Coronavirus

The filing highlights the financial weakness of South America's carriers, following a similar bankruptcy earlier this month by the region's second largest airline, Avianca.

But unlike Avianca, which experienced management turmoil and losses, Chile's LATAM posted profits for the last four consecutive years totaling more than US$700 million. LATAM had also approved a dividend payment this year, in contrast to other carriers that have halted payouts.

Trials in several countries are being "temporarily" suspended as a precaution.

It comes after a recent medical study suggested the drug could increase the risk of patients dying from Covid-19.

US President Donald Trump has promoted the anti-malarial drug, despite warnings from public health officials that it could cause heart problems in Covid-19 patients.

Trump also said he was taking the drug himself to ward off the virus, but said in Sunday he was not taking it any more.

In a statement, President Lionel Aingimea said this means all tests done on positive and negative samples were all correct.

The President strongly emphasised that no-one on island is positive for the virus.

The positive samples used in the validation testing process were brought in from overseas and contained in a safe enclosure until validation testing for the machines was carried out.

All those samples are harmless and since been removed for the proper testing on crew and quarantine residents which commenced at the weekend.

In his address Friday, President Aingimea reiterated that the individual named Jaxon Olsson, who participated in a drill last week, does not have coronavirus.

Olsson volunteered to assist the Coronavirus Taskforce and the Nauru Police Force in the drill as the main actor.

The drill took place in Ijuw on Thursday, 14 May.

The President thanked Olsson for his role in assisting with the drill.

There are 30 people under quarantine at the Meneñ hotel, including five airline crew and 23 at Canstruct's Anibare Village.

Border restrictions, closures and halting of international travel are affecting the airline.

Nauru Airlines has scheduled fortnightly passenger flights to and from Brisbane and a few freighter flights each week that bring supplies for the island.

As Minister for Nauru Airlines, President Lionel Aingimea said, “This affects our airline drastically, in a financial sense,” adding that in 2021 the airline is looking at 80 per cent cells operations which means revenue for the airline will be down by millions.

"I look at that as, in a certain respect, as being a good thing because it means our testing is much better," he said at the White House.

The US has 1.5 million coronavirus cases and nearly 92,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In second place is Russia, with nearly 300,000 confirmed cases.

What did Trump say?

On Monday, Mr Trump was hosting his first cabinet meeting since the US outbreak began.

The equipment was made available through the Disaster Resilience for Pacific Small Island Developing States (RESPAC) project. Amongst other priorities, the project aims to strengthen the Republic of Nauru’s preparedness for the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The PPE was presented to Health Attaché, Sharon Aremwa by the RESPAC Project Manager and UNDP Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Advisor, Noud Leenders in Suva recently. .

The plan appears to be in its early stages, with all districts in Wuhan told to submit details as to how testing could be done within 10 days.

It comes after Wuhan, where the virus first emerged, recorded six new cases over the weekend.

Prior to this, it had seen no new cases at all since 3 April.

Wuhan, which was in strict lockdown for 11 weeks, began re-opening on 8 April.

The global death toll has also risen to above 277,000.

The United States remains the worst-hit country, accounting for over a quarter of confirmed cases and a third of deaths.

Experts warn the true number of infections is likely to be far higher, with low testing rates in many countries skewing the data.

Daily death tolls are continuing to drop in some nations, including Spain, but there is concern that easing lockdown restrictions could lead to a "second wave" of infections.

The global death toll has also risen to above 277,000.

The US remains the worst-hit country, accounting for over a quarter of confirmed cases and a third of deaths.

Experts warn the true number of infections is likely to be far higher, with low testing rates in many countries skewing the data.

Daily death tolls are continuing to drop in some nations, including Spain, but there is concern that easing lockdown restrictions could lead to a "second wave" of infections.