New world news from Time: Global Air Pollution Has Fallen Due to the Coronavirus Outbreak, but Experts Warn It Isn’t a Silver Lining

Around the world an unexpected impact of the economic shuttering due to the coronavirus outbreak is striking blue skies and clear water in places, from Venice to Beijing, Los Angeles to Bangalore, where only weeks ago pollution dominated.

COVID-19 has driven the global economy to a near-halt as the pandemic sweeps the globe. With factories shuttered and cars parked in garages, air pollution has dissipated in cities. The Chinese capital Beijing, known for the lung-choking levels of toxic pollution that shroud the city, has had the unusual sight of clear skies as factories in the region have shut down production. Given China’s huge problems with air pollution, which causes an estimated 1 million premature deaths a year, the reduction has offered unexpected relief.

But environmental science and policy experts warn not to call this a silver lining; any sustainable reduction in emissions and pollution will need to happen in a way that doesn’t totally splinter society. And, moreover, they expect that pollution levels will return when the coronavirus ebbs—and in some cases may come back with a vengeance.

“I see it and I don’t think of a silver lining,” says Wade McGillis, an associate professor of earth and environmental engineering at Columbia University. “I see it and I think: those poor people who are not moving around and sheltered in place, and their lives being ruined.”

In the short term, the change is seemingly miraculous. Satellite images from the European Space Agency show reduced levels of nitrogen dioxide, a byproduct of burning fossil fuels that causes respiratory problems, across major cities on the continent including Paris, Madrid and Rome as countries lock down and restrict travel. Cities across the U.S. have seen similar effects as Americans stay home in traffic-prone cities like Los Angeles and New York.

In China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide emissions declined by a quarter in mid-February from a few weeks earlier, according to an analysis published in Carbon Brief. Scientists recorded similar declines in other pollutants like nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter in the country, which has spent years trying to clean the air in smog-choked cities. “In terms of a shift or a change that really happened overnight, this has been unprecedentedly dramatic,” says Lauri Myllyvirta, author of the Carbon Brief report and lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

In theory, this sharp decline in pollution and carbon emissions is a positive development for the planet and the humans who live on it. For one, air pollution contributes to millions of deaths across the globe every year, aggravating cardiovascular disease and respiratory health. Clearer air may also deliver some brief relief to those suffering from COVID-19, making it easier to breathe for patients who are struggling, though health experts say that years of exposure to pollution has likely made many people more susceptible to the disease. “The damage is already done,” said Sascha Marschang, acting secretary general of the European Public Health Alliance in a statement. “Years of breathing in dirty air from traffic fumes and other sources will have weakened the health of all those who are now embroiled in a life or death fight.”

The decline in emissions may also seem like a win for the fight against climate change. Climate scientists have warned that global carbon emissions need to peak in the coming years for the world to have even a remote chance of keeping temperatures from rising more than 1.5°C by the end of the century, a level that would likely bring a range of dramatic consequences from mass climate migration to the loss of the world’s coral reefs. As a coronavirus-related economic fallout, carbon emissions could decline in 2020. But, without a concerted effort, they’re unlikely to stay down.

The situation in China shows how quickly emissions and the related air pollution can bounce back. By the end of March, coal consumption and nitrogen dioxide pollution had returned to normal levels, according to Myllyvirta. A bigger long-term question remains: will the country use this moment to fund green stimulus measures to foster economic growth? Such a program could rapidly expand clean energy infrastructure and energy efficiency improvements even though robust support for green infrastructure will not sustain the dramatic decline in air pollution and emissions in the short-term—at least not yet.

Across the globe, policymakers will need to answer similar questions. If policymakers make a concentrated and sustained effort to decarbonize our economy, today’s clear skies give us a preview of what may come—even if it takes decades to get there.

New world news from Time: China Says It’s Beating Coronavirus. But Can We Believe Its Numbers?

If you believe the Chinese authorities, the country’s battle against the novel coronavirus is all but won. But that claim is clouded by a fog of skewed data, political imperatives—and unreported cases and possibly deaths.

After several days of trumpeting just a handful of new COVID-19 cases, on Wednesday China once again switched up exactly what that means, and included asymptomatic infections of the coronavirus in its official statistics for the first time. The move follows criticism from health experts and the U.S. and other governments that it risked a resurgence of the deadly pandemic by downplaying the number of cases within its borders.

It was the eighth different definition of what constitutes a COVID-19 infection in China’s official statistics since the outbreak began in late December, with critics arguing that the lack of clarity has made it harder for other nations to adequately understand and prepare for the disease.

Speaking following a virtual meeting of the G7 March 25, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed the “intentional disinformation campaign that China has been and continues to be engaged in” regarding COVID-19. Pompeo had earlier told CNBC that, “The information that we got at the front end of this thing wasn’t perfect and has led us now to a place where much of the challenge we face today has put us behind the curve.”

It’s not normal practice for nations to routinely exclude positive COVID-19 tests on basis of symptoms, Yanzhong Huang at the Council of Foreign Relations told Voice of America, not least because multiple studies indicate asymptomatic carriers are responsible for a significant proportion of infections.

And despite the rollback of containment measures across China as daily new COVID-19 cases drop to just double digits, nearly all imported from abroad, the change in criteria raises doubts about whether the virus is truly defeated in the country where it initially emerged.

 

Still, the government says it is taking action to ensure its numbers are accurate. a meeting on Monday of China’s top committee to combat COVID-19, chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, “reiterated the imperative for open and transpiration information disclosure, and warned against any cover-up or under-reporting,” according to an official release.

As ever for Beijing though, political considerations appear paramount. After China’s number of total infections was surpassed by the U.S. and other nations, the country was able to leverage its apparent success as a sign its harsh internal measures had bought others time, while assuaging anger at its initial bungling and cover-up of the outbreak that has so far claimed more than 42,000 lives around the globe. (Research by the University of Southampton suggests 95% of infections could have been avoided if China had acted three weeks earlier.)

Mainland China officially stands at 82,294 infections with 3,310 deaths. But it also had 1,441 asymptomatic COVID-19 patients under observation as of Monday, according to the National Health Commission. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post newspaper reported March 22 that confidential documents indicate there were a total of 42,000 asymptomatic cases by the end of February that were excluded from official tallies.

Including those cases would mean China leapfrogs Italy and Spain back into second place overall for COVID-19 infections, though still behind the U.S., which had some 190,000 cases as of April 1.

But it’s just one of many concerns about official COVID-19 statistics in China. One study by six researchers from the University of Hong Kong found that 232,000 people in China may have been infected by Feb. 20, compared to the approximately 75,000 cases the country had officially reported on that date.

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The study, which was published March 27 and has not been peer reviewed, examined what the case numbers would have looked like if the same case definition—a set of standard criteria for classifying whether a person has a particular disease — had been used throughout the epidemic.

According to the study, China’s National Health Commission issued seven versions of the case definition from January to early March as health experts learned more about the virus. (Making the most recent update to include asymptomatic cases the eighth.)

Ben Cowling, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Hong Kong and one of the study’s authors, tells TIME that the case definition used in China was initially very restrictive, including only severely ill patients. It was gradually broadened to allow for the confirmation of milder cases, he says.

This underreporting hindered the world’s ability to understand to the severity of the outbreak in Wuhan, which has been under strict lockdown since Jan. 23 after the deadly novel coronavirus was traced to a seafood market in the city of 11 million.

“In Wuhan, in the early stages, testing was quite restricted to people with severe illness,” Cowling says. “That was one of the early limitations or missteps in the response was to focus on severe cases, not recognizing that there were a lot of other mild cases as well.”

TIME has spoken with many sickened Wuhan residents and relatives of presumed COVID-19 victims who were never included on official tallies during the outbreak’s peak. There are also countless reports of people collapsing in the street and bodies laid out outside apartment buildings. But only those who died after first being diagnosed with COVID-19 are included in official statistics.

One Wuhan resident who asked to remain anonymous for fear of official reprisals told TIME that her sick mother was refused admittance to a hospital during the Lunar New Year holiday in January and was just prescribed medicine and sent home without testing.

“I was really angry and scared at that moment,” she says. “I heard many reports of people who couldn’t check in hospitals and died at home; one even happened in my neighborhood. But the official report said there were only a few hundreds of death during that time. I don’t believe it, I think the death were 10 times more than reported.”

According to analysis by Radio Free Asia, the official death toll in Wuhan of 2,535 may have been underreported by almost a factor of 20. The news organization cites reports that seven funeral homes in the city were each handing out 500 funeral urns with the remains of suspected COVID-19 patients daily for 12 days from March 23 to the traditional tomb-sweeping festival of April 5, which would indicate up to 42,000 urns in total. Other estimates based on the capacity of funeral home furnaces puts the figure at 46,800. None of the funeral homes in Wuhan contacted by TIME were prepared to comment.

The lack of transparency is especially concerning as Hubei province is already loosening travel restrictions, with Wuhan’s lockdown due to end April 8, raising fears about a possible resurgence in infections.

Even as China announced with great fanfare March 19 that no new COVID-19 cases were reported inside the country for the first time since the outbreak began, at least one asymptomatic case was reported in Wuhan but excluded from statistics, according to Voice of America.

“There’s still ongoing concerns about the level of transparency around the data from China,” says Adam Kamradt-Scott, associate professor specializing in global health security at the University of Sydney. “Though the broader issues and what’s become increasingly apparent is that we’ve had a number of countries that have not put measures in place quickly enough.”

Reporting accurate numbers is hard even for countries historically invested in transparency, though. Many countries have struggled with adequate testing, which skews the official numbers of those infected. For one, the fatality rate in Spain and Italy stands much higher than average—at 9% and 12% respectively, compared to less than 2% in South Korea—not because they host a deadlier strain of the virus but because mild cases haven’t been tested, says Mario Esteban, a senior analyst specializing in E.U.-East Asia relations at the Elcano Royal Institute in Madrid.

Still, the worry, he says, is continued doubts over China’ numbers given its role as source of the pandemic even as it attempts to ramp up “mask diplomacy” by sending supplies to stricken countries overseas. “There’s a lot of concern about how this opacity inside China prevented greater international coordination and cooperation,” Esteban tells TIME. “Nobody believes China’s numbers.”

And not just outside China. On Tuesday, respected Beijing gynecologist Dr. Gong Xiaoming slammed as “hardly convincing” claims by China’s Ambassador to France that official statistics were accurate. “Many people [died] who were not hospitalized in time and so were not calculated in the total data,” Gong posted to his 4.7 million followers on China’s Twitter-like microblog Weibo. “The more honest you are, the more trust you gain.”

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

New world news from Time: These Are the 10 ‘Most Urgent’ Threats to Press Freedom Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

Journalists around the world are facing new threats as they document the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 40,000 people globally.

Mohammad Mosaed, a reporter in Iran who criticized the government’s response to the pandemic, has been barred from practicing journalism and suspended from social media. Family members of imprisoned Egyptian journalist Alaa Abdelfattah were detained for protesting on behalf of prisoners who are vulnerable to the spread of the virus. And freelance journalist Chen Quishi, who was covering the outbreak in Wuhan, China, has not been seen since early February, when he told family members he was planning to report on a temporary hospital.

All three journalists are on a new list of the most serious threats to global press freedom, including new risks in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, which causes the disease known as COVID-19.

The list — updated monthly by the One Free Press Coalition of nearly 40 news organizations, including TIME — identifies the 10 most urgent cases threatening press freedom around the world.

“Coronavirus is an unprecedented threat, and journalists are out there risking their safety to bring us information and help us grapple with the fast paced developments of the pandemic. Unfortunately we have already seen instances of authorities using the crisis as an excuse to clamp down on the critical press,” Courtney Radsch, advocacy director for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement last week.

“Every journalist is a coronavirus journalist, and we need to make sure that governments allow reporters to do their work safely and without fear of reprisal during this public health crisis.”

Read about the 10 journalists on the April list here:

1. Mohammad Mosaed (Iran)
Journalist, who warned about pandemic, banned from work and social media.

Freelance economic reporter Mohammad Mosaed awaits a court date, after intelligence agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arrested and interrogated him in February regarding social media accounts critical of government. The criticism included lack of preparedness to tackle the coronavirus outbreak. Until trial, authorities bar him from practicing journalism and suspended his social media accounts. Last year he endured 16 days in Evin prison for his tweets and was released on bail.

courtesy of Farid KamranNiaMohammad Mosaed

2. Maria Ressa (Philippines)
Editor facing potential detention, arrested again March 28.

Rappler editor Maria Ressa is scheduled for trial April 24, expecting a verdict on a cyber-libel charge brought by local businessman Wilfredo Keng regarding a May 2012 story. The relevant law took effect four months after the story in question was published. Depending how judges interpret the 2012 Cybercrime Prevention Act, Ressa could face six years in prison.

3. Alaa Abdelfattah (Egypt)
Family of jailed journalist protests prisons’ inaction to prevent COVID-19 threat.

While blogger Alaa Abdelfattah is held in Cairo’s Tora Prison, three of his family members face charges of unlawful protest, illegal assembly and obstructing traffic in their call to protect prisoners from the spread of coronavirus. They were released on bail exceeding $300 apiece. After reporting about politics and human rights violations, Abdelfattah has endured threats and been told he will never go free if he speaks of guards’ abuse.

4. Chen Qiushi (China)
Journalist covering coronavirus disappeared more than six weeks ago.

Freelance video journalist Chen Quishi has not been seen since February 6, when he informed family of plans to report on a temporary hospital. In late January, he had traveled from Beijing to the city of Wuhan in Hubei province and began filming and reporting on the coronavirus health crisis, according to his posts on YouTube. Friends running his Twitter account believe he is likely held in residential surveillance.

Chinese vlogger Chen Qiushi who detailed life — and death — amid coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan disappears, allegedly "forcibly quarantined" https://t.co/Um0xhwBBz1 pic.twitter.com/Vtq0mgHD98

— TIME (@TIME) February 12, 2020

5. Claudia Julieta Duque (Colombia)
Journalist fears for her life, amid government-orchestrated threats.

After 19 years of persecution and legal censorship, award-winning journalist Claudia Julieta Duque told IWMF that she learned on February 29 about an ongoing criminal threat against her life. According to Duque, former agents of the state institution in charge of protecting human rights defenders and at-risk journalists, called the National Protection Unit (UNP), were reportedly ordered to carry out intelligence activities from February 2018 to July 2019 to infiltrate Duque’s security scheme and threaten her welfare.

Stan Honda/International Women’s Media FoundationClaudia Julieta Duque of Colombia holds her 2010 Courage in Journalism Award at the International Women’s Media Foundation lunch on Oct. 19, 2010 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.

6. Martin Doulgut (Chad)
Imprisoned publisher undertook hunger strike while awaiting appeal.

No date has been set, following postponement of a March 12 appeal in the case of Martin Inoua Doulguet, publisher of Salam Info. He was found guilty on criminal charges of defamation and conspiracy in September, and sentenced to three years in prison. The privately owned quarterly newspaper reports on crime and politics in Chad, and Doulguet’s penalty includes a $1,675 fine and paying part of $33,514 in plaintiff damages.

courtesy of Martin Inoua DoulguetMartin Inoua Doulguet

7. Azimjon Askarov (Kyrgyzstan)
Journalist serving life sentence prepares for final appeal.

On April 6, a Kyrgyz court is scheduled to hear the final appeal in the case of award-winning journalist Azimjon Askarov. The ethnic Uzbek, who reported on human rights, has spent more than nine years imprisoned on trumped-up charges that included incitement to ethnic hatred and complicity in the murder of a police officer. The decade-long case has drawn persistent international condemnation, and Kyrgyzstan’s only imprisoned journalist’s health deteriorates.

courtesy of Sherzod AskarovAzimjon Askarov

8. Roberto Jesús Quiñones (Cuba)
Journalist subject to inhumane prison conditions.

Cuban journalist Roberto Jesús Quiñones has spent more than six months behind bars, experiencing worsening treatment. Staff listen to all of his phone calls, have served him food containing worms, and upon learning of his secretly publishing from prison, suspended family visits and put him in solitary confinement. A municipal court in Guantánamo sentenced him to serve one year as a result of “resistance” and “disobedience” when police beat and detained him for covering a trial as a CubaNet contributor last April and his refusal to pay a fine imposed on him following this incident.

9. Ignace Sossou (Benin)
Reporter experiences repeated retaliation for his work.

On two different occasions last year, Benin courts delivered prison sentences to Ignace Sossou, a reporter for privately owned site Web TV. First was a one-month imprisonment and fine of $850 for publishing “false information” about local business dealings. Then an 18-month sentence and fine of $337 for defamation and disinformation in his reporting public statements made by Public Prosecutor Mario Mètonou.

10. Jamal Khashoggi (Saudi Arabia)
Turkish and U.S. leaders continue pressuring for murdered journalist’s justice.

On March 25 Turkish officials indicted 20 Saudi nationals in the ongoing pursuit for answers surrounding Jamal Khashoggi’s brazen killing in Istanbul in 2018 and the Saudi crown prince’s role. That follows a March 3 news conference with U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, Representative Tom Malinowsk, and The Washington Post columnist’s fiancé, Hatice Cengiz, announcing that they are invoking procedures within the Senate Intelligence Committee to provide a congressional release of information from intelligence agencies.

New world news from Time: Saudi Officials Urge Muslims to Postpone the Hajj Until Coronavirus Pandemic Is Under Control

(DUBAI, United Arab Emirates) — A senior Saudi official urged more than 1 million Muslims intending to perform the hajj to delay making plans this year in comments suggesting the pilgrimage could be cancelled due to the new coronavirus pandemic.

In February, the kingdom took the extraordinary decision to close off the holy cities of Mecca and Medina to foreigners over the virus, a step which wasn’t taken even during the 1918 flu epidemic that killed tens of millions worldwide.

Restrictions have tightened in the kingdom as it grapples with over 1,500 confirmed cases of the new virus. The kingdom has reported 10 deaths so far. The Middle East has more than 71,000 confirmed cases of the virus, most of those in Iran, and over 3,300 deaths.

“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is prepared to secure the safety of all Muslims and nationals,” Saudi Hajj and Umrah Minister Muhammad Saleh bin Taher Banten told state television. “That’s why we have requested from all Muslims around the world to hold onto signing any agreements (with tour operators) until we have a clear vision.”

He spoke as the sound of crickets echoed in the background late Tuesday night at the Grand Mosque of Mecca, which normally draws thousands of worshippers throughout the day and night, circling it and praying toward it.

Saudi Arabia has barred people from entering or exiting three major cities, including Mecca and Medina, and imposed a nighttime curfew across the country. Like other countries around the world and in the Middle East, the kingdom also suspended all inbound and outbound commercial flights.

Each year, up to 2 million Muslims perform the hajj, a physically demanding and often costly pilgrimage that draws the faithful from around the world. The hajj, required of all able-bodied Muslims to perform once in their lifetime, is seen as a chance to wipe clean past sins and bring about greater humility and unity among Muslims.

Standing in Mecca in front of the cube-shaped Kaaba that Muslims pray toward five times daily, Banten also said the kingdom was already providing care for 1,200 pilgrims stuck in the holy city due to global travel restrictions. A number of them are being quarantined in hotels in Mecca, he said.

The state-run Saudi Press Agency cited Banten’s remarks in stories early Wednesday, saying that Muslims should “be patient” in making their plans for the hajj. The pilgrimage was expected to begin in late July this year.

The kingdom’s Al Saud ruling family stakes its legitimacy in this oil-rich nation on overseeing and protecting the hajj sites. Saudi King Salman, whose country is presiding over the Group of 20 nations this year, has said his government will cover the costs treatment of all coronavirus patients in the country, including visitors, foreign residents and those residing illegally.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani again slammed the U.S. sanctions on his country Wednesday. He said now would have been “the best time” for the Trump administration to ease sanctions on Iran, reeling from the region’s worst outbreaks of the virus.

“It was the best historical opportunity for America,” Rouhani said in remarks at the weekly Cabinet meeting. “They (the U.S.) could have apologized. This was a human issue and no one would criticize them for backing off,”

President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers and reimposed sweeping sanctions. The U.S. has offered humanitarian aid to Iran but authorities in Tehran have refused.

Iran has been urging the international community to lift sanctions, and is seeking a $5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund for the first time in decades.

New world news from Time: Japan Is Relying on Public Obedience to Clear Streets as Coronavirus Cases Rise

Japan’s coronavirus numbers have been ticking up, sparking alarm that it could be the next major country to see an explosive jump in infections. It’s also raising questions about whether Tokyo, where cases have tripled over the past 10 days, is about to go into a European-style lockdown — speculation the government is trying to squash. Even if Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declares an emergency, due to civil liberties enshrined in Japan’s postwar constitution the government cannot send police to clear people off the streets, as has happened in places including France, Italy and the U.K. The country’s strongest enforcement measure could be public obedience — and that may be enough.

1. Is Japan about to declare an emergency?

Japan’s ruling party politicians say: “No.” As of Wednesday, Japan had the fewest confirmed infections among Group of Seven leading economies at about 2,000 –compared to about 188,000 in the U.S. — despite being one of the first countries outside of original epicenter China to get confirmed cases. Abe’s government has said what could tip the scales would be infection numbers shooting up and strains appearing in the medical system. While Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has called for the government to make a decision, Abe said Wednesday there was no need to declare an emergency at this point.

2. What would an emergency declaration mean?

If Abe were to declare an emergency in a particular region, the main effect would be to increase the powers of the prefectural governor. The prevalence of the virus varies widely among the 47 prefectures. Under an emergency, a governor would be able to urge local people to avoid unnecessary outings, but residents would have the right to ignore the request, and there are no penalties for disobedience. Police wouldn’t be involved in enforcement, according to lawyer Koju Nagai of Answer Law Office in Kobe. While Koike warned last week that a “lockdown” could be coming, she cannot in fact restrict individuals’ movements. Businesses could be asked to shut down, and ordered to do so if they don’t comply with the request, but again there are no penalties for non-compliance. Punishments are, however, specified for a small number of offenses, including hiding supplies that have been requisitioned by local authorities.

3. Will people obey the requests?

The governors of Tokyo and surrounding prefectures asked people who didn’t need to be out to stay home last weekend and many did just that. A poll published by the Nikkei newspaper Monday showed 83% of respondents said they were avoiding going out, compared with 43% a month ago. Streets were mostly empty in the capital. Movie theaters shut down and businesses that stayed open saw fewer customers. In what could be seen as a partial success, the number of passengers on the Yamanote line that runs around central Tokyo fell by 70% on year, the Nikkei newspaper reported. Of course, there were people who ignored the requests, underscoring the limits of the powers of persuasion in a public health crisis.

4. What could be the economic hit?

The directive last weekend led companies including Starbucks Corp., retailing giant Aeon Co. and movie theater operator Toho Co. to temporarily shut some outlets. More businesses would likely follow suit if a request came again, but Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura on Tuesday warned that a lockdown of Tokyo or Osaka would deal a blow to the economy. The Tokyo metropolitan area alone accounts for about one-third of the country’s gross domestic product, which would make it the world’s 11th largest economy. Banks are expected to remain open under any emergency declaration, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange said it will continue to operate.

5. Could Japan eventually take a harder line?

While England has just introduced a fine of about $75 for individuals breaching lockdown rules and Hong Kong warned residents of prosecution for violating quarantine measures, any attempt to add teeth to the Japanese law would raise hackles in the country, where painful memories of early 20th century authoritarianism linger. The Japan Federation of Bar Associations opposed the legislation under which an emergency can be declared, even though most of its stipulations cannot be enforced. “Emergency situations were misused a great deal in Japan before the war,” said lawyer Nagai. “Japan was hurt by that in the past. Freedoms were limited, and once those freedoms are limited, it’s hard to restore them.”

New world news from Time: Facebook and Instagram Delete Posts From Brazilian President Bolsonaro After He Dismissed Social Distancing

(SAO PAULO) — Major social media companies are taking aim at Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s dismissal of social distancing, joining others in the country who have lined up against his controversial stance regarding the new coronavirus.

Facebook and Instagram removed posts by the far-right leader Monday night that showed Bolsonaro walking around outside capital Brasilia on Sunday and mingling with groups. It was yet another affront to World Health Organization recommendations to self-isolate as a means to contain the pandemic. The companies’ move came one day after Twitter also removed some Bolsonaro posts.

Facebook, which owns Instagram, said in a statement that it removes content “that violates our community standards, which do not allow disinformation that might cause real damage to people.”

Twitter justified its decision by saying in a statement that its rules prohibit content that runs “against public health information given by official sources and can put people at greater risk of transmitting COVID-19.”

Bolsonaro is one of few world leaders who say the virus itself will cause less harm than shutting down the economy. In a national address Tuesday night, while repeating that same argument, he changed his rhetoric, calling the pandemic he once described as “a little flu” as “the biggest challenge of our generation.” His speech was met with pot-banging protests for the 15th night in a row.

His defiance has received vocal backing from supporters — both on social media and in several cities where they staged demonstrations demanding life return to normal — but his attitude has also been rejected by mayors, state governors and judges. Even some members of Bolsonaro’s own administration have insisted on broad lockdown measures that run contrary to his statements.

Last Thursday, Bolsonaro issued a decree that added religious activities to the list of “essential services,” meaning churches could remain open even though governors had banned large gatherings. The decree was overruled by a federal court the following day.

Supreme Court Justice Marco Aurélio Mello authorized an opposition lawmaker’s request for Bolsonaro’s own prosecutor general to investigate an alleged crime committed by the president, the Supreme Court’s website said Tuesday. The allegation of endangering the public is based on Bolsonaro encouraging people to disobey isolation measures, calling concern over the pandemic “hysteria” and characterizing the virus itself as “a little cold.” The judge’s action requires the prosecutor general to issue a legal opinion.

In an interview with the newspaper O Globo, Prosecutor General Augusto Aras said that Bolsonaro is free to express his opinion and go out in public so long as he doesn’t issue any official decrees that counter broad lockdown guidelines, which could tread into territory that requires legal evaluation.

Despite the president’s open skepticism, senior members of his own Cabinet have insisted on hewing closely to guidelines recommended by international health authorities. “Always technical, always scientific, always doing the maximum we can to preserve lives,” Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta told reporters on Monday.

On Tuesday, Brazil’s health ministry reported 5,717 cases of Covid-19 and 201 deaths, the largest figures in Latin America. That included more than 1,100 new cases since the prior day — by far Brazil’s biggest single-day increase yet.

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 the elderly and people with preexisting health conditions, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

Bolsonaro has 12 million followers on Facebook, almost 16 million on Instagram and more than 6 million on Twitter. Social media was key for his election victory in 2018.

Twitter recently deleted posts from Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro for sharing speculation about possible unusual cures for Covid-19.

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.