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What you need to know about the coronavirus today

Alarm on children’s exposure

While the overall number of cases appears to be relatively small so far, evidence is emerging of a possible link between the coronavirus pandemic and a severe inflammatory disease among infants arriving in hospital with fevers and swollen arteries.

Until now, children had been thought to be less vulnerable to the disease than adults. But UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Tuesday some children with no underlying health issues have died from a rare syndrome thought to be linked to COVID-19.

Separately, doctors in northern Italy have seen unexpectedly significant numbers of children under age 9 with severe cases of what appears to be Kawasaki disease, more common in Asia. Parents are advised to be vigilant while researchers investigate the cases and any link to COVID-19.

Australia, China tensions rise

Australia’s calls for an international inquiry into how the pandemic spread from China have been steadily adding to tensions between Canberra and Beijing that are now turning into thinly veiled threats over the future of their sizeable trading ties.

Cheng Jingye, Beijing’s ambassador to Australia, told a local newspaper that Chinese consumers could boycott Australian beef, wine, tourism and universities. Trade Minister Simon Birmingham retorted that Australia was a “crucial supplier” to China for imports like iron ore.

Burgers, coffee and the beach

New Zealanders queued on Tuesday for takeaway burgers, fries and coffee, after being freed from a month-long lockdown, while surfers lined up to hit Sydney’s Bondi Beach at dawn as it officially reopened. “It’s hard to explain how good this tastes,” Christopher Bishop, a New Zealand lawmaker, said on Twitter after posting a picture with a takeaway coffee cup.

Hard to hold Olympics without vaccine

Tokyo faces a tough task in hosting the Olympics next year without an effective vaccine, the head of the Japan Medical Association said.

“I am not saying that Japan should or shouldn’t host the Olympics, but that it would be difficult to do so,” the association’s president, Yoshitake Yokokura, said.

Laboratories in several countries are working on vaccines and drugs to fight the virus. The need for exhaustive clinical trials of their effectiveness and safety, however, means they could take months to become widely available.

Mostly mail: Ohio’s election

Ohio holds its primary election on Tuesday, a virtually all-mail contest, and a glimpse of what the U.S. presidential contest might look like in November if the virus threat persists.

Some voters, election officials and voting rights watchdogs are already alarmed, as Ohio’s system has been overwhelmed by the crush of requests for absentee ballots, which stands to deny voting rights for tens of thousands.

“There is a strong likelihood that the timing for mailing out ballots may not allow adequate time for voters to receive the ballot and return it by mail in time to meet the state’s postmark deadline,” the U.S. Postal Service said on April 20.

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Breakingviews - Corona Capital: Exor, Reliance, M&S, Wirecard
Read concise views on the pandemic’s financial fallout from Breakingviews columnists across the globe.

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Life under lockdown

Right groups condemned El Salvador’s president for releasing startling photos of hundreds of jailed gang members stripped to underwear and pressed together in formation, part of a punishment for an outbreak of violence. The images published at the weekend on the Twitter account of President Nayib Bukele’s office stood in contrast to social-distancing measures around the world.

The U.N. human rights office voiced concern about more than a dozen countries that have declared states of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic where police have arrested or detained hundreds of thousands of people and killed others. “Emergency powers should not be a weapon governments can wield to quash dissent, control the population, and even perpetuate their time in power,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet

Bosnia’s autonomous Serb Republic loosened restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, allowing seniors to leave homes for three hours each workday and some businesses to reopen. Bosnia declared a nationwide state of emergency on March 17, after the Serb Republic and the Bosniak-Croat Federation, its other autonomous half, separately declared emergencies.

Lawmakers from France’s ruling party accused their own government of withdrawing a vote on a planned coronavirus tracing app, saying they had been robbed of a chance to raise privacy concerns. The government last week bowed to pressure from MPs and promised a parliamentary debate and vote on the “StopCovid” smartphone software, which is designed to warn users if they come into contact with infected people.