Covid-19

Cape Town's main roads were eerily quiet on Friday morning, the first day of the three-week lockdown ordered by President Cyril Ramaphosa to suppress the Covid-19 pandemic.The Department of Transport issued a statement, saying 22 347 traffic officers have been deployed across the country to "ensure compliance with the published regulations".With the lockdown in place,…

With the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc on the economy, many Californians are scrambling to find the money to make their next rent payment. Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order Friday that will give some tenants much-needed time to pay their landlords. Two days after Newsom announced four of the country’s five biggest banks and…

By Ed TubbToronto StarKenyon WallaceInvestigative ReporterFri., March 27, 2020timer6 min. readAccording to the official count, the COVID-19 outbreak is growing rapidly in Ontario. But even as the number of confirmed patients has gone up sharply this week, a Star analysis has found the outbreak may be one-third larger, or more, than has been officially reported.As…

There’s a new COVID-19 test from healthcare technology maker Abbott that looks to be the fastest yet in terms of producing results, and that can do so on the spot right at point-of-care, without requiring a round trip to a lab. This test for the novel coronavirus causing the current global pandemic has received emergency…

As part of its response to the public health emergency triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Commission has been leaning on Europe’s telcos to share aggregate location data on their users. “The Commission kick-started a discussion with mobile phone operators about the provision of aggregated and anonymised mobile phone location data,” it said today.…

Two new Apple product reviews published on our site and our YouTube channel this week: the 2020 versions of the MacBook Air and the iPad Pro, reviewed by Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel and executive editor Dieter Bohn, respectively. Nilay and Dieter also co-host The Verge’s podcast The Vergecast, so on this week’s episode, they dive…

Tesla is reducing the number of on-site workers at its Nevada gigafactory by 75% in response to the growing spread of COVID-19, according to an update from Storey County, where the massive plant is located. The information, which was first reported by Bloomberg, was part of a larger update on the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center…

Oil prices tumbled Friday after Saudi Arabia said it hasn't recently held talks with Russia to end a price war that began earlier this month.Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, plunged by 6 percent to $24.77 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the U.S. benchmark, slid 4.9 percent to $21.50.The two countries have…

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today announced more help for small and medium-sized businesses to keep employees on the payroll during the COVID-19 crisis, including a 75 per cent wage subsidy and guaranteed interest-free loans.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced new measures Friday to help small and medium-sized businesses avoid layoffs during the COVID-19 crisis. (Sean Kilpatrick…

When Sara De Simone, a 32-year-old doctoral student in Pisa, Italy, went to the pharmacy, she was told that she was out of luck. Plaquenil, the medication she takes to treat her Sjögren’s syndrome, a chronic autoimmune disease, has become almost impossible to find in recent days — ever since reports came out that its…