patients, who recover within a few weeks. But it is highly contagious and can be spread by people showing no symptoms. It can also cause severe illness and death, particularly in older patients or those with underlying health problems.

The virus has infected more than 720,000 people worldwide, causing more than 34,000 deaths, according to data gathered by Johns Hopkins University. More than 150,000 have recovered.

Elsewhere in the region on Monday, Jordan began releasing thousands of travelers who were quarantined for the last two weeks at five-star hotels on the Dead Sea in order to prevent the spread of the virus.

More than 4,200 Jordanians and 1,500 foreigners have been held at the hotels. The Jordanians will be sent home via Uber, the popular ride-hailing service, and are requested to remain at home for another 14 days.

Travelers with other nationalities will be released on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear where they would go, but authorities said they would be in contact with their embassies and the Foreign Ministry.

Jordan has reported 259 infections and three deaths from the virus. At least 18 people have recovered.

Jordan halted all flights and closed its borders on March 16. It later imposed a round-the-clock curfew for three days, before providing limited times for people to shop for basic goods on foot.

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Akour reported from Amman, Jordan. Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Joseph Krauss in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

New world news from Time: Tokyo’s Sudden Rise in Coronavirus Infections After Olympic Delay Sparks Questions

(TOKYO) — Before the Olympics were postponed, Japan looked like it had coronavirus infections contained, even as they spread in neighboring countries. Now that the games have been pushed to next year, Tokyo’s cases are spiking, and the city’s governor is requesting that people stay home, even hinting at a possible lockdown.

The sudden rise in the number of virus cases in Tokyo and the government’s strong actions immediately after the Olympic postponement have raised questions in parliament and among citizens about whether Japan understated the extent of the outbreak and delayed enforcement of social distancing measures while clinging to hopes that the games would start on July 24 as scheduled.

With the Olympics now off, many are voicing suspicion that the numbers are rising because Japan suddenly has no reason to hide them.

“In order to make an impression that the city was taking control of the coronavirus, Tokyo avoided making strict requests and made the number of patients look smaller,” former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said in a tweet. “The coronavirus has spread while they waited. (For Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike) it was Olympics first, not Tokyo’s residents.”

Experts have found a rise of untraceable cases mushrooming in Tokyo, Osaka and other urban areas — signs of an explosive increase in infections.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Saturday that Japan is now on the brink of a huge jump in cases as it becomes increasingly difficult to trace and keep clusters under control.

“Once infections overshoot, our strategy … will instantly fall apart,” Abe warned. “Under the current situation, we are just barely holding up.” He said a state of emergency is not needed just yet, but that Japan could at any time face a situation as bad as in the United States or Europe.

There was less of a sense of urgency displayed recently when many people visited parks for cherry blossom viewing, and Abe was only hinting at an Olympic postponement. But in a phone call with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach last Tuesday, Abe agreed to postpone the games until around the summer of 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

A day later, Koike asked Tokyo residents to stay home weekends until mid-April, saying confirmed cases of the coronavirus had shot up to 41 in a day from 16 earlier in the week. On Saturday, Tokyo reported 63 new cases, another single-day record. Koike said that infections in Tokyo were on the brink of an explosive increase, and that stronger measures, including a lockdown, could be needed if the spread of the virus doesn’t slow.

”Is this just a coincidence?” Maiko Tajima, an opposition lawmaker from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said during a parliamentary session last Wednesday, citing Tokyo’s sudden spike.

Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said there is “absolutely no relationship” between the Olympic postponement and the number of confirmed cases. Abe cited experts as saying a big reason for the recent rise is the growing number of cases that can’t be linked and a jump in infections from abroad. The prime minister told people to “be prepared for a long battle.”

A day after Koike’s warning, Abe convened a new task force under a recently enacted special law that would allow him to declare a state of emergency in specific areas, including Tokyo.

Japan’s strategy has been to focus on clusters and trace infection routes rather than testing everyone. A guideline issued Saturday still says that tests will be conducted per clinical doctors’ advice. Experts set a high bar for testing eligibility, allowing them only for those linked to clusters or those with symptoms, because they fear massive testing will fill up beds that are needed for patients in severe need, and cause a collapse of medical systems.

From Feb. 18 to March 27, Japan tested about 50,000 people, a daily average of 1,270 — fewer than the national daily capacity of several thousand. There was only a slight increase in the number of tests in the past week. In Tokyo, fewer than 2% of those who sought advice on a government hotline had been tested, according to health ministry figures. South Korea, by contrast, had tested about 250,000 people by mid-March.

Abe denied allegations that Japan had manipulated the numbers by limiting tests, or combined COVID-19 deaths with other pneumonia fatalities. “I’m aware that some people suspect Japan is hiding the numbers, but I believe that’s not true,” he said. “If there is a cover-up, it will show up in the number of deaths.” He said doctors told him that pneumonia patients with COVID-19 can be detected by CAT-scan or X-rays.

Many Japanese experts say testing is not for everyone and should be conducted selectively in an attempt to save hospital beds for those who really need them. “Tests are primarily for people who are suspected of having the virus, and should be based on clinical judgment by doctors,” said Shigeru Omi, a former World Health Organization public health expert who is on the government-commissioned panel.

Aki-Hiro Sato, a professor of information sciences at Yokohama City University, said in a recent report that Japan is now likely facing a second or third wave of the virus coming from Europe and the United States. Tokyo has about 430 cases, but Sato estimated an additional 1,000 might have been infected in Tokyo by late March if infections are accelerating at a pace similar to what’s happening in other countries. Including asymptomatic or light infections, about 10,000 people might be infected, he said.

As of Sunday, Japan had 2,578 confirmed cases, including 712 from a cruise ship, with 64 deaths, according to the health ministry. About 1,000 have recovered.

Under the current law, COVID-19 is designated as an infectious disease and whoever tests positive is routinely hospitalized, but a new government guideline would allow a triage of patients, which would include self-quarantine at home.

Right now, Japan has 2,600 hospital beds designated for infectious disease treatment, including 118 in Tokyo, but about one-third of them are already occupied by COVID-19 patients, according to Satoshi Kutsuna of the Disease Control and Prevention Center. Citing the recent spike, Kutsuna said that an “overshooting of infections is just about to begin, unfortunately.”

Abe has said the government would secure 12,000 beds and 3,000 ventilators to prepare for a worst case scenario.

“We fear a situation where severe patients start dying when the medical system collapses, and we must prevent that situation,” Kato, the health minister, said Sunday on a talk show on public broadcaster NHK.

New world news from Time: Iran Defends Its COVID-19 Response, Citing Economic Concerns

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s president on Sunday lashed out at criticism of the country’s lagging response to the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East, saying the government has to weigh economic concerns as it takes measures to contain the pandemic.

Hassan Rouhani said authorities had to consider the effect of mass quarantine efforts on Iran’s beleaguered economy, which is under heavy U.S. sanctions. It’s a dilemma playing out across the globe, as leaders struggle to strike a balance between restricting human contact and keeping their economies from crashing.

“Health is a principle for us, but the production and security of society is also a principle for us,” Rouhani said at a Cabinet meeting. “We must put these principles together to reach a final decision.”

“This is not the time to gather followers,” he added. “This is not a time for political war.”

Even before the pandemic, Rouhani was under fire for the unraveling of the 2015 nuclear deal he concluded with the United States and other world powers. President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement and has imposed crippling sanctions on Iran that prevent it from selling oil on international markets. Iran has rejected U.S. offers of humanitarian aid.

State TV on Sunday reported another 123 deaths, pushing Iran’s overall toll to 2,640 amid 38,309 confirmed cases.

Most people suffer only minor symptoms, such as fever and coughing, and recover within a few weeks. But the virus can cause severe illness and death, especially in elderly patients or those with underlying health problems. It is highly contagious, and can be spread by those showing no symptoms.

In recent days, Iran has ordered the closure of nonessential businesses and banned travel between cities. But those measures came long after other countries in the region imposed more sweeping lockdowns. Many Iranians are still flouting orders to stay home in what could reflect widespread distrust of authorities.

Iran has urged the international community to lift sanctions and is seeking a $5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.

Elsewhere in the region, Qatar reported its first death from the new coronavirus late Saturday, saying the total number of reported cases there was at least 590.

The tiny, energy-rich nation said it flew 31 Bahrainis stranded in Iran into Doha on a state-run Qatar Airways flight. But since Bahrain is one of four Arab countries that have been boycotting Qatar in a political dispute since 2017, Doha said it could not fly the 31 onward to the island kingdom.

“Bahraini officials have said they will send a flight for them at some undefined point in the future,” the Qatari government said in a statement.

Bahrain said it planned a flight Sunday to pick up the stranded passengers. The kingdom said it had its own repatriation flights scheduled for those still stuck in Iran and warned Qatar that it “should stop interfering with these flights.”

In Egypt, at least 1,200 Sudanese are stranded at the border after Sudan closed all its crossings, according to Egyptian officials at one of the crossings. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.

Sudan, which is still reeling from the uprising that toppled President Omar al-Bashir last year, has five confirmed cases, including one fatality. It’s one of several countries in the region where the health care system has been degraded by years of war and sanctions. Authorities closed the borders to prevent any further spread.

Sudan’s Information Minister Faisal Saleh said Sudanese authorities are looking for lodging in Egypt for the stranded passengers. He said authorities have quarantined at least 160 undocumented migrants who were sent into Sudan from war-torn Libya earlier this month.

Residents in Egypt’s southern city of Luxor say they are providing shelter to the stranded Sudanese.

“We have provided food and medicine to the Sudanese brothers,” said Mahmoud Abdel-Rahim, a local farmer. “People hosted women, children and elders in their homes.”

Egypt, which has reported 576 cases and 36 fatalities, imposed restrictions on cash deposits and withdrawals to prevent crowding at banks as payrolls and pensions are disbursed. Authorities began imposing a nighttime curfew last week.

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Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Samy Magdy in Cairo and Joseph Krauss in Jerusalem contributed.

New world news from Time: U.S.-Led Forces Pull Out of Third Iraqi Base This Month

BAGHDAD — The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq withdrew on Sunday from a military base in the country’s north that nearly launched Washington into an open war with neighboring Iran.

The K1 Air Base is the third site coalition forces have left this month, in line with U.S. plans to consolidate its troops in two locations in Iraq.

A rocket attack on the base in late December killed one American contractor and lead to a series of tit-for-tat attacks between the U.S. and Iran-backed Iraqi militia groups. The attacks culminated in the U.S.-directed killing of top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and a senior Iraqi militia leader, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

Coalition forces handed over the K1 base in the northern Iraqi province of Kirkuk to Iraq’s military, according to a coalition statement. At least $1.1 million of equipment was transferred to the Iraqis as 300 coalition personnel departed.

K1 has hosted coalition forces since 2017 to launch operations against the Islamic State group in nearby mountainous areas. Areas south of Kirkuk, and north of neighboring provinces of Diyala, Salahaddin and Nineveh remain hotbeds of IS activity.

The stretch of territory is also disputed between the federal Iraqi government and the autonomous Kurdish region, which has created security gaps benefiting IS militants. The coalition’s presence had at times been a mediating force between the two competing authorities.

A senior coalition official earlier this month claimed IS forces weren’t as able to exploit the “security gap” between Iraqi and Kurdish forces, as the militants did in the past.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that Daesh is free to operate in the way that they wish,” said the official, using the Arabic acronym for the IS group. “They’re still pretty constrained.”

The coalition official was speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

U.S.-led forces have already withdrawn this month from the Qayara base in Nineveh province followed by the Qaim base near the border with Syria. All were in line with plans to pull out from bases across Iraq and consolidate coalition forces in Baghdad and at the Ain al-Asad Air Base in the country’s western desert.

The plan has been in the works since late last year, the senior coalition military official said, and accelerated when Iraqi forces proved they were capable of facing the threat from the IS with limited coalition assistance.

Coalition officials said they would still assist Iraqi forces with air support and surveillance, but significantly cut back on training and ground operations, as the limited withdrawal continues.

Until last month, there were some 7,500 coalition troops based in Iraq, including 5,000 U.S. forces.

New world news from Time: Whales May Face More Fatal Ship Collisions as Ocean Temperatures Warm

(PORTLAND, Maine) — Climate change is imperiling the world’s largest animals by increasing the likelihood of fatal collisions between whales and big ships that ply the same waters.

Warming ocean temperatures are causing some species of whales in pursuit of food to stray more frequently into shipping lanes, scientists say.

The phenomenon already has increased ship strikes involving rare North Atlantic right whales on the East Coast and giant blue whales on the West Coast, researchers say. The number of strikes off California increased threefold in 2018 — to at least 10 — compared to previous years.

When whales are killed in a ship collision, they often sink and don’t always wash ashore. So scientists and conservationists say fatal ship strikes are dramatically under-reported.

Vessels strikes are among the most frequent causes of accidental death in large whales, along with entanglement in fishing gear. Conservationists, scientists and animals lovers have pushed for the International Maritime Organization to step up to protect the whales, but it won’t happen without cooperation from the worldwide shipping industry.

For the right whales, which number only about 400 and have lost more than 10% of their population in just a few years, the death toll is driving them closer to extinction, said Nick Record, senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, Maine.

At least three right whales died from ship strikes in 2019 — a small number, but still dangerously high for so small a population. All three deaths were documented in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence off Canada, where scientists have said the whales are spending more time feeding as waters off New England warm.

Scientists say the changing ocean environment with global warming is causing right whales and some other species to stray outside protected zones designed to keep them safe from ships.

“When one of their main food resources goes away, it means they start exploring new areas for food,” Record said. “And that means they’re encountering all new sources of mortality because they are going into these places where they are not protected.”

On the West Coast, where there was increase in whale ship strike deaths, scientists reported that the risk of such accidents has been growing in the 2000s as the blue whale population shifted northward in the North Pacific.

The increased ship strikes could necessitate “a broader area where ships don’t travel,” said Jessica Redfern, an ecologist with New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life and lead author of a study published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science in February.

Moving shipping lanes, and the possibility of enforcing slower speeds for large ships, is a subject of much debate among conservation groups, international regulators and the shipping industry.

Shippers say they have made attempts to work with conservationists, such as an ongoing effort to move a shipping lane in Sri Lankan waters to protect blue whales. In a statement to The Associated Press, the World Shipping Council expressed a willingness to keep working to keep shipping activity away from whales, but expressed skepticism about whether slowing vessels would help.

“Reduced ship speeds also increase the residence time of a ship in a given area where whales are active,” the council said. “Given those factors, there is some notable uncertainty about how effective reducing ship speeds is in lowering the risk of whale strikes.”

Changes to international shipping laws would have to go before the International Maritime Organization, which regulates shipping. The organization has taken numerous steps to protect whales in the past, including agreeing in 2014 to a recommendation for ships to reduce speed to 10 knots (11.5 miles per hour) off the Pacific coast of Panama for four months every summer and fall.

A spokeswoman for the organization declined to comment on the role of warming seas in increased ship strikes. But the subject has caught the attention of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees marine issues in the U.S.

Right whales, in particular, began showing a change in migratory behavior around 2010, said Vince Saba, a fisheries biologist with NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center. That happened as warm Gulf Stream water has entered the Gulf of Maine, a key habitat for the whales, he said.

“With that redistribution, the animals have moved into areas where there weren’t management rules in place to protect them. In a sense, the deck got reshuffled,” said Sean Hayes, head of the protected species branch for the fisheries science center.

Whales also face increased threat because ships now can travel in parts of the sea that were previously ice, said Regina Asmutis-Silvia, a scientist with Massachusetts-based Whale and Dolphin Conservation. As waters continue to warm, the whales will need more protections or the number of deaths will only grow, she said.

“The reality is that it’s time to actually implement the mitigation and that’s going to mean expanding areas where the speed rules would be in place,” she said.

New world news from Time: China Sends Medical Personnel, Supplies to Pakistan to Combat Coronavirus

(ISLAMABAD) — China sent a plane loaded with medical personnel and supplies Saturday to help Pakistan fight the spread of the coronavirus in one of the world’s most populous nations.

Across the Middle East and elsewhere, the outbreak has raised concerns that health systems strapped by multiple wars, refugee crises and unstable economies won’t be able to handle a growing numbers in cases. Iran is battling the worst outbreak in the region and state TV said Saturday another 139 people had died from the virus. That pushed the total fatalities in Iran to 2,517 amid 35,408 confirmed cases.

China has sought to portray itself as a global leader in the fight against the outbreak, which began a few months ago in its Wuhan province. The plane carrying aid to Pakistan was met at the capital’s airport Saturday by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureishi, who greeted the arriving Chinese doctors and officials.

China had previously sent ventilators and masks to Pakistan, a key link in China’s ambitious multi-billion-dollar One Road Project linking south and central Asia with China. China is also a key military supplier for nuclear-armed Pakistan, having supplied the country with missiles capable of carrying atomic weapons.

Pakistan, with a population of 220 million, has 1,408 confirmed cases of the virus, including 11 deaths from the illness it causes, COVID-19. Most of the infected people there were travelers returning from neighboring Iran.

Most people infected by the virus only experience mild symptoms, such as fever and cough, and recover within a few weeks. But the virus can cause severe respiratory illness and death, particularly in older patients or those with underlying health problems.

Pakistan has closed its borders with both Iran and Afghanistan, but has come under widespread criticism for its initial lax response to the virus.

Even as the pandemic spread to the country, Pakistani authorities allowed tens of thousands of Islamic clerics from around the world to congregate for three days outside the eastern city of Lahore. Some 200 of the clerics are now quarantined at the site of the gathering, a sprawling compound belonging to an Islamic missionaries group, Tableeghi Jamaat.

Many of the visiting clerics at the conference returned to their home countries, some of them carrying the coronavirus. The first two reported cases in the Gaza Strip attended the three-day gathering in Pakistan, and are now under quarantine in Gaza. Other linked cases have emerged elsewhere in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has refused to impose a countrywide lockdown saying it would devastate the country’s poor, but ordered non-essential businesses closed, including restaurants, money changers and wedding halls.

As of Saturday, the government still had not ordered mosques closed nationwide, instead relying on recommendations to worshippers not to gather for weekly Friday prayers. Pakistani officials are reluctant to defy local hard-line Islamic leaders, who can whip up mobs to protest any perceived insults to religion. Some of these clerics have taken to social media to urge the faithful to fill the mosques, saying it is their religious obligation.

Pakistan’s federal health authorities say the outbreak is so far concentrated in Punjab province, with 490 confirmed cases there, and Sindh province, which has 457 confirmed infections. Other cases are spread throughout several other regions, including the capital, Islamabad.

Health authorities in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province reported one additional death Saturday, a woman in the district of Dir. Ajmal Wazir, a spokesman for the provincial government, said the woman fell sick after returning from a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, before dying in a government hospital where she tested positive for the coronavirus.

In Iran, officials have repeatedly insisted they have the outbreak under control, despite concerns it could overwhelm the country’s health facilities.

Iran’s government has faced widespread criticism for not acting faster to contain the virus. Only in recent days have authorities ordered nonessential businesses to close and banned travel between cities — long after other nations in the region imposed sweeping lockdowns.

In Egypt the country’s chief prosecutor warned that anyone convicted of spreading “fake news and rumors” about the coronavirus could be fined or sentenced to up to five years in prison.

Public prosecutor Hamada el-Sawy’s statement came just days after Egypt expelled a correspondent for The Guardian newspaper over a report citing a study that challenged the official count of coronavirus cases in the Arab world’s most populous country.

Egypt’s Health Ministry has confirmed 576 cases of the virus and reported six additional fatalities, bringing the number of dead to 36.

U.S. Ambassador to Libya Richard Norland on Saturday urged the country’s warring groups to suspend fighting in and around the capital, Tripoli, as “an absolute necessity” to allow public health officials across the divided country to contain the epidemic.

Libya’s health system is near the point of collapse after years of civil war. It has so far reported three confirmed cases of coronavirus.

Authorities in Gaza, which has been under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade since the Hamas militant group seized power there in 2007, have reported nine confirmed cases.

Gaza’s health care infrastructure has been severely eroded by years of conflict and isolation. A major outbreak in the territory, which is home to more than 2 million Palestinians, could be extremely difficult to contain.

Organizers of weekly demonstrations along the Gaza-Israel frontier said they would cancel a rally that was scheduled for next week to abide by guidelines to avoid the spread of the virus. Khaled al-Batsh, head of the Great March of Return committee, said the rally was to mark the second anniversary of the protest movement.

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Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb in Beirut, Fares Akram in Gaza and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.

New world news from Time: Another U.K. Cabinet Member Has Developed COVID-19 Symptoms

(LONDON) — Another member of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Cabinet has developed symptoms of COVID-19, as the number of people with the coronovrius to die in the U.K. passed the 1,000 mark Saturday.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said he had symptoms of the disease and was self-isolating a day after the prime minister and Britain’s health secretary revealed they tested positive for the virus and were experiencing mild symptoms.

Johnson. 55. is the highest-profile political leader to have contracted the virus. Jack sat beside him in the House of Commons on Wednesday before Parliament shut down until at least April 21 to reduce the risk of infections.

Business Secretrary Alok Sharma said Johnson continues to show only “mild symptoms” of coronavirus.

“He continues to lead the government’s effort in combating Covid-19,” Sharma told reporters, “This morning he held a video conference call and he will continue to lead right from the front on this.

“What this has reminded us is that no one is immune and that is precisely why we ask people to follow the Government advice in terms of staying at home where they are able to do that,” Sharma said.

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Johnson has been accused of failing to follow the British government’s distancing measures after he, Health Secretary Matt Hancock, 41, and the chief medical officer of England began self-isolating with symptoms Friday.

The medical officer, Dr. Chris Whitty, has been advising the prime minister during the virus pandemic and not said if he was tested.

The editor of the respected British medical journal The Lancet published a scathing editorial Saturday that criticized the government for doing too little, too late to protect public health and leaving the U.K.’s public health system “wholly unprepared for this pandemic.”

Lancet editor Richard Horton wrote that despite numerous warnings, Britain’s strategy for containing the virus failed, “in part, because ministers didn’t follow WHO’s advice to ‘test, test, test’ every suspected case. They didn’t isolate and quarantine. They didn’t contact trace.

“These basic principles of public health and infectious disease control were ignored, for reasons that remain opaque.” Horton said.

Keith Willett, the National Health Service’s strategic incident director for COVID-19, disputed the editorial’s conclusions.

He said the NHS freed up 33,000 beds for virus patients – a third of all hospital capacity -and enabled 18,000 nurses and doctors to return to practice. Three new makeshift hospitals are being built.

“In respect of our NHS responsibilities and response, the facts clearly speak for themselves,” Willett said.

NHS employees have begun getting tested for the virus, a move seen as helping get self-isolating staff members back on the job.

The issue of health workers going into self-isolation has proved to be a big problem for the NHS because workers are sometimes in that position because they have an ill family member, not because they themselves are infected.

Meanwhile, authorities released photos of the inside of the ExCel center, an exhibition space which is being converted into a makeshift hospital. It will have two wards, and ultimately have a capacity of 4,000.

Initially, however, it will house some 500 beds with ventilators and oxygen.

The U.K. had 17,300 confirmed virus cases as of Saturday, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally. British officials reported that the number of deaths increased by 260 from a day earlier, bringing the country’s total for virus-related deaths to 1,019.

The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.

Please send tips, leads, and stories from the frontlines to virus@time.com.

New world news from Time: Young Medical Graduates Find Themselves on the Front Lines of Italy’s Coronavirus Fight

On the morning of March 8, Francesca Tamburelli was in her apartment in Heidelberg, Germany, when she learned that part of Italy was entering lockdown due to the spread of the novel coronavirus. Upon hearing the news the 25-year-old, who graduated from medical school just last summer, quickly boarded a bus to her hometown of Turin. Within a few days, she was working in a hospital in Cremona, a city in the epicenter of Italy’s outbreak, where nearly 500 patients suffering from COVID-19 are treated. Other than internships and volunteer work in Tanzania, it’s her first professional experience in a hospital.

Tamburelli is one of the many young doctors in Italy responding to the calls recently put out by local administrations to meet the shortage of medical staff in hospitals experiencing unprecedented levels of pressure. Italy is one of the worst affected countries by the coronavirus; over 86,000 people here have so far tested positive, and more than 9,000 have died. In the most severely hit cities like Cremona, entire hospitals have been converted to centers for the exclusive treatment of COVID-19 patients. Every doctor, whether they specialize in dermatology or gynecology, is drafted in to deal with the virus.

On her first day on the job, Tamburelli was assigned to the pulmonology ward, which treats patients with serious respiratory problems not yet requiring intensive care. After four days she was moved to the neurology department, converted to a ward where COVD-19 patients are in less critical condition. “I am learning a lot every day, but even specialists with 20 years of experience are learning. It’s a new experience for everyone,” she says. “The hospital hierarchical structure has changed suddenly: now it’s the pulmonologists and anesthesiologists who are at the top.”

Although her hospital hasn’t yet suffered from the shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) seen in many other medical facilities, she is taking a risk, like the majority of doctors in this moment. In total, nearly 6,500 doctors and nurses in Italy have contracted the disease. “I know there’s a strong chance that I‘ll be infected too,” says Tamburelli. “It’s not easy thinking that I don’t know when I’ll see my family and my boyfriend again, but they support me and I know I’m doing the right thing.”

Tamburelli is staying in a hotel with a former university classmate, Ornella Calderone, originally from Messina, in Sicily. Calderone, 32, has a degree in biology and one in medicine. Until last week she was studying for the entrance exam to specialize as a surgeon while working several temporary jobs. After applying to help at the worst-hit hospitals, she received a call within two hours. “It was an unknown number and I realized immediately that my life was about to change.” In the two days before arriving at the hospital she “studied like crazy”, she says, looking for practical information and updates on procedures she had never seen done live, such as ventilation. She is now on the pulmonology ward, one of the hospital’s most critical. “I can’t say that I felt prepared to set off immediately, but since I arrived in Cremona there hasn’t been a single second when I’ve felt I wasn’t in the wrong place,” says Calderone.

Not every recent graduate feels ready for the front lines. Paolo Rubiolo, 26, completed his studies in medicine at the University of Turin just last week and says he is now thinking about how he could best help out. “I don’t feel I’m ready to work on the hospital wards,” he admits. “I think I’d be more useful in helping provide services that have been disrupted due to the emergency, such as primary health care or medical care for the elderly who have problems other than the virus,” he says.

But the front lines are where the doctors are most needed. Apart from the government decree allowing hospitals to contract doctors just out of school, the Civil Protection Agency recently put out a call to create a task force of another 300 volunteers. Doctors Without Borders is providing support to hospitals in areas most in need, and reinforcements are also coming from other countries. Experts and supplies have arrived from China and Russia, while last week a brigade of 52 doctors and nurses from Cuba landed in Lombardy. In the parking lot in front of Cremona hospital’s main building is now occupied by a field hospital run by the medical staff of a U.S. Christian organization.

“It is easy to compare this scenario with that of a war, talking about trenches and heroes,” says Samin Sedghi Zadeh, 29, who has been working on the pulmonology ward in Cremona for the past three weeks. “But I don’t like this comparison. War is something we bring on ourselves, this is an emergency that we are all trying to get out of together.” Sedghi Zadeh was born in Italy to Iranian parents, and earned his medical degree in Turin a year and a half ago. Until the crisis began, he was employed as a doctor at an e-commerce company. He says he’s now glad to have the opportunity to be helpful in the public health system.

The three young doctors, Sedghi Zadeh, Tamburelli and Calderone, are technically only contracted to work for one month. But all think their contract will probably be renewed at least until the end of the emergency — whenever that is. Afterwards they’re all ready to go wherever the need is greatest. “The experience we are accumulating could be useful in other places in Italy or in the world, and I don’t think any of us will back out,” Sedghi Zadeh says. “When you are a doctor, you’re not an Italian, French or Greek doctor. You are a doctor and you go where you are needed”.