COVID-19 cases

IPL faces big financial hit

The world's richest Twenty20 league was approaching its halfway stage before it was suspended indefinitely on Tuesday following bubble breaches in two venues.

"The ballpark figure for revenue loss would be to the tune of 2000 crore rupees (20 billion)," Arun Singh Dhumal, treasurer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said.

"Given all our contractual obligations, we are yet to find out what would be the actual figure," he said, adding that the governing body's immediate priority was to ensure the league's foreign players returned home safely.

New record deaths as virus engulfs India

Its health ministry said 3,689 people had died within the past 24 hours.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the health minister on Sunday morning to review the crisis.

Hospitals are battling to treat patients amid a chronic shortage of beds and medical oxygen.

Amid the crisis, vote counting started on Sunday for elections held in four states: Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala - and the union territory of Puducherry.

New Fiji Covid-19 cases raise concerns amid surge in infections

Last night, the ministry announced five new cases of Covid-19 infections.

The new cases come amid 605 tests being carried out in 24 hours.

The first two cases were close household contacts of previously announced cases and that both persons had tested positive while in quarantine.

Health Secretary James Fong said one of the two new cases is the wife of an earlier positive case from Nausori on Viti Levu, while the other is the man's 52-year-old aunt, who worked at a garment factory.

Fiji confirms two new COVID-19 cases

The virus is now believed to have spread to many places on the main island, after one of the latest cases was reported to be a 54-year-old man, who is a care taker of the Ra Provincial Office on north- western Viti Levu.

 There is no clear indication of how he may have gotten the virus.

Health officials are conducting contact tracing and tests to see if he is linked with any of the recent cases.

He had showed symptoms such a body aches when he visited the Nanukuloa Health Centre on 24 April and is now in the isolation ward at Lautoka Hospital. 

Fiji confirms two more community Covid-19 cases

The latest victims are the children of the Suva woman confirmed with the virus on Wednesday.

They are a 14 year-old girl and a seven-month-old baby boy.

The 40 year-old woman and her family, from the Wainitarawau settlement in Cunningham in Suva, are thought to have caught Covid-19 at a funeral in Lautoka last week.

That event was also attended by a hotel maid, who had tested positive for Covid-19 earlier.

More Covid-19 cases in Bougainville

This comes as the office of Papua New Guinea's Pandemic Response Controller confirmed another 376 cases of the virus in the past 48 hours to Monday at noon.

It increased the country's total number of cases to 9,952.

The death toll is now 91.

As well as Bougainville, eleven other PNG provinces reported new cases that were included in the Controller's update.

     

Covid-19 cases in PNG more than 8,000

The country’s Covid-19 related death toll remains at 68.

Seven provinces recorded new Covid-19 cases on Friday April 9 including the National Capital District, Simbu, Western, Central, the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, and Eastern Highlands.

Meanwhile PNG born rugby champion and UNICEF ambassador Will Genia is urging Papua New Guineans to take Covid-19 seriously and dispel the misinformation and misunderstanding around the vaccine.

Speaking on the Pacific podcast Vosa, Genia said combatting misinformation is key.

 

French Open could be postponed because of increasing coronavirus cases

France entered a third nationwide lockdown on Saturday, which president Emmanuel Macron said he expected to end in mid-May.

The Grand Slam is due to take place at Roland Garros from 23 May to 6 June, with qualifying the week before.

In 2020, it was postponed to the autumn because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"We are in discussion with [the French Tennis Federation] to see if we should change the date to coincide with a possible resumption of all sports and major events," Maracineanu told France Info radio.

PNG Covid-19 death toll rises to 67, total cases 7,406

This was among 368 new COVID-19 cases reported for the same period, increasing the total number of cases in PNG to 7,406.

A government statement said the recent deaths were recorded in the National Capital District, New Ireland and Morobe provinces.

The country’s Covid-19 cases now stand at 7,406 with 67 known deaths.

Twenty provinces including the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) have reported cases.

3-day lockdown for Greater Brisbane as more Covid-19 cases confirmed

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said six of the cases were overseas acquired and four were community transmission, two of those were linked to the 26-year-old landscaper from Stafford who tested positive to the highly infectious UK strain on Thursday night.

ABC News reports two of the cases have an unknown origin.

Greater Brisbane will now go into a three-day lockdown as of 5:00pm today and masks will be mandatory.

This includes the Ipswich, Logan, Redlands, Moreton and Brisbane council areas.