US states loosen lockdowns as virus drug approved
by Sebastian Smith, with AFP bureaus
More US states eased pandemic lockdown measures on Friday even as coronavirus deaths rose, while American authorities greenlighted an experimental drug for emergency use on patients.
Washington also renewed its warnings to Beijing a day after President Donald Trump threatened to slap tariffs on China, with the White House accusing Chinese authorities of “slow-walking” coronavirus data and putting US lives at risk.
India meanwhile announced that the world’s biggest lockdown — on most of the nation’s 1.3 billion people — would continue for two more weeks.
But several European countries have begun to ease restrictions that have shut in half the world, joining some Asian nations that feel they have already turned a corner.
The United States also took a major step in that direction, with Texas becoming the largest state yet to ease lockdowns, despite reporting 50 deaths on Thursday, the most there since the outbreak began.
Receptionist Diane Curtis headed to a mall in Houston to buy shoes and “get out of the house.”
“Eventually it’s like every other sickness that comes around,” she said of coronavirus. “It’ll go away but it’ll probably take time.”
With about 1.1 million confirmed cases, nearly 65,000 of them fatal, the United States has the highest tolls of any country.
“Hopefully, we’re going to come in below that 100,000 lives lost, which is a horrible number nevertheless,” Trump said Friday at the White House, after suggesting earlier in the week the country could expect 60,000 or 70,000 fatalities.
Many Americans are wearying of stay-at-home orders. More protests demanding the end of restrictions took place in several states Friday including California, where officials had re-closed beaches to avoid a repeat of last weekend when crowds flocked to the shoreline.
Trump, eager for a turnaround, announced Friday that US regulators have authorized the use of remdesivir to treat serious virus cases. A major clinical trial found that the antiviral helped patients with serious cases of COVID-19 recover faster. (AFP)
