Live COVID-19 updates: Trump to suspend green card immigration, Berlin marathon called off
People's Daily Online
(Xinhua) 11:23, April 22, 2020
BEIJING, April 22 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
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WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the White House will halt the immigration of green card recipients for 60 days while continuing to allow temporary workers on nonimmigrant visas to enter the country.
"I will be issuing a temporary suspension of immigration into the United States," Trump said at the White House briefing, citing coronavirus outbreak and jobs shortage.
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BERLIN -- The Berlin Marathon will not be staged on Sept. 27 due to a government ban on mass gatherings because of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers announced Tuesday, without giving any new dates.
"We have learned that all events involving more than 5,000 people will be banned until October 24," race officials said in a statement."That applies to lots of events, including the Berlin Marathon, which will not be able to take place on September 26-27 as planned."
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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed a relief package that would increase funding for small businesses, hospitals and coronavirus testing as the pandemic started to take a big toll on the U.S. economy.
The swift passage by a voice vote came after congressional Democrats reached an agreement with the Trump administration on the 484-billion-U.S.-dollar relief package earlier in the day.
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SANTIAGO -- Latin America and the Caribbean will see the largest contraction in economic activity in its history in 2020, due to the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, a United Nations agency warned on Tuesday.
According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) based in Santiago, Chile, the combined effect of pandemic-hit external and domestic factors "will lead to the worst contraction that the region has ever undergone."
ECLAC's latest report forecasts an average regional contraction of 5.3 percent for this year.
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JOHANNESBURG -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday night said that 500 billion rand (26.3 billion U.S. dollars) would be devoted to relief and economic stimulus measures to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We are announcing this evening a massive social relief and economic support package of R500 billion, which amounts to around 10 percent of GDP," Ramaphosa said in his TV address.
He said 20 billion rand (1.05 billion U.S. dollars) would go to the health sector, 100 billion rand (5.27 billion U.S. dollars) will be set aside for the protection and creation of jobs, and 2 billion rand (105.3 million U.S. dollars) will be made available to assist SMEs and spaza shop owners and other small businesses.
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NEW YORK -- The global total of confirmed COVID-19 cases topped 2.5 million Tuesday morning, reaching 2,501,156 as of 11:05 a.m. (1505 GMT), according to data by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
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