5 must-read coronavirus top stories from around the world on May 6th, 2020.
Here are the coronavirus top stories making headlines locally and around the world.
1. Donald Trump signals his coronavirus taskforce may soon be no more
While Australia’s National Cabinet may actually continue post-COVID, US President Donald Trump is not keen to keep coronavirus-specific operations running any longer than he needs to.
The taskforce is a combination of health and Government officials.
When asked why he was considering winding such efforts back, Trump said the virus effort couldn’t continue forever.
“Well, because we can’t keep our country closed for the next five years,” he said.
Read more: Trump to scale-back is COVID-19 taskforce
2. Tantalising post-COVID airfares to get people moving again
While there are no clear timeframes as to when borders will re-open, especially to international travel, Qantas is already starting up airfare deals for interstate jetsetters.
Qantas confirmed it was looking at one-way flights from Perth to Sydney or Melbourne starting at $89.
A one-way flight to Adelaide? Just $79.
Or how about $19 Jetstar fares between Melbourne and Sydney.
Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy confirmed this week that restarting “local tourism” was being seriously looked at.
Read more: Fly interstate from $19 post-COVID border closures
3. Medical researcher studying coronavirus shot dead in Pennsylvania
Bing Liu, 37, was researcher at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, looking into the coronavirus.
The University said he was “on the verge” of making a break through in his studies.
“Bing was on the verge of making very significant findings toward understanding the cellular mechanisms that underlie SARS-CoV-2 infection and the cellular basis of the following complications,” the school said in a statement.
Read more: COVID-19 researcher shot dead in the US
4. UK overtakes Italy in coronavirus death toll
While Italy was for weeks Europe’s coronavirus hotspot, the United Kingdom has now overtaken the country in coronavirus deaths.
About 29,427 people had died so far from the virus, yesterday creeping past Italy’s toll of 29,315.
But UK researchers have been leading the charge for a COVID-19 vaccine, which they say could be ready as early as September.
5. Man asked to pay $30 to have COVIDSafe App downloaded on his phone by Telstra staff
An elderly Victorian man said he wanted to download the COVIDSafe app after receiving a text from the Government encouraging him to do so.
But he got stuck halfway through.
Seeking help, he went to his local Telstra store, hoping they would help him download the application designed to help health authorities with contact-tracing.
But the store said if he wanted help downloading the Commonwealth app, he would have to pay.
No surprises, the local community and the internet were not happy Larry.
Read more: Telstra store tries to charge senior citizen seeking help downloading COVIDSafe help
More coronavirus coverage on SoPerth.com.au:
