“Ostrich Alliance?” – leaders who deny threat of coronavirus
Dubbed the “ostrich alliance,” this report introduces some global leaders who are currently operating as if novel coronavirus is not a threat, in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic.
They’ve been dubbed the ‘ostrich alliance’ – the handful of world leaders who’ve taken the ‘stick your head in the sand and pretend it doesn’t exist’ approach to coronavirus. Like Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, who’s dismissed it as hysteria.
And in Belarus, president Lukashenko thinks positive thinking, drinking vodka and petting baby goats is the answer. Except many thousands of lives are being put at risk.
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In This Story: Alexander Lukashenko
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko or Alyaksandr Ryhoravich Lukashenka is a Belarusian politician, who has served as president of Belarus since the establishment of the office 26 years ago, on 20 July 1994.
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus and formerly known as Byelorussia or Belorussia, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital and most populous city is Minsk.
Brazil is the largest country in both South America and Latin America.
Its capital is Brasília, and its most populous city is São Paulo. The federation is composed of the union of the 26 states and the Federal District. It is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language and the only one in the Americas, as well as the most populous Roman Catholic-majority country.
Its Amazon basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to diverse wildlife, a variety of ecological systems, and extensive natural resources spanning numerous protected habitats. Brazil is classified as an upper-middle income economy by the World Bank and a newly industrialized country.
Covid-19 is the official WHO name given to the novel coronavirus which broke out in late 2019 and began to spread in the early months of 2020.
Symptoms of coronavirus
The main symptoms of coronavirus are:
a persistent new cough (non productive, dry)
a high temperature (e.g. head feels warm to the touch)
shortness of breath (if this is abnormal for the individual, or increased)
Latest News about Covid-19
Below are stories from around the globe related to the 2020 outbreak of novel Coronavirus – since the WHO gave the Covid-19 naming. Most recent items are posted nearest the top.