Six In The Morning Monday 23 March 2020

OPINION

US finally gets a reality check thanks to COVID-19

March 23, 2020 

It takes a pandemic to break a fever.

The US is slowly shutting down, while its government is slowly – much too slowly – ramping up. For 40 years, the message that government is the problem, not the solution, has been etched on the soul of both major parties. But as COVID-19 kneecaps social and economic life, the need for urgent, massive government action has become painfully clear to Democrats and Republicans alike.

Postponement being considered - Japanese Olympics chief

Japanese Olympic authorities have come to the stage where they “cannot help” but consider measures including a postponement, according to Japanese Olympic Committee President Yasuhiro Yamashita. That’s just breaking on Reuters now.

The Guardian’s Rome correspondent Angela Giuffrida has filed this detailed piece on what other countries may learn from the experience in Italy, where many people struggled with the lockdown on daily life.

A national lockdown came on 10 March but the measures only really started to hit home a couple of days later, when bars, restaurants and other non-essential shops were closed across the country.

Coronavirus: Iran’s leader suggests US cooked up ‘special version’ of virus to target country

Deputy health minister accuses London of blocking sales of medical equipment because of US sanctions 

Borzou DaragahiInternational Correspondent @borzou

Iran’s supreme leader has suggested that the United States created “a special version” of the deadly coronavirus now ravaging the country.

The disease has killed at least 1,685 Iranians, including 129 in the last 24 hours. 

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s top political, military and religious leader, spurned offers of US help in a speech on Sunday marking the beginning of the Persian calendar year. He suggested Washington would exploit any acceptance of American aid. 

Back to work in China virus epicentre as restrictions eased

People in central China where the coronavirus was first detected are allowed to go back to work and public transport is restarting, as some normality slowly returns after a two-month lockdown.

The easing of restrictions in Wuhan city comes as Chinese health officials reported Monday no new local cases of the deadly virus, but confirmed another 39 infections brought from overseas.

Wuhan residents considered healthy can move around the city and take the bus or metro so long as they show ID, officials said.

Dear Vice President Pence: Please Use the 25th Amendment to Remove Trump and Save Us From the Coronavirus

Mehdi Hasan

March 23 2020

DEAR MR. VICE PRESIDENT,

It’s time. We can’t wait any longer. You need to invoke Section 4 of the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

You know what it says: “Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.”

Doctor's Note: What does having the coronavirus feel like?

A doctor explains how COVID-19 attacks the body and why it can make us feel so awful.

by Dr Amir Khan

When Dr Clare Gerada, a 60-year-old general practitioner (GP) and former chair of the Royal College of GPs in the UK, recently caught coronavirus, she said it was "the worst I have ever felt" and "worse than childbirth".

She tested positive for COVID-19 and wrote about her experience of the illness online.

Thankfully Dr Gerada is making a full recovery but hearing first-hand what it is like to have the illness got me thinking about how the virus attacks the body and why it makes us feel so bad.