News headlines in March 2020, page 5

STOCKHOLM / ROME, Mar 19 (IPS) - The human factor is intimately involved in the origin, spread, and mitigation of the Coronavirus and we cannot afford to ignore that our future existence depends on compassion and cooperation. Response matters!

BERLIN and KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 19 (IPS) - It is now clear that most East Asian government responses to novel coronavirus or Covid-19 outbreaks have been effective. In Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan, the number infected have remained relatively low despite their proximity and vulnerability, while containment in China and South Korea has been impressive.

HAMILTON, Canada, Mar 19 (IPS) - As the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic spreads, guidance on how wash your hands and other measures intensifies.

These recommendations are important, but they are hardly of value to the 40% of humanity lacking access to even the most basic hand washing requirements — soap and water ¹.

Mar 19 (IPS) - The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, recently declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation, has taken the world by surprise. The good news is that tremendous scientific and technological advances have permitted scientists to understand a lot about this virus in a short amount of time.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 19 (IPS) - Mina Setra remembers the story clearly. As a Dayak Pompakng indigenous person from Indonesia, when  visitors from the city who came into her community; brought bottled water with them because they were worried about the water not being suitable for drinking. 

FOZ DO IGUAÇU, Brazil, Mar 18 (IPS) - "It used to be complicated, I would have lunch with the flies," recalls Pedro Colombari, laughing, on his 400-hectare farm where he fattens 5,000 pigs and raises 400 cattle outside of a small town in southern Brazil.

SYDNEY, Mar 18 (IPS) - The coronavirus pandemic seems to have finally forced governments around the world to ditch their obsession (at least for the moment) with delivering budget surplus. As stock markets tumble, stimulus measures, worth billions of dollars, are announced to boost investor confidence and consumer spending to keep economies running.

IBADAN, Nigeria, Mar 18 (IPS) - With the increasing domestic and regional demand for diversified and processed food, there is a high opportunity to develop the agrifood business in Africa as well as a need to create opportunities to nurture agripreneurship among the continent's growing ranks of unemployed youth."

CARACAS, Mar 18 (IPS) - During his 1992 run, Bill Clinton, then elected US president, made "It's the economy, stupid!" a household phrase. Coined by campaign advisor James Carville, it pointed out economic and health issues as part of the strategy resulting in the accession of this relatively obscure governor of Arkansas into the White House.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 18 (IPS) - The coronavirus disease, otherwise known as COVID-19, was first reported in Wuhan, China on the last day of December 2019. When it began to spread rapidly, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared it a public health emergency of international concern on 30 January 2020.