May 15 coronavirus news

The novel coronavirus has infected more than 4.4 million people and killed at least 302,000 worldwide. If you're just tuning in, here are the latest headlines:

The World Bank has approved a $1 billion package for India to provide support for its poor and vulnerable populations, it announced in a news release.

The funding will be distributed in two installments -- $750 million for the 2020 fiscal year and $250 million for the 2021 fiscal year.

The nationwide program will be implemented through the existing Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (Prime Minister’s Welfare for the Poor Scheme) and help boost cash transfers and food benefits through other pre-existing programs to benefit the most vulnerable, especially migrant and informal workers.

Last month, the World Bank announced a separate $1 billion in emergency response support for India's health sector.

Teen activist Greta Thunberg is urging the world to listen to scientists as she describes the devastating impact the coronavirus pandemic is having around the world.

"During any crisis it is always the most vulnerable people who are hit the hardest, and that is children," she said.

"Especially in the global south, people in the poorest parts of the world, especially people living in conflict zones and refugee camps," she added.

Despite having had what she describes as mild symptoms, she posted about her experience on social media to raise awareness about the virus and the appropriate action to take.

"Many people don't even notice that they have symptoms and then they might spread the virus without even knowing it," she said.

Thunberg is best known for her environmental activism, leading climate strikes around the world -- strikes that have now gone online.

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Survivor. That's what Sylvia Goldsholl, 108, calls herself.

After living through both the 1918 flu pandemic and current coronavirus pandemic, the label is fitting.

Goldsholl, who lives at a nursing home in Allendale, New Jersey, has fully recovered from coronavirus after being diagnosed with it last month, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said at a news conference on Thursday.

That might make her the oldest person in the state to recover from the virus, according to CNN affiliate News 12 New Jersey.

Goldsholl was seven years old when the 1918 flu -- which killed more than 50 million people globally -- hit.

"I survived everything because I was determined to survive," she told News 12 New Jersey in an interview conducted over video chat last week.

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People in the Philippines who have evacuated their homes to shelter from Typhoon Vongfong still need to follow social distancing in evacuation centers, according to an article in the state-run Philippine News Agency. 

Typhoon Vongfong, the first named storm of the 2020 season in the Western Pacific, made landfall in the Philippines around noon local time yesterday -- forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in a country under coronavirus lockdown.

At least 200,000 people live in coastal areas near the affected area on the island of Samar in the Eastern Visayas region.

To make sure people can still adhere to social distancing, emergency evacuation centers are cutting their capacity by half. Families inside will need to huddle together to maintain safe distances from other households, and local officials will enforce these guidelines inside the centers, according to presidential spokesman Harry Roque.

The storm is now a minimal typhoon with winds of 120 kph (75 mph). It will move through the Luzon region over the next 24 to 48 hours.

The Philippines has officially recorded nearly 12,000 coronavirus cases, including at least 790 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

We have a live tracker of the typhoon's path here.

At the start of April, Singapore had about a thousand cases of the novel coronavirus.

Now, it has reported more than 26,000 -- and the vast majority are migrant workers, many from South Asian countries like Bangladesh and India, who were infected in crowded dormitories.

Making up a significant portion of the Singaporean workforce, 1.4 million migrant workers live in the city state, mostly employed in construction, manual labor and housekeeping. Of these, about 200,000 live in 43 dormitories, according to Minister of Manpower Josephine Teo.

Each dorm room houses about 10 to 20 residents. They share toilet and shower facilities, eat in common areas, and sleep just feet away from each other. It's nearly impossible to conduct social distancing -- the consequences of which became clear in April when Singapore began recording upwards of 1,000 new cases a day.

Authorities scrambled to respond, locking down the dorms and relocating infected residents.

But a month later, Singapore is still struggling to contain the dorm clusters, with more than 23,000 infected dormitory residents. As the rest of Singaporean society prepares to slowly resume normal life, migrant workers remain locked down in their cramped living quarters until June 1.

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Wuhan, ground zero for the coronavirus pandemic, reported 11 new asymptomatic cases today, according to the central Chinese city's Municipal Health Commission.

The cases were discovered in multiple districts across the city, a statement from the commission said.

An ambitious screening program that aims to test all 11 million of the city's residents is underway in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus from a recent cluster of local cases. 

The commission's statement said that on May 13, 67,026 people were tested in one day in Wuhan. 

Some 559 asymptomatic cases were under medical observation, as of May 13.

Wuhan has officially recorded 3,869 deaths from Covid-19 -- the majority of China's fatalities from the disease. The city has confirmed more than 50,000 coronavirus cases in total.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a video conference with philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on Thursday to discuss the global coronavirus pandemic, officials said.

In response, Gates thanked Modi for the “conversation and partnership.”

“Combating the pandemic requires global collaboration. India’s role is key as the world works to minimize social and economic impact, and pave the way to the vaccine, testing, and treatment access for all," he tweeted.

During the meeting, Modi also spoke about previous government initiatives like promoting cleanliness and hygiene, and drawing upon the ancient Indian healing system of Ayurveda to boost immunity, according to a news release on his website.

India has reported more than 82,000 cases of coronavirus and at least 2,649 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

With international travel restrictions, health checks, government measures and more, air travel looks very different in the age of Covid-19.

CNN International Correspondent Will Ripley took a flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong this week. A journey that typically takes about five hours instead became a days-long exercise.

"This is one of three flights per week, they tell me, and it's flying with 109 passengers. The capacity is well over 400, so about a fourth of the capacity," said Ripley, once he got on the plane.

"It's easy to see why airlines are struggling so much right now. How do you sustain an airline, keep an airport open, when so few people are traveling?"

Ripley arrived in Hong Kong, where he received an electronic bracelet that will track his movements during the next 14 days to make sure he follows the mandatory quarantine (which everyone arriving at the airport must do, even if they test negative for Covid-19).

He and all other passengers were required to get tested -- but because it was late in the evening, the results wouldn't come in until the next day. So they were all taken to government-provided accommodation at a hotel and provided with a free meal.

Finally, 20 hours after he started his trip back to Hong Kong, Ripley got the news -- he tested negative. Now, it's time to go home, where he will stay quarantined for the next two weeks. He will have to monitor his health, and fill out a government-supplied daily log of his temperature and any potential symptoms.