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Radio Gdansk News in English: Corona Virus Updates in Poland and Beyond

In the latest Corona virus updates, the world’s richest economies are pouring unprecedented aid into the global economy as coronavirus cases continue to grow around the world. Yesterday, the number of deaths in Italy exceeded those in mainland China, where the virus originated, for the first time.

With over 245,000 infections and over 10,000 deaths, the epidemic has stunned the world and drawn comparisons with painful periods such as World War Two, the 2008 financial crisis and the 1918 Spanish flu. U.N. chief Antonio Guterres warned that a global recession was almost certainly going to happen. “This is a moment that demands coordinated, decisive, and innovative policy action from the world’s leading economies,” Guterres told reporters via a video conference. “We are in an unprecedented situation and the normal rules no longer apply.” Many European countries are considering imposing stricter conditions on their citizens movements in order to slow the spread of the virus.

In more positive Corona related news, a team of Polish scientists has isolated the virus that causes the disease using a sample taken from the country’s first patient to have tested positive, according to the PAP news agency.

Researchers from the Małopolska Centre of Biotechnology at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and the National Institute of Public Health and Hygiene in Warsaw are now working to isolate the virus from samples collected from other patients. Identifying local virus strains will make it possible to track the spread of the epidemic and more quickly respond to any future modifications in the virus according to the head of the Warsaw based Institute.

He added that such studies could prove to be helpful in developing drugs, treatment regimens and diagnostic methods. Their data will be shared with the global research community through public databases, he said as scientists around the world battle to develop treatments and a vaccine for the Covid-19 disease.

The ‘Pietas Domini’ altar, dating from the first half of the 15th century, has returned to Gdańsk, following an agreement between the city’s St. Mary’s parish and the Evangelical Church in Germany.

The altar, which is described by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as one of the most valuable of Poland’s war-time art losses, was taken away from St. Mary’s Basilica in Gdańsk by German art conservators in 1942. The Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage said the German Evangelical Church decided to return the altar “in the spirit of an ecumenical understanding between the churches and reconciliation between the two nations.” One of the finest examples of mediaeval sacred architecture, St. Mary’s Basilica in Gdańsk is among the largest brick churches in the world. It can hold 25,000 worshippers.

And finally, a light-hearted story to end the week. A pregnant cow who swam 4 miles (around 6 and a half kilometres) to shore after being swept away by Hurricane Dorian in September has given birth to a „miracle” calf.

A photo of the so-called „sea calf” was posted on Facebook this week by a group hired to return the pregnant mother back home to North Carolina’s Cedar Island. The mother, Dori, was one of three cows swept away by the hurricane according to an article in the Charlotte Observer. When Hurricane Dorian generated an 8-foot ( or 2-meter) „mini tsunami,” it washed the calf’s mother and dozens of other animals away, including 28 wild horses that died. The lucky calf also has one brown and one blue eye which is a rare trait in animals. Getting close to the mother and calf for a photo has been a difficult task, because these feral cattle run at the sight of humans according to the state’s National Park Service.

Weather

Today is going to be partly cloudy with sunny intervals and a gentle breeze. Temperatures will reach 9 degrees centigrade (48 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day, dropping to 1 degree centigrade overnight. Saturday will have sunny intervals in a moderate breeze. Temperatures will only reach 2 degrees centigrade during the day, dropping to -2 degrees centigrade overnight.

Martin Caren/ako