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Morning top 5: COVID-19 cases pass four million; ASTI backs Leaving Cert plan; Obama slams Trump virus-response

The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 around the world has now passed four million. More than...
Newstalk
Newstalk

08.48 10 May 2020


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Morning top 5: COVID-19 cases...

Morning top 5: COVID-19 cases pass four million; ASTI backs Leaving Cert plan; Obama slams Trump virus-response

Newstalk
Newstalk

08.48 10 May 2020


Share this article


The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 around the world has now passed four million.

More than 1.3 million are in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University in America, which has been compiling the figures.

Spain, which has the second highest number of cases, is among country's set to loosen restrictions from tomorrow.

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France is among the other European countries moving to ease restrictions tomorrow.

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The Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland has given its backing to the calculated grades system replacing the Leaving Cert.

After lengthy talks last night, the union said it still has a number of major concerns with the process, which it's calling on the Minister for Education and Skills to address as a matter of urgency.

However, it said it wants students to progress to the next stage of their lives, so it's advising its members to engage with the process.

The Teachers Union of Ireland gave its backing to the process yesterday.

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A Dublin TD is warning that people in Direct Provision have been "abjectly failed and endangered" by the State response to COVID-19.

164 residents of direct provision across the country are known to have tested positive for the virus, while around 75 residents at one centre in Co Kerry are all being treated as close contacts.

The Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland says conditions there are too cramped to make social distancing possible.

People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith said the State’s failure to provide residents the supports they need is an “abuse of human rights.”

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Barack Obama has described Donald Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as an absolute chaotic disaster.

In a leaked conference call with former members of his administration, the former US president said: "What we're fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided, and seeing others as an enemy - that has become a stronger impulse in American life."

He admitted the outbreak would have been bad “even with the best of governments,” he added: "It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset - of 'what's in it for me' and 'to heck with everybody else' - when that mindset is operationalised in our government."

White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany has described Mr Trump's handling of the coronavirus as "unprecedented" - and claimed the president's actions have helped save American lives.

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The British Prime Minister will this evening set out a roadmap for easing restrictions in the UK.

Boris Johnson will announce the plan in a televised address to the nation.

He has previously suggested some restrictions could be eased as soon as tomorrow; however, Cabinet Minister Brandon Lewis warned people not to get their hopes up.

He said officials would be "very cautious" due to the risk of a second spike in coronavirus infections.


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