The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.

TOP OF THE HOUR:

— AP Exclusive: ER staff saves lives, suffers in hot spot.

— China calls virus lawsuit brought by US state ‘very absurd’.

— Questions about letting children outside hang over Spanish authorities as new virus cases and deaths plateau.

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BEIJING — China has slammed a lawsuit brought against it by the U.S. state of Missouri over the global pandemic as “very absurd.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Wednesday the legal action had “no factual and legal basis at all,” and repeated defenses of China’s response to the outbreak that has largely subsided in the country where it was first detected.

The ministry and other Chinese government departments have strenuously denied accusations that officials delayed reporting on the extent of the outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, even as reports pile up that worries over political stability were placed above public health concerns.

Missouri’s top state prosecutor on Tuesday announced the lawsuit that alleges Chinese officials are to blame for the pandemic that has sickened around 2.5 million worldwide, thrown tens of millions out of work and devastated local economies, including in China.

The state’s action will likely end up being largely symbolic, however, since lawsuits against other countries typically don’t go anywhere because U.S. law generally prohibits them. Independent reports say Missouri has reported 215 deaths from the virus.

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MADRID — Spain saw its death total reach 21,717 cases as its government weathers criticism about how it will let children out of a six-week lockdown.

Spain’s health authorities said Wednesday that 435 more people have died in the last 24 hours. Authorities also reported 4,211 new confirmed infections, taking the total to 208,389 cases since the start of the pandemic.

Yielding to pressure from some parents, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced Sunday that children would be allowed out as of April 27, without specifying the exact rules for the outings.

Sánchez is appearing before Spain’s Parliament Wednesday to ask for a third two-week extension of the state of emergency that has given his government extraordinary powers to confine the country. The main opposition party has conditioned its support on a proper explanation of what children can do next week.

In another sign that the health crisis is becoming manageable, a large makeshift morgue in a Madrid ice rink is closing as the daily toll drops under 500 deaths from a high of 950 three weeks ago.

Only the United States and Italy have more deaths than Spain from the virus, and only the U.S. has more infections.

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PRAGUE — The number of people tested positive in the Czech Republic has surpassed 7,000 as the country has been easing restrictive measures adopted to contain the pandemic of the coronavirus.

Overall, 7,041 Czechs were infected with the virus, according to Health Ministry figures released on Wednesday, while 204 have died.

The health authorities registered 133 new cases on Tuesday as 8,301 tests were conducted that day. That’s down from 154 cases the previous day.

A total of 186,918 tests have been done in the country. On Tuesday, 412 patients needed hospitalization and 80 of them intensive care.

On Thursday, the country will start a two-week testing of 27,000 people across the country in a study to determine undetected infections with the coronavirus in its population.

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DHAKA, Bangladesh — The total death toll from the coronavirus in Bangladesh reached 120 while the number of total infections rose to 3,772 with another 390 positive cases on Wednesday, an official said.

Nasima Sultana, additional director general of the Directorate General of Health Services, said another 10 people, including seven men and three women, died over last 24 hours amid growing concern that the upward trend could continue over next few weeks as community transmission has taken place across the country.

Reports say many positive cases are asymptomatic, which poses a serious threat to the community. A nationwide lockdown is in place until Saturday to help contain the virus from spreading.

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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is urging world leaders draw lessons from the coronavirus pandemic and work together to protect the planet and the most vulnerable from environmental destruction and exploitation.

Francis issued the appeal Wednesday as he marked the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.

Francis has made environmentalism one of the hallmarks of his papacy, dedicating an entire encyclical to the need to protect God’s Creation. He denounced how a “structurally perverse” economic system allowed the rich to exploit the poor and turn the Earth into an “immense pile of filth.”

On Wednesday, he said: “As the tragic coronavirus pandemic has taught us, we can overcome global challenges only by showing solidarity with one another and embracing the most vulnerable in our midst.” Francis has marked the lockdown period by praying each day for different sectors affected by the pandemic, from doctors and nurses to inmates and the elderly.

Francis cheered initiatives of young people to remind older generations of their failure to protect the planet, agreeing that: “We have no future if we destroy the very environment that sustains us.”

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DELHI, India — After rolling out a contact-tracing app, Arogya Setu, that is aimed at helping citizens identify their risk of infection, India is planning to use wristbands that can be used in conjunction with the app.

A government document detailing the specifications for the wristband says that it could “trace contacts & connections of infected persons” and also “identify unknowing contacts with infected persons”. This, officials said, would be used to monitor the movement and body temperature of quarantined patients, both at home and at hospitals and help in they don’t break quarantine.

Officials added that the wristband may ease challenges for health workers by letting them know if potential patients have been to high-risk areas. The wristband would also be used for those delivering essential services, such as groceries or medicines.

Although India has partially eased one of the world’s strictest lockdowns this week, public health officials fear a surge in cases. The wristband has been envisioned as a way of countering the drain of manpower in trying to track the contacts of patients. Officials are currently reviewing its design and said it is likely to be rolled out in May.

The Arogya Setu app, available in 11 Indian languages, was launched on April last month.

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Correction Note: The above item has been corrected to show that the wristband will not be fitted with the app launched by the government earlier -- however the provision is there for the two to be used in conjunction.

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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s top infectious disease expert says patients can still test positive for the new coronavirus even after their bodies develop antibodies. The findings, based on a small sample of patients, came as officials explore why some COVID-19 patients relapse after their release from hospitals.

Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday that officials have so far tested 25 patients who developed neutralizing antibodies to resist further infections, but that 12 of them still tested positive for the virus.

However, virus samples collected from the 12 cases could not be cultivated in isolation, indicating a loss of infectiousness.

Jeong said her agency will continue to investigate the level of immunity antibodies provide and how effective they are in fighting off the virus.

She stressed that the findings don’t necessarily mean that a significant proportion of patients would be vulnerable to reinfections even after developing antibodies.

South Korea has so far reported 207 cases of COVID-19 patients testing positive for a second time after being diagnosed as fully recovered.

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ISLAMABAD — Pakistani doctors with the Pakistan Medical Association have written a letter pleading with the country’s religious clerics and the prime minister to reverse a decision to leave mosques open during the fasting month of Ramadan warning it could result in an explosion of COVID-19 cases saying numbers are already on the rise at an increased rate throughout the country.

Large gatherings will only worsen the numbers and overwhelm the health care system that has less than 3,000 acute care beds for a population of 220 million people, says Dr. Qaiser Sajjad, secretary general of the Pakistan Medical Association and one of the authors of the letter. The numbers are escalating at roughly 500 a day, he said, and the large gatherings at mosques during Ramadan is certain to overcome doctors and paramedics, he warned in an interview.

Pakistan on Tuesday recorded its largest 24-hour increase of more than 700 new cases. On Wednesday, another 533 new cases were recorded, bringing the total positive cases in Pakistan to 9,749. There have been 209 deaths.

The Pakistan government has called for social distancing in mosques but has left it to the local clerics at each mosque to enforce the regulations, even as mosques have openly defied earlier orders to limit their congregation to just five. Television footage continues to show adherents at mosques praying side by side.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has dismissed criticism, ordering law enforcement not to harass worshipers going to mosques even as other Muslim countries close mosques to stem the outbreak in their countries.

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SINGAPORE — Singapore’s coronavirus infections surged past 10,000 after it reported 1,016 new cases Wednesday.

The tiny city-state’s tally rose to 10,141, maintaining its position as the worst-hit nation in Southeast Asia. It marked a third day in a row of new cases above 1,000 but its death toll remained at 11.

The health ministry said the vast majority of the new cases are again linked to foreign workers’ dormitories, which have been locked down and virus testing ramped up to curb transmission.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Health officials say two people died with the coronavirus in California weeks before the first reported death in the United States from the disease.

Santa Clara County officials said Tuesday the people died at home Feb. 6 and Feb. 17. The first reported death in the nation from the virus was on Feb. 29 in Kirkland, Washington.

The Medical Examiner-Coroner received confirmation Tuesday that tissue samples sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested positive for the virus, officials said.

The announcement came after California Gov. Gavin Newsom promised a “deep dive” update Wednesday of the state’s ability to test for the coronavirus and to track and isolate people who have it. That is one of the six indicators he says is key to lifting a “stay-at-home” order that has slowed the spread of the disease while forcing millions of people to file for unemployment benefits.

“This will go to the obvious questions and queries that all of us are asking: When? ... When do you see a little bit of a release in the valve so that we can let out a little of this pressure,” Newsom said Tuesday.

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