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Welcome to Fresh Start.
This is People’s Daily app.
Here are today’s picks from our editors.
WHO declared COVID-19 a global emergency 'at the right time'
The World Health Organization (WHO) had declared COVID-19 a global emergency, the highest level of alert, at the right time, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.
"Looking back, I think we declared an emergency, at the right time... when the rest of the world had enough time to respond," Tedros told a virtual press briefing.
"It is not just one director general who comes out and declares a global emergency," Tedros explained. "We have experts, representing all over the world, coming together and discussing." (Xinhua)
Earliest coronavirus death occurred in Feb in US California
Health officials in California's Santa Clara County have identified two people who died from the new coronavirus in early and mid-February, making them the earliest known victims of the outbreak in the United States.
It was previously thought that the first US death from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, was a man in his 50s who died in Washington state on February 29.
News of the deaths in California could improve public health officials' understanding of how the outbreak took hold in the United States. (CGTN)
First virus case recorded in refugee camp in Lebanon
A Palestinian woman from Syria has become the first refugee living in a camp in Lebanon to test positive for the coronavirus, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Wednesday. It triggered a spate of testing to determine whether other residents have been infected.
Lebanon, a country of 5 million, hosts tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, most of them living in squalid camps that resemble jungles of concrete. They have no access to public services, limited employment opportunities and no rights to ownership. The country is also home to more than 1 million Syrian refugees and other Syrians who are residents. (AP)
China's first reusable medical protective suit gets market approval
China's first reusable medical protective suit has gained market approval, Beijing Medical Products Administration said on Wednesday.
The suit has passed clinical trials and can be reused 10 times, said an executive of Beijing-based BW Techtextile, the developer of the suit.
The suit can help alleviate the shortage of disposable medical protective suits, which was caused by large consumption and a long production cycle, according to the executive. (Xinhua)
89 S. African police arrested for flouting lockdown orders
Scores of government officials, including 89 police officers, have been arrested for flouting South Africa's coronavirus regulations, many of them for selling confiscated liquor, the police minister said on Wednesday.
More than 20,000 police officers have been deployed along with the military to enforce a five-week lockdown under which alcohol sales are prohibited.
President Cyril Ramaphosa last week rejected mounting calls to lift the ban on the sale of alcohol. (AFP)
Trump orders navy to destroy all Iranian gunboats if they harass US ships
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he had instructed the US Navy to destroy any Iranian gunboats if they harass US ships at sea.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on Sunday called for a full withdrawal of all American forces from the Gulf and West Asia.
The US Navy said last week that 11 IRGC Navy vessels "repeatedly conducted dangerous & harassing approaches against US naval ships operating in international waters of the North Arabian Gulf." (Xinhua)
Video shows thief stole van Gogh painting with sledgehammer
A Dutch crime-busting television show has aired security camera footage showing how an art thief smashed his way through reinforced glass doors at a museum in the early hours of March 30. He later hurried out through the museum gift shop with a Vincent van Gogh painting tucked under his right arm and the sledgehammer in his left hand.
Police hope that publicizing the images will help them track down the thief who stole Van Gogh’s “The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring 1884” from the Singer Laren Museum in Amsterdam while it was shut down due to coronavirus containment measures. (AP)
Thanks for listening, and be sure to catch us tomorrow.
And now for the Question of the Day:
What is the collective name for a group of lions?
(Answer: A pride.)
Today’s quote is from French writer Joseph Joubert (1754-1824).
"You will not find poetry anywhere unless you bring some of it with you."
(Produced by Nancy Yan Xu, Ryan Yaoran Yu, Brian Lowe, and Elaine Yue Lin. Music by Eugene Loner.)
