Coronavirus positive: good news round-up - a great summer of old sport
If you’re failing to live in the moment and take each day as it comes, the coming summer could be a worrying prospect. House arrest is all fun and games until the temperature troubles the mid-twenties.
Fortunately the BBC is on hand to placate the masses by raiding its own archive. It announced on Thursday that it will be replaying some of the most exciting sporting events in semi-recent history. At last, television is giving the people what they want: the olden days.
Sport fans are forever looking backwards to the highlights of the past, and some of what’s coming is sure to stand up to a contemporary re-assessment. The London 2012 Opening ceremony remains an unimpeachable moment of brilliance. James Bond! David Beckham! The queen jumping out of a helicopter! Though peerhaps take it as your cue to turn over when the interminable procession of competing nations begins.
There’s plenty of other semi-retro sport to look forward to, including a replay of 2012’s Super Saturday (Jessica Ennis-Hill! Mo Farah! That nice long-jump fella!) We’ll also have the very best of Wimbledon during July, when this year’s championships would have been taking place. Never mind that sticking on classic matches is what happens every year when it rains.
There were some excitable rumours earlier in the week that Euro 96 would be rebroadcasted in full. That’s sensibly been reined in to only the most exciting games. There is no need for anyone to sit through France 0 Czech Republic 0 again. Some memories are best left undisturbed.
Elsewhere we had more heartwarming applause on Thursday night for our carers, Jessica Carpani rounds up some of the more notable rounds of it.
Shop to your heart’s content, there is no proof the coronavirus can be spread while at the supermarket or similar, according to a German virologist.
And I was tickled by Bette Midler’s attempt to make a facemask:
Here’s Harriet Barber with the rest of today’s happier news:
British Gas engineers across the UK will deliver food parcels to help struggling food banks. In 48 hours 1,750 engineers have signed up to the programme, with an aim to deliver 50,000 food parcels a month nationwide.
The Robert Koch Institute for disease control has announced that Germany’s measures are “working” at curbing the outbreak. The rate of new cases in Spain has also been slowing – its daily increase is now less than eight per cent and there has been almost no change in the number of patients in intensive care, according to the health minister.
Students of the Music School in Havering, Essex, are going to put on live music performances for the neighbourhood from their windows, every Friday at 5pm, to boost morale.
Scientists in Australia have started testing two potential coronavirus vaccines, made by Oxford University and US company Inovio Pharmaceutical. The vaccines are being tested on animals in “milestone” lab trials, with the first results expected in June.
A Facebook group set up for a few friends in Perth to help healthcare workers has "exploded" and spread across the world. Over 140,000 members have joined in Australia alone. The Adopta Healthcare Worker page aims to match volunteers with "adoptee" healthcare workers struggling with increased work hours.
This weekend, Sainsbury’s will remove most of the customer purchasing limits it imposed at the start of the lockdown as they say customers have stopped stockpiling.
Sixty volunteers in Wuhan have been disinfecting public places like hospitals and schools as the number of new cases in China continues to decrease.
And The Jockey Club has launched “My Stake For Their Sake” campaign, encouraging millions of Randox Health Grand National fans to donate what they would have wagered on this year’s race to help raise vital funds for the NHS.
By Harriet Barber
Let's face it, it looks like a nappy.
TODAY’S MOODBOARD
Three pleasant things to put into your head
1.
Hygiene-conscious orangutan alert:
Sandra the orangutang started washing her hands because she saw all the zookeepers doing it repeatedly during the COVID-19 crisis.
Wash your hands.
Be more like Sandra.🌎❤️🧼🌎 pic.twitter.com/t8TTizDGeD— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) April 1, 2020
12.45 accuracy update! It seems that organgutan has been keeping clean well before we knew about Covid-19. Still, we'll keep her here as a lesson to all of us. Remain vigilant. Keep scrubbing. Be like the good orangutan.
2.
Coronavirus Positive fan Philip Lloyd writes:
We live in a secluded cul-de-sac at the edge of town and are observing the self-isolation regulations. How delighted we were to find a painted pebble left outside our front door one morning bearing a reassuring message from young neighbours (and their dogs)
3.
Do you have some good news to share? What's made you happier in the past 24 hours? Have you seen a pleasing picture of a bird? Please send it all our way, either by commenting below or emailing coronapositive@telegraph.co.uk
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