Turkey′s Erdogan clamps down further on media amid corononavirus crises

The Turkish president seems to be using the coronavirus crisis as a pretext to get rid of the few critical media outlets left in his country. Opposition politicians and journalists fear a new spate of censorship.

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https://www.dw.com/en/turkeys-erdogan-clamps-down-further-on-media-amid-coronavirus-crisis/a-53192898

USA Immigration: Trump to sign order to suspend immigration into U.S. - Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he will be signing an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

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https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-usa-immigration/trump-to-sign-order-to-suspend-immigration-into-u-s-idUKKBN223087

Coronavirus: 'Possible to be infected with Covid-19 more than once'

The leader of a team working on a coronavirus vaccine says scientists believe its possible to become infected with Covid-19 more than once.

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-52344676/coronavirus-possible-to-be-infected-with-covid-19-more-than-once

Star-studded One World: Together At Home concert kicks off. Here is how to watch it

Airing tonight, One World: Together At Home will be a music-marathon bringing together some of the world's most famous artists and tv personalities in the fight against coronavirus. Here is when and where to watch it.
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https://www.euronews.com/2020/04/18/concert-of-the-decade-how-and-when-to-watch-one-world-together-at-home-for-coronavirus-aid

The Netherlands: 3% of Netherlands population may have coronavirus antibodies, study says

A study of Dutch blood donors has found that around 3% have developedantibodies against the new coronavirus, health authorities said Thursday, an indication of what percentage of the Dutch population may have already had the disease.

The head of the National Institute for Health (RIVM), Jaap van Dissel, disclosed the results during a debate with parliament.

"This study shows that about 3% of Dutch people have developed antibodies against the coronavius," Van Dissel said. "You can calculate rom that, it's several hundred thousand people" in a country of 17 million.

There are 28,158 confirmed coronavirus cases in the Netherlands, but only the very ill and health care workers are currently being tested.

The blood donation service Sanquin announced it would begin testing on 10,000 samples weekly on March 19, but later said it would only disclose results to the RIVM.

Read more: 3% of Netherlands population may have coronavirus antibodies, study says | Daily Sabah

The Netherlands: See the Tulips Bloom in the Netherlands' Keukenhof Gardens Online

Keukenhof Gardens, the world's largest bulb-flower garden, is bringing its beautiful, springtime experience online for the whole world to enjoy. Here's how to view view the tulips from home.

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https://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/nature-travel/netherlands-keukenhof-tulip-bloom-virtual

Overcoming the lockdown: EU looks to apps as way of easing virus lockdown

As the EU's economy reels from virus lockdowns, Brussels unveiled a proposed roadmap Wednesday to ease restrictions on life and businesses, relying in large part on smartphone tracking apps.

That technology aims to spot localized COVID-19 outbreaks in real-time. Already many individual European governments are on the verge of rolling out their own tracking apps.

But the European Commission is concerned those go-it-alone initiatives will provide incompatible data sets, useless for compiling a whole picture across the single market where people and goods are meant to move freely.

It is also worried these apps could fall foul of strong EU data privacy rules and Europeans' deep-seated wariness of technological prying.

"The aim is to get the single market back on track so that it can work properly," Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told a videolink news conference as she unveiled the 16-page roadmap to phasing out lockdowns that have brought life to a standstill in many countries.

The document puts data collection and contact tracing at the top of its recommended measures, above expanding testing, reinforcing healthcare systems and providing more protective gear.

But it said the use of any apps should be "voluntary" and comply with personal data protection rules.

"Tracing close proximity between mobile devices should be allowed only on an anonymous and aggregated basis, without any tracking of citizens, and names of possibly infected persons should not be disclosed to other users," it said.

An EU official giving more details to journalists later called such apps "very useful to prevent localized flare-ups" of the virus.
 
But, he warned, "they will only work if citizens have full trust in those apps -- this is very important to stress"

Note EU-Digest: It is a good idea - and don't worry about your privacy on the internet, that has already been gone several year ago re: GPS, Bank Cards, Credit Cards, Phone cards etc., which carry just about all your private information.

Read more at: EU looks to apps as way of easing virus lockdown | News , World | THE DAILY STAR