UK, NY lockdowns extended, Duterte threatens to deploy troops, and more corona-craziness

RT
Fri, 17 Apr 2020 17:09 UTC

The UK will extend its coronavirus lockdown measures for at least a further three weeks, First Secretary of State Dominic Raab has confirmed.

Raab added that the government can't yet provide a detailed time frame for easing the restrictions.

If I start giving you artificial and arbitrary time frames, it would be the irresponsible thing to do, and I can't do that.

The country is currently in its fourth week of lockdown and social distancing, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the introduction of the emergency measures in a televised address to the nation on March 23.

A Cobra committee meeting was held today, as these measures were set to be reviewed after an initial three-week period.

The decision comes as the UK's coronavirus death toll reaches 13,729, according to the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) tracker - ranking fifth globally, behind only the US, Italy, Spain and France.

Raab hopes that extending the lockdown measures will ease the burden on Britain's National Health Service (NHS), flatten the curve and prevent further loss of life.

Comment: "Prevent further loss of life"... What does that even mean? Spreading out the death over more time to not overburden the hospitals? Prevent the deaths of those who can't receive treatment for other problems during the overload? Well, what about all the people who die as a result of the lockdown? Where's the math justifying all this?

Comment: Over in NY, Cuomo also extended his state's lockdown until May 15, i.e. 'stay-at-home', 'social distancing', closure of 'non-essential' businesses. He boasted that the policies have reduced the transmission rate to 0.9, and that the state will go through a "phased return" to normal. We'll see how normal that will be! Democrats are blaming Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, because the the Paycheck Protection Program intended to help small businesses - which they opposed extending - has run out of funds:

All $350 billion in the PPP was exhausted by Thursday, as over 1.6 million small businesses sought funds to keep running through the coronavirus lockdowns. Some 22 million Americans have already lost their jobs due to what senior public health officials described as an "inconvenience" that has lasted over a month already.

It appears that the Philippines' Duterte has gone full crazy (maybe all those other crazy things he has said and done weren't an act!). After threatening to have authorities kill anyone violating quarantine, now he's threatening to call in the troops:

Duterte has sent out his warning in a televised speech. "I am asking for your discipline, because if you don't want to [follow the rules], the military and police will take over. I am ordering them now to be ready," he said, as cited by local media.
The police and the military will enforce social distancing and curfew. It would be like martial law. You choose.
The president said that he could hand down the order as early as "next week."

Iran celebrated Army Day, but without the Army, choosing instead to parade medical equipment in a 'Defenders of the Homeland, Helpers of Health' parade:

And while London Police are acting like little tyrants with people violating social distancing diktat, they were cool with letting giant crowds of people violate said rules during #ClapForCarers, and even joining in the fun. Now that's smart and makes perfect sense.

Mayor Khan is recommending mandatory masks on public transport. China's economy saw its worst three months in decades, dropping almost 7%. And Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox Jews clashed with police over the lockdown.

The world has gone mad, but that's not really a new thing. Sit back and enjoy the show?

See also: