COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 11 May

Elias Hakizimana May 11, 2020May 11, 2020 0 Comments

world economic forum

Lockdown restrictions are being eased around the world, with children in many countries returning to school – including these pupils in Vietnam. Image: REUTERS/Yen Duong

his daily roundup brings you a selection of the latest news updates on the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, as well as tips and tools to help you stay informed and protected.
Today’s top stories: Europe continues to ease lockdown; Canada hikes wages of essential workers; and how COVID-19 also attacks the gut.

How COVID-19 is impacting the globe

Confirmed coronavirus cases have surpassed 4.1 million worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. Over 280,000 people have died from the virus, while over 1.4 million have recovered.
European countries continue to ease lockdown restrictions, including the UK, Switzerland, Spain and France, where people will be able to venture outside without a permit for the first time in weeks.

2. Canada giving essential workers the pay raise they ‘deserve’

The Canadian government has announced that it will be hiking wages for essential workers across the country who have been on the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If you are risking your health to keep this country moving and you’re making minimum wage, you deserve a raise,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced this week, making good on a promise to increase salaries.

Trudeau’s government will spend more than $3 billion to raise wages for essential workers making less than about $1,800 a month.

3. Coronavirus can attack your gut as well as your lungs

When we think of the symptoms of coronavirus, we think of the lungs – people on ventilators or with nasty coughs, struggling to breathe. That’s because a COVID-19 positive patient often presents with fever, persistent cough, muscle pain and fatigue.

But the molecule that the virus attacks in our bodies – Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 or ACE2 – is present not just in our lungs, but also in our gastrointestinal tract, potentially leading to symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.

There are a number of symptoms associated with COVID-19.

Image: King’s College London

4. COVID-19 could double the number of people on the brink of starvation

While COVID-19 is dominating headlines, another kind of emergency is threatening the lives of millions of people around the world: food insecurity.

“The two are very much intertwined, however. By the end of 2020, authorities estimate that upwards of 265 million people could be on the brink of starvation globally, almost double the current rate of crisis-level food insecurity,” writes Imam Ghosh for Visual Capitalist.