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Coronavirus pandemic - World News

Opera singer Placido Domingo has tested positive for coronavirus.

The 79-year-old Spanish tenor wrote on his Facebook page that he was in self-isolation with his family, but remained "in good health".

"I experienced fever and cough symptoms therefore deciding to get tested and the result came back positive,"

He urged his followers to wash their hands frequently and keep their distance from one another.

"Together we can fight this virus and stop the current worldwide crisis," he continued.

The opera star recently resigned as general manager of the Los Angeles Opera following allegations of sexual harassment. He has since publicly apologised to his accusers.

Spain is struggling to contain Europe's second worst outbreak of the coronavirus after Italy, with over 28,000 cases
 
The US has reported a huge increase in cases, over 38k now.
 
Italy banned travel within the country on Sunday in yet another attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus, with data showing a further 651 people had died from the disease, lifting the number of fatalities to 5,476.
 
New Zealand going into lockdown from Wednesday in NZ. The government is giving us 48 hours to get sorted.
 
The Canadian death toll from the coronavirus outbreak jumped by more than 50% on Sunday, and impatient officials threatened to punish people refusing to take precautions to fight the spread of the highly contagious illness.
 
Cambodia reported two new coronavirus cases on Monday, bringing the total to 86, health authorities said.

Thailand has 122 new coronavirus cases, raising the total to 721, a health ministry spokesman said on Monday at a news conference.
 
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New Zealand said on Monday it will move to its highest alert level imposing self-isolation, with all-non-essential services, schools and offices to be shut over the next 48 hours as the number of coronavirus cases more than double.
 
Canada has announced that it will not send teams to the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Earlier, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe said an Olympic postponement "may become inevitable"

MPs in the UK to debate emergency legislation that would give police more powers

281 people with the virus have died in the UK, with 5,683 cases in total

New Zealand said it would begin shutdown of non-essential services this week

Australia has already seen a widespread shutdown of pubs, clubs, gyms and places of worship

Sir Richard Branson to invest $250m (£215m) into Virgin as it "battles to survive"

In China new cases dropped from 46 on Saturday to 39 on Sunday
 
MenInG said:
New Zealand said on Monday it will move to its highest alert level imposing self-isolation, with all-non-essential services, schools and offices to be shut over the next 48 hours as the number of coronavirus cases more than double.
Click to expand...

Lockdown will last for atleast 4 weeks, as of Wednesday 11:59pm NZST.
 
Indonesia's capital Jakarta shut cinemas and other public entertainment on Monday at the start of a two-week emergency period to try to slow the accelerating spread of the coronavirus in Southeast Asia's biggest city
 
Australians began living under strict new lockdown rules on Monday as coronavirus cases topped 1,600 and authorities denied entry to a cruise ship carrying hundreds on board complaining of respiratory illnesses.
 
Sri Lanka arrests nearly 2,000 people for violating curfew

Police in Sri Lanka have arrested nearly 2,000 people for violating a nationwide curfew that was declared on Friday.

A police statement said they had arrested 1,754 people for curfew violations. A majority of these, the statement said, had been "aimlessly loitering" on the roads.

Others had been arrested for gathering at playgrounds and drinking, drunk and disorderly behaviour and for opening their shops for trade.

With 87 confirmed cases of coronavirus as of Sunday evening, officials are worried that the country's healthcare system will not be able to cope with a full-blown outbreak
 
Hong Kong 'to ban all tourists'

Hong Kong will ban all tourists and transit travellers to the city, the South China Morning Post has reported, quoting sources.

All bars, pubs and entertainment venues will also be asked to shut, the sources told the news outlet ahead of an expected announcement by the city's leader Carrie Lam later this afternoon.

Hong Kong is already quarantining all people arriving from abroad, and mainland China, for 14 days.
 
Nepal

Nepal announces country-wide lockdown from March 23rd. A country with 0 active Covid-19 cases
 
German Chancellor Angela Merkel only had brief contact with a doctor who later tested positive for coronavirus so there is a good chance she is not infected, her chief of staff said late on Sunday.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/3E7566qiAh">pic.twitter.com/3E7566qiAh</a></p>— Tom Hanks (@tomhanks) <a href="https://twitter.com/tomhanks/status/1241919151829954566?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Canada and Australia say they will not send teams to the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Earlier, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe said an Olympic postponement "may become inevitable"

UK government thinking "very, very actively" about stricter policies on social distancing

281 people with the virus have died in the UK, with 5,683 cases in total

South Korea reports lowest number of new cases in weeks

Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein tests positive for Covid-19 in prison

340,000 confirmed cases worldwide, with nearly 15,000 deaths and almost 100,000 people recovering
 
Two weeks since the government imposed a nationwide lockdown, the restrictions are tightening further.

A new decree from Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte closing down all businesses deemed non-essential is designed to reduce numbers of people mixing.

Around 100 categories of companies can stay open, ranging from food production to chemicals, energy to paper, car parts to the manufacturing of coffins.

Italians are also now banned from leaving their own town to travel within the country. And in the northern region of Lombardy, the country's worst hit, all outdoor exercise is prohibited.
 
MenInG said:
Hong Kong 'to ban all tourists'

Hong Kong will ban all tourists and transit travellers to the city, the South China Morning Post has reported, quoting sources.

All bars, pubs and entertainment venues will also be asked to shut, the sources told the news outlet ahead of an expected announcement by the city's leader Carrie Lam later this afternoon.

Hong Kong is already quarantining all people arriving from abroad, and mainland China, for 14 days.
Click to expand...

Isn't that a bit late? Hong Kong was one of the first places infected and they only just banned tourists. NZ banned tourists like 2 weeks after our first case and forced any tourists into self isolation for 2 weeks.
 
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/doctor-note-coronavirus-feel-200323065512541.html

Doctor's Note: What does having the coronavirus feel like?

When Dr Clare Gerada, a 60-year-old general practitioner (GP) and former chair of the Royal College of GPs in the UK, recently caught coronavirus, she said it was "the worst I have ever felt" and "worse than childbirth".

She tested positive for COVID-19 and wrote about her experience of the illness online.

Thankfully Dr Gerada is making a full recovery but hearing first-hand what it is like to have the illness got me thinking about how the virus attacks the body and why it makes us feel so bad.

Why do we get a fever and cough? Where does the sore throat come from and why do some people suffer from diarrhoea? To understand this, we need to understand how the virus takes control of our bodies.

COVID-19 is like all other viruses in that it needs a host - in this case the human body - to help it to reproduce and spread. A virus is basically a piece of genetic material that cannot do much on its own. It has to invade the body of a living creature in order to reproduce - without this it will die.

A virus is not the same as a bacteria, in that it does not need to eat, drink, excrete waste or rest. It has only one job and that is to reproduce by duplicating itself, but it can only do that once it has found a suitable host.

COVID-19 is not the only type of coronavirus there is. Other types of coronavirus include the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV).

All types of coronavirus can be transmitted from animals to people - a characteristic known as being zoonotic. COVID-19 is thought to have originated in a wildlife market in China.

The COVID-19 virus is spherical in shape with a crown or "corona" of club-shaped spikes on its surface, hence its name.

As with all viruses, the COVID-19 coronavirus's main route of transmission is through droplets. Infected people cough or sneeze these droplets out; they are loaded with viruses and other people either breathe them in or touch a surface on which the droplet has landed, then touch their face and breathe it in and, voila, they have contracted it.

The journey of a coronavirus

Once you have breathed it in, the virus quickly travels to the back of your throat and nose.

The lining of the nose and throat is called the mucosa and this is what those club-shaped spikes attach themselves to before they start getting to work.

When it reaches the back of your nose, the COVID-19 virus will take over your nasal passageway cells. It will get inside them and re-programme them to stop doing whatever job they were doing and focus only on making more COVID-19 viruses.

Once that cell has produced more viruses than it can hold, the viruses will burst out and attach themselves to neighbouring cells, using them in turn as a platform on which to reproduce and the cycle repeats itself.

This destruction of cells in your nose and throat leads to the dry cough and sore throat. The pain you feel is a sign that your cells are in distress and are being destroyed.

Next comes the fever.

By this time, your immune system has realised there is a foreign body inside you. It has taken until now for this to happen because when a new foreign body enters the body, it takes time for your immune system to recognise it and start the immune response. However, when it does, memory cells are also produced which means if the virus tries again in future, your immune system will respond much quicker.

Chemicals called pyrogens are released by the immune system. These instruct your brain to raise your temperature - giving you a high fever of 37.8 Celcius or higher.

The fever helps the body trigger other parts of your immune system to start working and also creates an unfavourable or hostile environment for the virus. There is an argument that fevers actually help fight infection but because they tend to make us feel unwell, we try to bring them down.

The reason that people are reporting feeling so bad with this virus is the rate at which this particular one duplicates itself and its aggressive ability to invade the body.

Thankfully, the fever, cough and possible sore throat are where the symptoms will end for most people. Within five to seven days your immune system will have responded enough to now be able to destroy the virus and you will recover.

When complications occur

There are, however, some people whose immune systems will not be able to respond as quickly and the virus will continue to spread after this stage. These are people who are immunocompromised or have underlying health conditions.

As the virus duplicates and infects more cells in these people's bodies, it works its way down the airways towards the lungs. Here it invades the cells in the lungs, making it hard for the lungs to do their job of taking in oxygen and removing carbon dioxide. Therefore, your lungs end up working harder and you will feel short of breath.

This is why coronavirus is associated with breathing difficulties - because the cells responsible for our breathing functions are impaired.

People feel their chest tightening; they are unable to get out of bed as the body needs to conserve energy and general aches and pains take hold as the body diverts all energy resources to fighting the infection.

As the COVID-19 virus attacks more and more parts of the lungs, they become inflamed and can start to fill with fluid and pus - you then have pneumonia.

If the lungs swell further and fill with more fluid, the patient may need a ventilator and, sadly, there is a risk of death if the lungs give up altogether.

Some people have reported diarrhoea as one of their symptoms and that is because the Covid-19 virus may be able to get from your nasal passageways and travel as far as your gut, causing problems there too. Even people with mild symptoms may experience diarrhoea.

This means there is a slight risk of passing the virus on through faeces, something that is being urgently investigated by medical professionals right now.

The situation is evolving all the time and we are learning new things about this virus every day. However, it is important to stress that most people will recover with mild to moderate symptoms and will build an immunity to COVID-19.
 
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...na-months-before-virus-outbreak-idUSKBN21910S

Exclusive: U.S. axed CDC expert job in China months before virus outbreak

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Several months before the coronavirus pandemic began, the Trump administration eliminated a key American public health position in Beijing intended to help detect disease outbreaks in China, Reuters has learned.

The American disease expert, a medical epidemiologist embedded in China’s disease control agency, left her post in July, according to four sources with knowledge of the issue. The first cases of the new coronavirus may have emerged as early as November, and as cases exploded, the Trump administration in February chastised China for censoring information about the outbreak and keeping U.S. experts from entering the country to help.

“It was heartbreaking to watch,” said Bao-Ping Zhu, a Chinese American who served in that role, which was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2007 and 2011. “If someone had been there, public health officials and governments across the world could have moved much faster.”

Zhu and the other sources said the American expert, Dr. Linda Quick, was a trainer of Chinese field epidemiologists who were deployed to the epicenter of outbreaks to help track, investigate and contain diseases.

As an American CDC employee, they said, Quick was in an ideal position to be the eyes and ears on the ground for the United States and other countries on the coronavirus outbreak, and might have alerted them to the growing threat weeks earlier.

No other foreign disease experts were embedded to lead the program after Quick left in July, according to the sources. Zhu said an embedded expert can often get word of outbreaks early, after forming close relationships with Chinese counterparts.

Zhu and the other sources said Quick could have provided real-time information to U.S. and other officials around the world during the first weeks of the outbreak, when they said the Chinese government tamped down on the release of information and provided erroneous assessments.

Quick left amid a bitter U.S. trade dispute with China when she learned her federally funded post, officially known as resident adviser to the U.S. Field Epidemiology Training Program in China, would be discontinued as of September, the sources said. The U.S. CDC said it first learned of a “cluster of 27 cases of pneumonia” of unexplained origin in Wuhan, China, on Dec. 31.

Since then, the outbreak of the disease known as COVID-19 has spread rapidly worldwide, killing more than 13,600 people, infecting more than 317,000. The epidemic has overwhelmed healthcare systems in some countries, including Italy, and threatens to do so in the United States and elsewhere.

During a press briefing on Sunday shortly after this story was first published, President Donald Trump dismissed the Reuters report as similar to other stories regarding the CDC that he described as “100 percent wrong,” without addressing whether the role had been eliminated.

U.S. CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield maintained the agency’s presence in China “is actually being augmented as we speak,” without elaborating.

In a statement to Reuters before the report was published, the CDC said the elimination of the adviser position did not hinder Washington’s ability to get information and “had absolutely nothing to do with CDC not learning of cases in China earlier.”

The agency said its decision not to have a resident adviser “started well before last summer and was due to China’s excellent technical capability and maturity of the program.”

The CDC said it has assigned two of its Chinese employees as “mentors” to help with the training program. The agency did not respond to questions about the mentors’ specific role or expertise.

The CDC would not make Quick, who still works for the agency, available for comment.

Asked for comment on Chinese transparency and responsiveness to the outbreak, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred Reuters to remarks by spokesman Geng Shuang on Friday. Geng said the country “has adopted the strictest, most comprehensive, and most thorough prevention and control measures in an open, transparent, and responsible manner, and informed the (World Health Organization) and relevant countries and regions of the latest situation in a timely manner.”

One disease expert told Reuters he was skeptical that the U.S. resident adviser would have been able to get earlier or better information to the Trump administration, given the Chinese government’s suppression of information.

“In the end, based on circumstances in China, it probably wouldn’t have made a big difference,” Scott McNabb, who was a CDC epidemiologist for 20 years and is now a research professor at Emory University. “The problem was how the Chinese handled it. What should have changed was the Chinese should have acknowledged it earlier and didn’t.”

ALERT FROM CHINA’S CDC

Alex Azar, secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Friday that his agency learned of the coronavirus in early January, based on Redfield’s conversations with “Chinese colleagues.”

Redfield learned that “this looks to be a novel coronavirus” from Dr. Gao Fu, the head of the China CDC, according to an HHS administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Dr. Redfield always talked to Dr. Gao,” the official said.

HHS and CDC did not make Azar or Redfield available for comment.

Zhu and other sources said U.S. leaders should not have been relying on the China CDC director for alerts and updates. In general, they said, officials in China downplayed the severity of the outbreak in the early weeks and did not acknowledge evidence of person-to-person transmission until Jan. 20.

After the epidemic exploded and China had imposed strict quarantines, Trump administration officials complained that the Chinese had censored information about the outbreak and that the United States had been unable to get American disease experts into the country to help contain the spread.

Azar told CNN on Feb. 14 that he and CDC director Redfield officially offered to send a CDC team into China on Jan. 6 but still had not received permission for them to enter the country. HHS oversees the CDC.

“Dr. Redfield and I made the offer on January 6th - 36 days ago, 60,000 cases and 1,300 deaths ago,” Azar said. “We made the offer to send the CDC experts in to assist their Chinese colleagues to get to the bottom of key scientific questions like, how transmissible is this disease? What is the severity? What is the incubation period and can there be asymptomatic transmission?”

Days later, the World Health Organization secured permission to send a team that included two U.S. experts. The team visited between Feb. 16th and 24th. By then, China had reported more than 75,000 cases.

On Feb. 25, the first day the CDC told the American public to prepare for an outbreak at home, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused China of mishandling the epidemic through its “censorship” of medical professionals and media.

Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since then, as Trump has labeled the coronavirus the “Chinese virus” - a description the Chinese have condemned as stigmatizing. Last week, the Chinese government announced that Americans from three U.S. news organizations, The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, would be expelled from China.

ONCE ‘FRIENDS,’ NOW RIVALS

The decision to eliminate Quick’s job came as the CDC has scaled back the number of U.S. staffers in China over the last two years, the sources told Reuters.

“We had already withdrawn many technical public health experts,” the same expert said.

The CDC, however, disputed that staffing was a problem or that its information had been limited by the move. “It was not the staffing shortage that limited our ability” it said.

The U.S. CDC team in Beijing now includes three American citizens in permanent roles, an additional American who is temporary and around 10 Chinese nationals, the agency said. Of the Americans, one is an influenza expert with expertise in respiratory disease. COVID-19 is not influenza, though it can cause severe respiratory illness.

The CDC team, aside from Quick, was housed at U.S. Embassy facilities. No American CDC staffer besides Quick was embedded with China’s disease control agency, the sources said.

China in recent weeks has reported a dramatic slowdown in new cases, the result of drastic containment measures including the lockdown of Hubei province, home to 60 million people.

Nevertheless, the infectious disease experts who spoke with Reuters said, the United States could use people like Quick with contacts on the ground, especially if fears of a second wave of infections materializes.

Thomas R. Frieden, a former director of the CDC, said that if the U.S. resident adviser had still been in China, “it is possible that we would know more today about how this coronavirus is spreading and what works best to stop it.”

Dr. George Conway, a medical epidemiologist who knows Quick and had served as resident advisor between 2012 and 2015, said funding for the position had been tenuous for years because of a perennial debate among U.S health officials over whether China should be paying for funding its own training program.

Yet since the training program was launched in 2001, the sources familiar with it say, it has not only strengthened the ranks of Chinese epidemiologists in the field, but also fostered collegial relationships between public health officials in the two countries.

“We go there as credentialed diplomats and return home as close colleagues and often as friends,” Conway said.

In 2007, Dr. Robert Fontaine, a CDC epidemiologist and one of the longest serving U.S. officials in the adviser’s position, received China’s highest honor for outstanding contributions to public health due to his contribution as a foreigner in helping to detect and investigate clusters of pneumonia of unknown cause.

But since last year, Frieden and others said, growing tensions between the Trump administration and China’s leadership have apparently damaged the collaboration.

“The message from the administration was, ‘Don’t work with China, they’re our rival,’” Frieden said.

Trump’s re-election campaign sent out a statement Sunday evening dismissing controversy about the CDC’S cut as a matter of politics.

“Democrats are eager to politicize the coronavirus crisis and weaponize it against President Trump, the statement said. “In so doing, they’re siding with the Chinese and providing cover for Beijing’s cover-up.”
 
Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo was hospitalized on Sunday with respiratory infection and is awaiting coronavirus test results, the government said in a statement on Monday.
 
UK government thinking "very, very actively" about stricter policies on social distancing
281 people with the virus have died in the UK, with 5,683 cases in total
Italy enters a tougher lockdown, with all "non-essential" businesses closed
Death toll in Spain passes 2,000
Canada and Australia say they will not send teams to the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games
South Korea reports lowest number of new cases in weeks
Passenger flights to Dubai International Airport are to be suspended
340,000 confirmed cases worldwide, with nearly 15,000 deaths and almost 100,000 people recovering
 
USA had 5000 cases on 16th and a week later has 35000 cases! This contagion is deadly infectious.
Are countries like india and Pakistan going to see similar infection rates in a week?, I shudder to even think about it...
 
Austria probes ski resort

Ischgl, a ski resort in Austria's Tyrol province, has been linked with hundreds of cases of coronavirus. Now Tyrol's government has asked state prosecutors to investigate whether a business at the resort failed to tell authorities about an infection at the end of February.
Austrian, German and Scandinavian health officials have all traced cases back to the tiny town, but it only shut for business last week.
 
There are signs Germany's infection curve - reflecting rise in the number of cases - may be becoming less steep, according to the head of the country’s public health institute.

"We are seeing signs that the exponential growth curve is flattening off slightly," Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for disease control, told reporters.

"But I will only be able to confirm this trend definitively on Wednesday. But I am optimistic that the measures are already having an effect, which is very early because they have only been in place for a week."

Efforts to reduce the spread of the virus in the country have included school closures, hygiene measures such as hand-washing and restrictions on public gatherings.

The RKI reported earlier on Monday that the country now had 22,672 cases of Covid-19 - an increase of 4,062 on the previous day - and that 86 people had died so far.
 
globalcitizen said:
USA had 5000 cases on 16th and a week later has 35000 cases! This contagion is deadly infectious.
Are countries like india and Pakistan going to see similar infection rates in a week?, I shudder to even think about it...
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The sudden rise in the numbers is due to an increase in the testing. USA most likely had a lot more than 5000 cases on 16th they just weren't testing intensively.

This is why Pakistan needs to invest as many resources as possible into testing capacity because only then will we get a clearer picture of how widely spread the virus is and which areas need to isolated strongly from the rest of the country.

If the testing rate doesn't increase then we might not see a sudden rise in infections but that could be highly misleading since it is very likely that the virus is rapidly spreading among the population undetected. This is what happened in the USA, UK and most European countries.
 
sweep_shot said:
US has had around 14,500 cases today alone! That's a record probably.
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USA most likely has 100k+ cases all undetected due to Trumps denial in early days now they have finally woken up and started testing properly.
 
There are nearly 4,000 health workers infected with the coronavirus in Spain, more than one in ten of total confirmed cases, officials said on Monday as the virus toll rose in Europe's second-worst affected country.
 
Situation report - #62
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Data as reported by national authorities by 23:59 CET 21 March 2020

total (new) cases in last 24 hours

Globally
292 142 confirmed (26 069)
12 784 deaths (1600)

Western Pacific Region
94 787 confirmed (750)
3438 deaths (12)

European Region
151 293 confirmed (22 752)
7426 deaths (1426)

South-East Asia Region
1257 confirmed (278)
45 deaths (7)

Eastern Mediterranean Region
23 669 confirmed (1314)
1596 deaths (130)

Region of the Americas
19 685 confirmed (808)
252 deaths (17)

African Region
739 confirmed (167)
20 deaths (8)
 
Ethiopia has introduced strict measures, including closing its borders, as the number of confirmed cases rises to 11.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced that from Monday, the nation's defence forces would halt all movement along Ethiopia's borders except for goods coming in.

Security forces are also going to enforce a ban on large gatherings that's already in place.

The PM also said the government would allocate 5bn Birr ($150m; £129m) towards trying to halt the spread of the disease.

Denmark's prime minister has just announced that a nationwide lockdown will be extended until 13 April.

The lockdown has closed schools and restaurants in the country and kept most public sector workers at home.

In a press conference, PM Mette Frederiksen said the extended lockdown would mean schools, bars, libraries, gyms, hairdressers and other services would remain closed for another two weeks.

The country has reported more than 1,300 coronavirus cases and 13 deaths so far, according to the World Health Organization.

In Tunisia, the army has been deployed on the streets to ensure people are respecting the lockdown put in place on Sunday. It requires people to stay at home except to buy necessities.

The country has reported 89 confirmed cases of the virus and three deaths.
 
South-East Asia Region
1257 confirmed (278)
45 deaths (7)

African Region
739 confirmed (167)
20 deaths (8)



Compare these numbers to colder climates...... heat and humidity definitely has an effect on this stupid corona.
 
UK government thinking "very, very actively" about stricter policies on social distancing

281 people with the virus have died in the UK, with 5,683 cases in total
Italy enters a tougher lockdown, with all "non-essential" businesses closed
Death toll in Spain passes 2,000

Canada and Australia say they will not send teams to the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games

South Korea reports lowest number of new cases in weeks
Passenger flights to Dubai International Airport are to be suspended
350,000 confirmed cases worldwide, with nearly 15,000 deaths and almost 100,000 people recovering.
 
Italy has reported another 602 deaths from coronavirus, Reuters news agency says. That brings the total death toll up to 6,078 - but it means that the daily number of deaths has fallen for the second day in a row, down from 651 on Sunday.

Crucially, our Rome correspondent Mark Lowen says, the rise in new infections has slowed again, from 9 to 8.1%.
 
Italy records smaller increase in virus cases for 2nd day
Officials say Italy has recorded a smaller day-to-day increase in new coronavirus cases for the second straight day, AP reports.

Data released by Italy's Civil Protection Agency on Monday showed 4,789 new cases from a day earlier, nearly 700 fewer than the day-to-day increase reported Sunday.

The number of deaths also did not rise by as much. There were just over 600 registered on Monday compared to 651 on Sunday.

As of Monday, Italy had a total of 59,138 virus cases.
Click to expand...

https://www.dawn.com/live-blog/



Italy beginning to get a grip on things.... there is still hope in the world.
 
Syed1 said:
South-East Asia Region
1257 confirmed (278)
45 deaths (7)

African Region
739 confirmed (167)
20 deaths (8)



Compare these numbers to colder climates...... heat and humidity definitely has an effect on this stupid corona.
Click to expand...

Or Not many 70-80 years old in Africa and Asia. That's the age group who suffers most if we discuss in terms of Mortality.
 
In Gaza, police patrol the beachfront to check coffee shops are closed and drive around with loudspeakers ordering people to stay home after the first two coronavirus cases were announced on Sunday.

Since the start of the pandemic, health officials have worried about it reaching this impoverished coastal enclave - one of the world’s most densely populated places.

Social distancing is almost impossible among large families living in Gaza's crowded refugee camps and built-up neighbourhoods, raising fears that infection could spread fast and that overstretched hospitals could be overwhelmed.

"It’s a very difficult and challenging environment," says Gerald Rockenschaub, the head of the World Health Organization in the Palestinian Territories. He rushed to Gaza after two men returning from Pakistan tested positive for coronavirus.

"The good thing is that they were in quarantine all the time. They are isolated now so that the risk that this spreads further is minimised," Dr Rockenschaub says.

More medical supplies are being sent to Gaza, and Qatar has pledged $150m (£130m) over the coming six months to help combat the spread of Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.

Schools, public markets and wedding halls have already been shut for two weeks. Now restrictions have been tightened.

"The number of people on the streets has dramatically decreased and so has my work," says taxi driver Alaa Saleh.

"I’m worried about having no income but I’m also worried because my job brings me into close contact with people, so maybe I could catch the virus."

Gaza has been kept under blockade by Israel and Egypt since the militant group, Hamas, took full control of the territory in 2007. Up to now, some Gazans had been commenting on the irony of how their enforced isolation appeared to be protecting them during this health crisis.
 
The Viper said:
In Gaza, police patrol the beachfront to check coffee shops are closed and drive around with loudspeakers ordering people to stay home after the first two coronavirus cases were announced on Sunday.

Since the start of the pandemic, health officials have worried about it reaching this impoverished coastal enclave - one of the world’s most densely populated places.

Social distancing is almost impossible among large families living in Gaza's crowded refugee camps and built-up neighbourhoods, raising fears that infection could spread fast and that overstretched hospitals could be overwhelmed.

"It’s a very difficult and challenging environment," says Gerald Rockenschaub, the head of the World Health Organization in the Palestinian Territories. He rushed to Gaza after two men returning from Pakistan tested positive for coronavirus.

"The good thing is that they were in quarantine all the time. They are isolated now so that the risk that this spreads further is minimised," Dr Rockenschaub says.

More medical supplies are being sent to Gaza, and Qatar has pledged $150m (£130m) over the coming six months to help combat the spread of Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.

Schools, public markets and wedding halls have already been shut for two weeks. Now restrictions have been tightened.

"The number of people on the streets has dramatically decreased and so has my work," says taxi driver Alaa Saleh.

"I’m worried about having no income but I’m also worried because my job brings me into close contact with people, so maybe I could catch the virus."

Gaza has been kept under blockade by Israel and Egypt since the militant group, Hamas, took full control of the territory in 2007. Up to now, some Gazans had been commenting on the irony of how their enforced isolation appeared to be protecting them during this health crisis.
Click to expand...

And here are we complaining because we have to remain in our homes with smartphones, pcs and consoles :facepalm:

Imagine the awful situation of people who are living in refugee camps or people being oppressed by this century's Nazis.

Forza to my brothers of Palestine and Kashmir!

PS: Suddenly I feel less sympathy for some people. But I still pray for wellbeing of whole humanity.
 
Italy has slowed down industrial production and forced nearly all private or public offices to shut. Lombardy, one of the most severely affected regions, has also imposed restrictions on outdoor exercise and dog walking distance-limits

France has toughened its lockdown rules, raising fines for people caught outside without a legal reason, and putting limits on taking exercise and outdoor markets. The minimum fine is 135 euros, with a max of 1,500 euros for repeat offenders

China has most recently diverted all international flights destined for Beijing to other cities to screen passengers. During its most stringent restriction phase, movement in and out of the epicenter, Wuhan, and other cities was completely halted and residents were told to stay at home. Some regional lockdowns are still in place

Spain has restricted its borders and imposed a nationwide lockdown which it is working to extend until 11 April. Hotels must close this week. Residents found outside without proof of identification and justification (like a grocery bill) can be fined

India has imposed regional lockdowns affecting millions of people in its over 70 cities and districts, including capital New Delhi and Mumbai. A temporary curfew - 07:00 to 21:00 - was tested out on Sunday. Travel and transport in these areas have been restricted until the end of the month. People must work from home unless they are in an essential field like healthcare. Train services across the country have also been halted.
 
G20 says working on action plan to deal with global pandemic
Finance ministers and central bankers from the world’s 20 largest economies agreed on Monday to develop an “action plan” to respond to a coronavirus pandemic that the IMF now expects to trigger a global recession, but they offered no specifics.

The G20 secretariat issued the statement after the finance officials met by video conference for nearly two hours, seeking to stave off growing criticism that the world’s “fire station” has been slow to respond to the worsening crisis.

G20 leaders are due to meet for an extraordinary summit in coming days as the virus continues its rapid spread, with 337,500 people infected across the world and over 14,600 dead.

The summit, called by this year’s chair, Saudi Arabia, will be complicated by an oil price war between two members, Saudi Arabia and Russia, and a war of words between two others, the United States and China, over the origin of the virus.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Fox News his counterparts agreed to take action to support their own economies, and coordinate internationally as needed. But he gave no specifics.

Officials in Japan and Argentina issued their own statements calling for more decisive action, while outside experts said specific measures were urgently needed, not the broad assurances offered by the G20 to date.

Mnuchin said the United States was working closely with G20 countries, the Group of Seven (G7), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in responding to the crisis.

“This is a team effort to kill this virus and provide economic relief,” said Mnuchin, who is simultaneously struggling to secure congressional approval of a nearly $2 trillion U.S. rescue package.

The Federal Reserve on Monday announced a huge package of programs to backstop the U.S. economy, including steps to back purchases of corporate bonds, backstop direct loans to companies and get credit to small and medium-sized firms that employ over half the U.S. workforce.

The IMF and the World Bank on Monday both forecast the pandemic would trigger a global recession in 2020, and redoubled their calls for a global response.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva welcomed fiscal and monetary steps already taken by countries, but said more would be needed, especially in the fiscal realm.

“The human costs of the coronavirus pandemic are already immeasurable and all countries need to work together to protect people and limit the economic damage,” she said in a statement.

G7 finance ministers and central bankers will hold a conference call of their own early Tuesday, according to a source familiar with the plans.

Japan, a member of the G7, expressed deep concern about the impact of the coronavirus, and urged G20 members to act “without hesitation in a timely manner.”

Argentina, whose debt has been deemed unsustainable by the IMF, warned fellow G20 member they must act decisively to “avoid a social meltdown” as the pandemic spreads.

Argentina’s Finance Minister Martin Guzman told fellow ministers on the G20 call that countries should use the “entire *******” of economic policies, including the extension of bilateral swaps to aid those nations most in need.

“It is of utmost importance that we deepen global coordination and cooperation efforts as much as possible in order to preserve global social stability,” Guzman said in remarks prepared for delivery to the group.

Harry Broadman, managing director at Berkeley Research and a former senior U.S. government official, said the crisis called for “extensive and systematic collective action to both mitigate transboundary risks and forge an enduring tangible solution” to safeguard the world’s public health and economic prosperity.

He said the G20, not just the G7, should meet at least monthly and as needed to shore up global confidence. But they needed to do more than focus on pledges of coordination.

“There must be material commitments executed out for all the world to see and assess actual outcomes,” he said. “Without accountability this could all be for naught.”
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-h...an-to-deal-with-global-pandemic-idUKKBN21A2H3
 
Last edited:
The UK has told people to stay home, and we're checking in with our colleagues in London on how they and their families might be affected. The US reported more than 100 deaths in a single day and the WHO has warned that the pandemic is "accelerating".

An Australian female passenger in her 70s who caught the virus on a cruise ship which docked in Sydney has now died

Myanmar - the biggest country without any confirmed cases - has now reported its first two virus cases. Both patients are have recently travelled to the UK and US

The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus first emerged, has recorded a new case, ending a five day run with no new cases

Hundreds of British citizens remain stuck in New Zealand, as the country entered a lockdown. All flights have been cancelled and major transit hubs shut
 
Almost 5,000 new cases in a day in Germany

The number of confirmed cases in Germany has risen by 4,764 in a day to reach to 27,436, the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases said on Tuesday.

A total of 114 people have died, an increase of 28 from the total published on Monday.
 
The UK is waking up to lockdown after new, stricter measures announced by PM Boris Johnson
Donald Trump insists the US will "soon be open for business", as more states shut down
China announces 78 new cases - 74 of them from abroad
Wuhan - the city where the virus emerged - is to lift its lockdown next month
The most populous country without a case until now - Myanmar - announces two cases
Senegal and Ivory Coast declare states of emergency
Hundreds of UK citizens stranded in New Zealand come together to ask for help
A passenger on a cruise ship which docked in Sydney last Thursday has died
 
Elite hackers tried to break into the World Health Organization earlier this month, sources told Reuters, part of what a senior agency official said was a more than two-fold increase in cyberattacks.

==

Such lowlifes!
 
Chinese authorities have announced they plan to end a two-month lockdown of most of virus-hit Hubei province at midnight while restrictions on the city of Wuhan will remain until 8 April
 
Thailand to declare state of emergency

Thailand's government is set to declare a state of emergency, as the outbreak continues to infect hundreds across the country.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said the one-month state of emergency would come into effect on Thursday.

This move will give the government additional enforcement powers.

It's still not clear what these could be. Thailand says they'll will be announced later.

It comes after the country reported 106 new coronavirus cases and three more deaths. The overall number of confirmed cases now stands at 827, with four deaths.
 
Vietnam closes Ho Chi Minh City restaurants to curb virus outbreak

Restaurants in Vietnam's business hub, Ho Chi Minh City, must close until March 31 to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, the city's ruling body said on Tuesday.

==

Kyrgyzstan locks down major cities, imposes curfew

Kyrgyzstan declared a state of emergency on Tuesday in its three biggest cities, including the capital Bishkek, locking them down and imposing a curfew after the number of coronavirus cases in the Central Asian nation more than doubled.
 
Jordan, which indefinitely extended a round-the-clock curfew on Monday, is to begin distributing bread, water and fuel

Israel is expected to announce a curfew and tough penalties for violations, with people only allowed out to get food, medicine and other essential items

Syria's Kurdish Regional Government, in the north-east, says it will impose a two-week curfew from Thursday, warning of the risk of the coronavirus spreading through camps for internally displaced people as well as among prisoners, including thousands of Islamic State members and their families

In Iran - where 1,812 people have died from the virus, and more than 23,000 are infected - the authorities have announced an extension by at least another month to temporary leave already granted to some 85,000 prisoners. British-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is among those who have been released

UAE authorities have called for all Emirati students abroad to return home within 48 hours, and for members of the public to stay at home apart from in exceptional circumstances

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-52013888
 
London Tube still busy despite lockdown

Despite the lockdown announced in the UK on Monday evening, London Underground trains are reported to be busy on Tuesday morning.

UK PM Boris Johnson has ordered people to leave their homes only for "very limited purposes". Among the restrictions he announced was that of travelling to and from work where "absolutely necessary".

London Mayor Sadiq Khan also urged workers to stay at home and said public transport should only be used by key workers, otherwise "people will die".

Some passengers have said a reduced service means trains are busier.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-52013888
 
China's Hubei to ease some travel curbs after months of lockdown

China's Hubei province, the original epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, is due to begin relaxing many travel restrictions to and from the region after months of lockdown.

The Hubei Health Commission announced on Tuesday that it would lift curbs on outgoing travellers starting March 25, provided they had a health clearance code.

The provincial capital Wuhan, where the virus was first detected late last year, will see travel restrictions lifted on April 8. The city has been in total lockdown since January 23.

The announcement, which came as more countries across the world are introducing drastic measures to restrict movement, marked a significant moment in China's efforts to tackle COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

However, the easing of the restrictions in Hubei comes with strict conditions attached, noted Al Jazeera's Katrina Yu, reporting from the capital, Beijing.

Travellers will need a "Green Code" - a type of barcode - on their mobile phones indicating their health status and will also have to undergo a test to prove they are coronavirus-free.

Crucially, the measure only applies to migrant workers who will be able to board government-chartered buses and trains that will transport them to their workplaces in other provinces.

"It's not like you could just get on on a plane or a bus or a train and leave the province - this is point-to-point travel," Yu said.

"There are still many limitations as people are worried here in China that there could be a second wave [of infections]," she added.

Imported cases increasing

Indeed, the risk from overseas infections appears to be on the rise.

China had 78 new cases on Monday, the National Health Commission said, a twofold increase from Sunday. Of the new cases, 74 were imported infections, up from 39 imported cases a day earlier.

Beijing was the hardest-hit, with a record 31 new imported cases, followed by southern Guangdong province with 14 and the financial hub of Shanghai with nine. The total number of imported cases stood at 427 as of Monday.

Only four new cases were local transmissions. One was in Wuhan which had not reported a new infection in five days.

In other parts of the country, authorities have continued to impose tougher screening and quarantine and have diverted international flights from Beijing to other Chinese cities, but that has not stemmed the influx of Chinese nationals, many of whom are students returning home from virus-hit countries.

Beijing's city government tightened quarantine rules for individuals arriving from overseas, saying on Tuesday that everyone entering the city will be subject to centralised quarantine and health checks.

The southern city of Shenzhen said on Tuesday it will test all arrivals and the Chinese territory of Macau will ban visitors from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The number of local infections from overseas arrivals - the first of which was reported in the southern travel hub of Guangzhou on Saturday - remains very small.

On Monday, Beijing saw its first case of a local person being infected by an international traveller arriving in China. Shanghai reported a similar case, bringing the total number of such infections to three so far.

The rise in imported cases and the lifting of restrictions in some cities to allow people to return to work and kick-start the battered Chinese economy has raised concerns about a second wave of infections.

A private survey on Tuesday suggested that a 10-11 percent contraction in first-quarter gross domestic product in the world's second-largest economy "is not unreasonable".

The epidemic has hammered all sectors of the economy - from manufacturing to tourism - and policymakers have promised loans, aid and subsidies in an effort to persuade businesses to open.

In the impoverished province of Gansu, government officials are each required to spend at least 200 yuan ($28.25) a week to spur the recovery of the local catering industry.

The official China Daily warned in an editorial on Tuesday that maintaining stringent restrictions on people's movements would "now do more harm than good".
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...el-curbs-months-lockdown-200324073029647.html
 
Almost all of India is under lockdown and state borders have been closed. Buses, trains and other forms of public transport are suspended. On Monday, the authorities said domestic flights would also be stopped. The country has reported 485 cases and nine people have died. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation again on Tuesday evening

Neighbouring Pakistan has almost twice as many confirmed cases - 878 as of Monday evening. Sweeping restrictions are in place although the government stopped short of imposing a nationwide lockdown. However, several provinces have announced them independently. The army is being brought in to help enforce the restrictions

Bangladesh, which has reported 33 cases and three deaths, is also deploying its armed forces to help maintain social distancing and boost Covid-19 preventive measures. The soldiers will also monitor thousands of expatriate returnees who have been quarantined. Across South Asia, there are concerns that the real number of cases could be much higher.

In Thailand a month-long state of emergency will start on Thursday which will include curfews and checkpoints. The government has been criticised for failing to take strong action so far. Four people have died and nearly 900 tested positive

Talks between the Japanese PM and the International Olympic Committee are expected this evening

The most populous country without any infections until now - Myanmar - has announced two cases
Indonesia has confirmed another 107 new cases - the country's biggest daily increase to date. A total of 686 cases have now been recorded, with 55 deaths as of Tuesday
 
Spain deaths spike

The number of people dying from coronavirus in Spain has risen by 514 in the past 24 hours - a daily record. A total of 2,696 people have now died and there are 39,637 confirmed cases, the Spanish ministry of health says.
 
Italian coronavirus cases likely "10 times higher than reported"

The number of cases of coronavirus in Italy is probably 10 times higher than the official tally of almost 64,000, the head of the agency that is collating the data said on Tuesday.
 
Italy has just reported a jump of 743 deaths in the past day - 141 more than Monday.

This brings its death toll up to 6,820.

This comes after two days of the number falling. Italy has recorded more deaths than China, where the coronavirus outbreak began.
 
The Spanish Health Ministry has announced 2,696 people have died after testing positive for covid-19 in the country which is an increase of 514 deaths since yesterday and 39,673 people have tested positive for the virus which is an increase of 6,584 cases.
 
At least 400,000 cases of coronavirus have now been confirmed worldwide, a new milestone in the number of infections, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University.

The university has been keeping track of the number of coronavirus cases and deaths on its online global dashboard.

Its data shows the number of confirmed cases has grown exponentially in the past few weeks, with European countries in particular reporting a huge surge in infections.

Global cases surpassed 100,000 on 6 March, 200,000 on 18 March, 300,000 on 21 March and 400,000 on 24 March, the university's dashboard shows.

Here are the five countries with the most cases:

China, with 81,591 cases

Italy, with 69,176 cases

The US, with 49,768 cases

Spain, with 39,676 cases

Germany, with 31,991 cases
 
Jordan’s government has started delivering basic goods, medicines and fuel to its population of 10 million, after announcing an indefinite curfew to deal with the coronavirus.

On social media, Jordanians have shared videos of buses being mobbed in some neighbourhoods while in others, locals have queued in a safe, orderly fashion.

“It’s trial and error at a very critical time," says Amman resident Lubna Wardeh, as she waited for a bus with supplies to arrive on her street so she can buy bread and water.

“Those people who went crazy put our quarantine back at zero,” she said.

A government minister praised "citizen's discipline" for spacing themselves as they queued.
 
French health officials say the number of deaths from COVID-19 is now at 1,100 up from 860 becoming the fifth country to report more than a 1,000 deaths
 
The death toll in France from the coronavirus has jumped by 240 in the last 24 hours to reach 1,100. That's its biggest daily rise yet.

There were 2,444 new confirmed cases in the same period, bringing the total number in the country to at least 22,300, France’s health ministry said.

The death toll is likely to be higher, as those confirmed so far have only been people who died in hospital, French media reports say.

Like most other European countries, France has implemented Draconian restrictions on life to prevent the virus from spreading.

The country was put into lockdown on 17 March, requiring people to stay indoors stay except for essential trips for an initial 15-day period.

But on Tuesday, France’s scientific council advised the government to extend the lockdown, saying it should last at least six weeks to suppress the virus more effectively.

Health minister Olivier Véran said the lockdown will “last as long as it needs to”.
 
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has donated 1m euros (£917m) to help fight the coronavirus outbreak in Spain.

Almost 2,700 people have now died in the country and close to 40,000 are infected. Italy is the only European country to see more cases.

Guardiola, who is from Catalonia and currently at home in Barcelona, has been working with his lawyers over the past few days to decide the best way of using the money.
 
Breaking: NSW have 1029 confirmed cases of #COVIDー19

500 overseas acquired. 126 locally acquired.

NSW has recorded first cases of children under 10yrs old. (A 2 month old boy & 7yr old girl) - both have minimal symptoms
 
Egyptian prime minister Moustafa Madbouly says a curfew will be in place across the country from tomorrow between 7pm to 6am to counter the spread of COVID-19
 
Coronavirus: World leaders to hold virtual summit on global coronavirus response

World leaders are planning an unprecedented virtual summit to coordinate a global response to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The extraordinary event will be convened in the coming days under the G20 presidency currently held by Saudi Arabia.

Saudi organisers told Sky News there is a need to agree on how to move forward collectively on the COVID-19 emergency.

The meeting would follow a virtual summit of G20 finance minsters and central bank governors that was held on Monday.

A Saudi official told Sky News the leaders will meet by teleconference to address the lack of cooperation over the virus outbreak across borders.

Leaders will discuss how to work in a concerted international way to improve global planning, coordinate rules on travel, increase production and distribution of medical equipment and most importantly share and disseminate information and expertise about the virus.

World leaders are unable to meet face to face but Saudi organisers are confident the summit can still be an effective step towards building a global response to the crisis.

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavi...ummit-on-global-coronavirus-response-11963186
 
Mexico suspends refugee requests as coronavirus cases climb to 405

Mexico temporarily halted the processing of asylum requests from Tuesday, its refugee agency said, the latest measure in North America aimed at stopping the spread of coronavirus that have also limited access to asylum.
 
Act like you have Covid-19, says Ardern as New Zealand heads into lockdown

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told citizens to behave as if they had the coronavirus and cut all physical contact outside their household when the country heads into a one-month lockdown at midnight.

Ardern has declared a national state of emergency as the number of cases surged, taking the national tally to 205.

==

Japan's capital of Tokyo is at the centre of its coronavirus epidemic with more cases than any other region after a record number in a single day, Reuters reported, citing data from public broadcaster NHK.

Tokyo registered a record 17 new cases on Tuesday, taking its tally to 171, and overtaking the hard-hit northern island of Hokkaido as the prefecture with the most infections.

The outbreak has infected 1,214 people in Japan, with 43 deaths linked to the virus.
 
Number of coronavirus cases in Germany rises to 31,554: RKI

The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Germany has risen to 31,554 and 149 people have died of the disease, statistics from the RKI health institute showed on Wednesday.
 
The total recovered cases in world is 109000 out of 400000. Out of these 79000 cases are from China.
Something does not add up with their quoted figures. Other nations are not having this many recovered cases and deaths are mounting.
 
Almost 420,000 cases of coronavirus have now been reported globally, together with nearly 20,000 deaths

For the next 21 days, India's 1.3bn residents will be banned from leaving their homes. But correspondents say there is confusion about how people can buy food and other essentials.

The US Senate has agreed a $2 trillion (£1.7tn) economic rescue plan to cushion America from the impact of coronavirus. It now needs to pass through the US House of Representatives before a sign-off from President Trump.

Libya has confirmed its first case of coronavirus. The north African country has been racked by war since Nato-backed forces overthrew long-serving ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Australia has introduced a range of new measures to keep social gatherings at a minimum.
 
PARIS (Reuters) - The number of people in France who have died from coronavirus is much higher than the official daily government tally, which only accounts for those dying in hospitals and does not include those dying at home or in retirement homes, the head of the hospitals federation said.

“We only know the data provided by hospitals... The increase in the official data is already major, but the absolute numbers would no doubt be effectively much higher if we aggregated what is happening in retirement homes as well as the people who die at home,” Frederic Valletoux, president of the French hospitals federation, said on France Info radio.
 
Corpses of the elderly found abandoned in Spanish care homes

Madrid, Spain - Spain's state prosecutor has launched an investigation after soldiers deployed to help fight the coronavirus outbreak found elderly patients abandoned or dead in retirement homes.

Margarita Robles, the Spanish defence minister, on Tuesday said troops who had been sent to sanitise rest homes had on Monday found the corpses of elderly people, and other residents left to their own fates.

Prosecutors will decide if there are charges of negligence to be answered to.

The investigation comes as reports showed the pathogen was spreading across a wider geographical area in Spain than in Italy where it is mainly concentrated in three regions.

After China and Italy, Spain has the highest number of cases of coronavirus with 39,673, health authorities said on Tuesday.

The virus has now killed 2,694 people in the country. On Tuesday, Spain announced the highest increase in deaths in a 24-hour period, with 514 more people losing their lives - an increase of 19 percent on the day before.

In an interview with Telecinco, a Spanish television channel, Robles said: "We are going to be strict and inflexible when dealing with the way old people are treated in these residences.

"The army, during certain visits, found some old people completely abandoned, sometimes even dead in their beds."

The Spanish army and navy have been asked to help disinfect retirement homes across Spain.

Dozens of deaths have been recorded at residential homes across the country.

In Madrid, mortuaries are so full that authorities have been forced to store bodies in an ice rink.

"When I heard this news from the minister I was horrified," Ignacio Fernandez-Cid, president of the Federation of Residential Home Companies, told Al Jazeera.

"We have been told that the funeral services are so overloaded that they may not be able to come to collect bodies straight away, so the best thing to do if a person is in a room on their own is to leave their body in the bed to avoid the risk of contamination. It may be the case that this has happened."

Luis Seoane's 89-year-old father, also named Luis, is in hospital in Madrid, suffering from coronavirus.

His father had been staying at the Monte Hermoso residential home, where 20 elderly people died from the virus last week.

"My father may die at any time. He is very frail. There have been so many people who died in the home where he was staying. It does not surprise me that they are leaving bodies. This is out of control," he told Al Jazeera.

Salvador Illa, the health minister, said retirement homes were "an absolute priority for the government".

"We will exercise the most intensive monitoring of these centres," he said in a statement.

Under the government's coronavirus guidelines, health workers have been instructed to leave bodies in place until the arrival of a doctor.

However, with many hospitals overwhelmed by cases, these delays can be lengthy.

Meanwhile, epidemiologists said the number of cases had doubled in the past three days in Spain, a phenomenon not seen in China or Italy.

About 80 percent of all cases in Italy have been recorded in three regions, Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna, while in Spain the pathogen has spread from the main focus in Madrid, La Rioja and the Basque Country to three other regions.

Analysis also showed that the number of cases in Madrid may soon exceed that of Lombardy, one of the three regions in northern Italy which has the most cases.

Pere Godoy, president of the Spanish Epidemiology Society, told El Pais newspaper: "I think it was a mistake to allow the large geographical dispersion that took place in the days prior to the introduction of isolation, something that could have facilitated the dispersion of the virus."

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...doned-spanish-care-homes-200324141255435.html
 
Spain: Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will today ask parliament to extend the country's state of emergency for another two weeks to 11 April. Spain's infection numbers and the death toll have soared in recent days, making it the worst affected European country after Italy. Worryingly, more than 5,000 of its 40,000 confirmed cases are healthcare workers.

France: On Tuesday, France became the fifth country to suffer more than 1,000 deaths since the outbreak began. And Jerome Salomon, the country's top health official, has warned that the number could be even higher - the 1,100 confirmed total only counts people who died in hospitals. Scientific advisers say the strict lockdown measures are the only effective tool, and want them extended for up to six weeks, from the initial 15 day period.

Italy: The world's worst affected country has increased punishments for breaking its control measures, including fines of thousands of euros and five-year prison terms for anyone who tests positive for the coronavirus and breaks quarantine. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has denied suggestions the lockdown will last until July, saying it will end as soon as possible.
 
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