Professor Mauro Ferrari submitted his resignation to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday, effective immediately. His four-year term ended abruptly just months after starting on January 1. Ferrari said he was "extremely disappointed by the European response to Covid-19."

Ferrari headed the European Research Council (ERC), a body established in 2007 with a multibillion-euro budget with the goal of supporting scientific discovery in the EU. The ERC's 'bottom-up' approach to distributing grants clashed with Ferrari's suggestion of launching a large-scale effort to fight the pandemic.

"I thought that at a time like this, the very best scientists in the world should be provided with resources and opportunities to fight the pandemic, with new drugs, new vaccines, new diagnostic tools, new behavioral dynamic approaches based on science, to replace the oft-improvised intuitions of political leaders."

The proposal was rejected by ERC's Scientific Council. Ferrari said he tried to get his ideas implemented through von der Leyen, but the very fact of him working directly with the Commission head "created an internal political thunderstorm. The proposal was passed on to different layers of European Commission administration, where I believe it disintegrated upon impact."

Ferrari is a US-Italian nanomedicine pioneer focusing on developing new cancer treatments.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed the government and the Central Bank to develop an additional business support program amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The program should be realized within five days, he said. It should allow companies

"to preserve employment and salaries" at a maximum rate.

"mitigate the downturn, soften the blow for businesses, whose losses are already rather substantial and may get even worse.

"restructure such debts. They can be repaid smoothly, monthly, in equal installments during at least one year after expiry of the deferral.

"ensure an option of repayment extensions on consumer and mortgage loans for citizens. I am asking the government to consider expanding this support measure so that it becomes available to a larger number of people."

Putin earlier declared the whole of April a non-working month with paid leave.

France's sole aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle had to suspend its Mediterranean Sea mission and turn back to port shortly after around 40 of its crewmembers were placed under medical observation with suspected Covid-19.

All symptomatic sailors have been "isolated" from the rest of the crew and are being constantly monitored by medical staff, the Defense Ministry said on Wednesday. "They have symptoms consistent with a possible Covid-19 infection. These first symptoms have appeared recently."

The illness struck the crew when the nuclear-powered ship was making its way to the Mediterranean Sea to participate in France's Operation Chammal, directed against Islamist militants in the Middle East. Now, it will return to the southern French port of Toulon, where it had originally planned to dock on April 23.

The US Navy had to isolate more than 4,000 personnel on board the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt off Guam, after around 100 of its crew had tested positive for Covid-19.