What you need to know about coronavirus on Saturday, April 11

As the country recorded the biggest single-day jump in Covid-19 deaths, President Donald Trump announced he will create an "opening our country" taskforce. But as health experts study China and other countries that are starting to lift some of the harshest restrictions, they warn that "opening" the US should not be rushed.

Earlier this week, China started allowing healthy people to leave Wuhan, where the outbreak emerged in December. In Europe, several countries are now cautiously following in China's footsteps, Laura Smith-Spark writes.

Though mass gatherings and international travel remain largely off limits, some shops, outdoor exercise centers and schools are beginning to reopen in some countries including the Czech Republic, Austria, Denmark and Norway.

Experts say the countries preparing to ease restrictions have something in common: They were among the first in Europe to implement harsh restrictions and quickly ramp up coronavirus testing.

YOU ASKED. WE ANSWERED

Q: Does smoking weed increase the risk of Covid-19?

A: If you're smoking cannabis to ease your stress during the pandemic, experts say it's time to think twice. Smoking marijuana, even occasionally, can increase your risk of more severe complications from Covid-19. Smokers, people with chronic lung diseases, and those with moderate to severe asthma are among those at high risk for severe illness.

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WHAT'S IMPORTANT TODAY

Minorities hit hard by the coronavirus

Tributes have flooded in for health workers across the United Kingdom who have reportedly died from coronavirus-related complications, many of them from black and Asian communities.

The country's health minister, Matt Hancock, told the BBC today he was "struck at the high proportion of people from minority ethnic backgrounds and people who've come to this country to work in the [national health service] who've died of coronavirus."

British health authorities have not released race-related statistics on confirmed cases or fatalities, but questions are mounting about the epidemic's disproportionate effect on minority groups, Tara John and Aleesha Khaliq report.

Early data from the US shows that African Americans have died of coronavirus at alarming rates. They represent a high percentage of victims in Louisiana, Illinois, Michigan and New Jersey.

South Korea warns it will track quarantine violators

South Korea has issued an alert to its citizens: If you break quarantine rules, you will have to wear a tracking bracelet.

The public is on board: The government says more than 80% of respondents supported the use of electronic bracelets.

South Korea has emerged as a coronavirus success story. It moved quickly to develop a testing strategy, and those who tested positive were swiftly isolated. The country, with 51 million residents, has recorded some 10,000 cases and only 208 deaths.

Global food supply at risk

The United Nations warns that global restrictions to fight the coronavirus are straining food supply chains, Jessie Yeung writes.

Border closures, movement restrictions, and disruptions in the shipping and aviation industries have made it harder to produce food and transport goods internationally, potentially jeopardizing countries with few alternative food sources.

A boy from remote tribe dies of the virus

A teenager from an isolated Amazonian tribe in Brazil has died from Covid-19. The boy, a Yanomami from the village of Rehebe near the Venezuelan border, became the third indigenous person in Brazil to die from the epidemic.

The Yanomami people live in the remote rainforests and mountains of northern Brazil, and advocates say the virus spread among them through miners who had entered their territory illegally.

The number of coronavirus-related deaths in Brazil has almost tripled in a week. But President Jair Bolsonaro continues to push back against lockdown measures, dismissing coronavirus as a "little flu" and saying Brazil will suffer more if the economy collapses.

ON OUR RADAR

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