News Headlines - 22 April 2020

▽WHO warns that few have developed antibodies to Covid-19 | The Guardian

“Easing restrictions is not the end of the epidemic in any country,” said WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a media briefing in Geneva on Monday. “So-called lockdowns can help to take the heat out of a country’s epidemic.”
But serological testing to find out how large a proportion of the population have had the infection and developed antibodies to it - which it is hoped will mean they have some level of immunity - suggests that the numbers are low.
Coronavirus tests: how they work and what they show
“Early data suggests that a relatively small percentage of the populations may have been infected,” Tedros said. “Not more than 2%-3%.”

▽Shrimp Virus To Hit China’s Seafood Industry, Another Blow To Food Security

Shrimp farmers in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong have reported outbreaks of Decapod iridescent virus 1 (Div1), a virus that affects shrimp populations. The disease is not known to be harmful to humans, but can decimate shrimp in just a few days. Fears are now mounting about the potential of the virus to threaten the country’s shrimp industry, much like the African swine flu (ASF) crisis did to China’s pork supplies last year. The news comes amid heightened attention on the vulnerabilities and dangers of the current broken food system due to the coronavirus pandemic.

▽Iran launches its first military satellite | Al Jazeera

Iran has announced it successfully launched the country's first military reconnaissance satellite after months of failures, a programme the United States alleges is a cover for missile development.
"The first satellite of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been successfully launched into orbit by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC]," said the elite forces' official website on Wednesday.

▽Fast Retailing to Reopen Two Uniqlo Stores in Berlin BoF

Casual clothing chain Uniqlo plans to reopen two stores in Berlin this week, the first in Europe to resume business after nearly all of its stores there were closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Japan's Fast Retailing Co. operates 98 Uniqlo stores in Europe. All are closed except for one in the Swedish capital of Stockholm where stores and schools remain open, a company spokeswoman said.

▽U.S. videogame sales surge in March as lockdown keeps people indoor - Reuters

Videogame sales in March hit their highest in over a decade, as Americans turned to games like “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” and “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” because of lockdowns to stem the spread of the coronavrius.
Sales of gaming hardware, software and accessories in the United States jumped 35% to $1.6 billion last month from a year earlier, according to data from research firm NPD.
The sales and growth are the highest for the month since March 2008, when sales grew over 52% to $1.8 billion, NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said.