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Coronavirus: Trump To “Suspend” Immigration Into The United States

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Faced with the “invisible enemy” of the coronavirus, President Donald Trump announced “temporarily suspend” immigration to the United States to “protect American jobs” and the economy of the country, today the most affected by the pandemic.

“In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!” tweeted Donald. Trump.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1252418369170501639

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The coronavirus, which he calls “invisible enemy”, has already killed more than 42,000 people in the United States, the new front line of the disease. Nearly 22 million Americans have lost their jobs due to the epidemic.

Since its appearance in central China in December, COVID-19 has killed at least 167,594 people worldwide. China has brought the disease under control, which then hit Europe (two-thirds of all deaths worldwide) and today the United States.

Fewer cars, too much oil

The president-billionaire, candidate for re-election in November 2020 and whose limitation of immigration is one of the usual hobbyhorses, gave no details on how he intended to apply this measure, and for how long. But he could sign a decree to that effect as early as Tuesday, according to the Washington Post.

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Faced with the expansion of the epidemic, he had in January restricted travel with China, before banning travel between the United States and most European countries in mid-March.

Donald Trump has since been impatient to relaunch the economic machine in the face of efforts to fight the disease, and has encouraged protesters angry at containment measures in some states.

This announcement comes at a time when oil experienced a historic collapse on Monday: the price of a barrel of futures fell below zero for the first time, the consequence of a vertiginous fall in demand and American reserves close to saturation.

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The price of an American barrel of crude oil listed in New York for delivery in May has collapsed to -37.63 dollars: these American barrels have lost all their value and investors wishing to dispose of them have no other choice than to put your hand in the pocket to find a taker.

The price of black gold recovered on Tuesday morning in Asia, returning slightly above zero.

“The problem is that at the moment in the world, nobody drives a car,” summed up American President Donald Trump in his own way. “The factories are closed and the businesses are closed”.

“Not out of the inn”

At least 4.5 billion people in 110 countries or territories are currently living in confined or forced to limit their movement in an attempt to stem the spread of COVID-19 or nearly six in ten humans (approximately 58%).

Beyond the human and health drama, the economic cost promises to be enormous for a modern ultra-connected world, which lives at the rate of growth indices. Impatience also gains populations forced to cloister themselves, in relative comfort in Europe, but in poverty and misery on other continents.

In Europe, several countries – Germany in the lead, but also Austria, Norway, Denmark – have started to relax containment measures, while retaining measures of “social distancing”.

But “going too fast would be a mistake, that’s what worries me,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who called for maintaining discipline. “We are at the beginning of the pandemic and we are still far from leaving the hostel,” she said.

The famous Munich Beer Festival, scheduled this year from September 19 to October 4, has been cancelled, local authorities announced on Tuesday. “The risks were simply too high” with more than 6 million visitors expected, including a third from abroad and Asia in particular, they said.

It is a first since the Second World War, but this gigantic celebration, “famous” also for its excesses linked to alcohol abuse, had already been the victim of an epidemic: between 1854 and 1873 it could not to stand because of cholera.

However, in most of the countries concerned, cultural places, bars, restaurants and sports grounds remain closed. Schools and high schools will gradually reopen. And large gatherings such as concerts or sports competitions are always prohibited.

France, Spain and Italy, very affected by the epidemic, are also preparing for the first measures of deconfinement in the days or weeks to come. The French government has already relaxed confinement in institutions for the elderly.

An epidemic of corruption?

On the Old Continent, Italy was the most affected country (24,114 deaths), followed by Spain (20,852), France (20,265) and the United Kingdom (16,509), according to the last balance sheet established from official sources.

Some of these countries are recording encouraging signals: in Italy, the number of patients fell on Monday for the first time. And in the UK, 449 deaths were recorded Monday, the lowest daily toll since April 6.

In Italy, the first relief measures will not be taken before May 3. But little by little the companies reopen, even if it is in a partial way and with a lot of precautions.

In contrast, in the United Kingdom, the containment introduced on March 23 has been extended by at least three weeks. In France, nighttime clashes have been reported in recent days with the police in popular neighbourhoods in the Paris suburbs and in Strasbourg (east), new signs that confinement is starting to weigh under the spring sun.

In the Chinese city of Wuhan, the former epicenter of the epidemic in China, life is slowly resuming its course: wedding photos, swimming, picnics … Even if the total return to normal is not immediately this metropolis of 11 million inhabitants, cut off from the world for 76 days and which saw its closure lifted on April 8.

Most food shops remain closed: “We have very few customers,” sighs Ms. Han, a 27-year-old woman who owns a small soy milk stand. “People are afraid of asymptomatic cases”.

Meanwhile, some states are taking advantage of the pandemic to attack press freedom a little more, China and Iran in particular “have put in place massive censorship mechanisms,” deplored the organization Reporters Without Borders ( RSF).

Fueling a “pandemic of information”, “armies of state trolls in Russia, China, India, the Philippines and Vietnam are using the weapon of disinformation on social networks,” according to RSF.

“The eruption of the COVID-19 epidemic increases the risk of corruption” and the health sector is particularly exposed to it, for its part warned the Council of Europe body responsible for the prevention of Corruption.