Capital of Poland from Google Satellite. Image: LondonMMNews screen grab.

Poland to re-open schools and shopping malls next week

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki says the country’s hotels and shopping malls are going to open from Monday.

Poland is easing restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.

Moraweicki is currently in Brussels where EU leaders are discussing how to prop up industry that has been damaged by the pandemic.

Poland’s presidential election was delayed by a couple of weeks, but the government wants it to go ahead on the 10th May.

Poland to reopen hotels and shopping malls on May 4 https://t.co/SVATj30QwL pic.twitter.com/iHLvWWSjjM

— Reuters (@Reuters) April 29, 2020

Australia is moving towards being ‘COVID-safe’, but social restrictions will stay in place

Prime minister Scott Morrison stated that bans on international travel and large gatherings are not being lifted despite the government moving towards a “COVID-safe” economy and society.

He also urged people to join the 3 million Australians who have downloaded the CovidSafe app, which is designed to trace the virus.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Image: User:Clrdms, Kristy Robinson / Commonwealth of Australia / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)

Greg Hunt, the health minister said that securing 10 million more testing kits, enough to test throughout 2020, will mean an expansion of screening.

There have been 89 coronavirus related deaths in the country so far.

Australia plans to expand screening for the coronavirus after securing 10 million more test kits, a measure officials said is key to sustaining low transmission rates and allowing restrictions on social movement to be eased https://t.co/GuNN3aEj95

— Reuters (@Reuters) April 29, 2020

3 million people have caught the virus worldwide but over 15% of countries are entirely unaffected

Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Pacific islands of Nauru and Kiribati are among them.

Every country that has experienced cases of the virus has had at least one fatality.

Earth from Google Satellite. Image: LondonMMNews screen grab.

5 countries, which include Greenland, St Lucia and Yemen, had reported COVID-19 cases but have since rid themselves of it.

Simona Halep and Petra Kvitova have joined calls for a merger between the women’s and men’s tennis tours, suggesting that the game can come out of its virus suspension stronger.

The Women Tennis Association has been separate from the Association of Tennis Professionals since the former was founded in 1973.

Current differences include TV channel rights agreements, separate ranking systems and discrete rules when it comes to on court coaching.

Former world number 1 Simona Halep. Image: si.robi / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

Roger Federer also called for the merger on social media last week and the chairs of both tours have welcomed the suggestion.

“One product, one brand and everyone working together to achieve the same goals… the future of #tennis could be very bright after we come out of this crisis,” @Simona_Halep tells Reuters mind talks of men’s and women’s merger #ATP #wta https://t.co/2nB0Yxz569 pic.twitter.com/2H3GVmQe5K

— Ossian Shine 🇪🇺 (@ossianshine) April 29, 2020