It's Thursday, April 16, 2020. Happy birthday, Dad. I'm Sean Ramis-Furham, and this is your coronavirus update from today.

Explained. Let's spin the globe. We'll start with the biggest planet on Earth. Facebook, the company today said it has removed hundreds of thousands of posts featuring conspiracy theories and medical misinformation about COVID-19 people who interacted with the bad stuff are going to get notifications.

And links to good stuff from the World Health Organization. Check your sources, people.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a nationwide state of emergency today, extending one that was already in place in the country's major cities. COVID-19 is spreading there, but the country has not imposed lockdowns like we've seen elsewhere.

Despite sharing a border with China, Vietnam has fewer than 300 COVID-19 cases and zero reported deaths according to NPR. That's because of early quarantining, aggressive contact tracing, and some serious consequences from a one-party communist state.

Russia's postponing a big military parade, even though Vladimir Putin really didn't want to. He's now saying the risks are just too high. Infections continue to rise there. The United Kingdom is extending its lockdown by at least three weeks. The British government thinks the country is nearing its COVID-19 peak.

And back in the United States, we got new jobs numbers today, 5.2 million people filed for unemployment last week, bringing the total over the last month to about 22 million.

The Washington Post is reporting that millions of Americans who were expecting stimulus checks via direct deposit on Wednesday didn't get them due to a glitch in the IRS payment matrix.

The Post says a number of parents didn't get their $500 checks for dependents as well. The IRS and Treasury departments say they are working on it. The President is scheduled to speak about reopening the country later today. That's all while the governors of several states on the East Coast are extending lockdowns until mid-May.

Much more on what it will take to properly and safely reopen the country in today's show. And before we get to the show, you've probably heard that New Yorkers applaud their essential workers from their windows and door steps and stoops every night at 7.

Tonight, a group called Peace of Heart Choir wants to dial it up a notch. Here's the idea. After a clap and a cheer, everyone does their best Sinatra and belts out New York at the top of their lungs.

You can sing along to the song tonight at 7 via WKCR 88 9 WBA I 99.5 or join in from just about anywhere on the planet at the New York Sing's Along event page on where else Facebook.

The greatest city in the whole world. Start spreading the news. I'm leaving today. I want to be a part of it. New York, New York.

These back up on shoot. They are longing to stray. Right through the very heart of it. New York, New York.

I want to wake up, man. In a city that's potentially...

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The only thing President Trump really wants to talk about is when and how the country opens back up. One day he's got all the power to do it.

The next day he's going to cooperate with governors. The deadline keeps getting punted. What's clear is he doesn't really have a plan to fight this coronavirus.

Zika Manual does. He's an oncologist, a bioeathesist and was a health policy advisor in the Obama administration. The first thing I asked him was, is the country even ready to open back up?

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