Latest on the spread of the coronavirus around the world

Latest on the spread of the coronavirus around the world

Signs on the side of a road alert motorists to “Stay Home” and that they should only travel if it is “Essential”, in Manchester, northern England on March 28, 2020,/ AFP / Paul ELLIS

Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would issue a travel warning for the hard-hit New York area to limit the spread of the coronavirus. In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the country’s poor for forgiveness over the price they were paying for a nationwide lockdown.

DEATHS, INFECTIONS – More than 662,700 people have been infected by the novel coronavirus across the world and 30,751 have died, according to a Reuters tally.

EUROPE – The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy barrelled past 10,000 on Saturday, a figure that made an extension of a national lockdown almost certain.

Spain’s death toll rose by 838 overnight to 6,528, the health ministry said on Sunday, marking the highest daily rise in fatalities. The total number of those infected rose to 78,797 from 72,248.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is warning Britons in a letter to 30 million households that things will get worse before they get better, as he himself self-isolates in Downing Street to recover from the coronavirus.

Britain has reported 17,089 confirmed cases of the disease and 1,019 deaths and the peak of the epidemic in the country is expected to come in a few weeks.

Germany’s health system could face strains similar to those in Italy if the outbreak in the country worsens, the head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the federal agency responsible for disease control, told a newspaper. RKI data on Sunday showed the number of confirmed cases in Germany had risen to 52,547, with 389 deaths.

AMERICAS – President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he would issue a travel warning for the hard-hit New York area to limit the spread of the coronavirus, backing off from an earlier suggestion that he might try to cut off the region entirely.

The U.S. death count crossed 2,100, more than double the level from two days ago. The United States has now recorded more than 122,000 cases of the respiratory virus, the most of any country in the world.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday approved a $2.2 trillion aid package and Trump quickly signed it into law.

Mexico’s deputy health minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell called on Saturday on all residents in Mexico to stay at home for a month, saying it was the only way to reduce the transmission rate.

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC  – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the nation’s poor for forgiveness as the economic and human toll from his 21-day nationwide lockdown deepens and criticism mounts about a lack of adequate planning ahead of the decision.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Japanese organisers are in final stages of talks to set the opening date for the Tokyo Games in July next year, Japanese media said.

Doctors, politicians and human rights commissioners are calling on Indonesia’s government to enact tighter movement restrictions as the death toll from coronavirus rose in the world’s fourth most populous country.

The growing number of imported coronavirus cases in China risks fanning a second wave of infections at a time when “domestic transmission has basically been stopped”, a spokesman for the National Health Commission said on Sunday.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA  – The United Arab Emirates on Saturday extended to April 5 a nightly curfew to sterilise public places to combat the spread of coronavirus as neighbouring Qatar reported its first death from the disease.

Turkey halted all intercity trains and limited domestic flights on Saturday. The number of cases jumped to 7,402, with 108 dead.

Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus has climbed to 2,640 and the number of infected people has reached 38,309, a health ministry official tweeted on Sunday.

ECONOMIC FALLOUT – Stocks across the globe fell on Friday after a historic three-day run-up, as skittish investors kept indices on track for their worst monthly and quarterly performances since 2008, while the dollar fell by the most in any week since 2009.

Egypt’s central bank said it has instructed banks to put temporary limits on daily withdrawals and deposits amid concerns over the spread of the coronavirus.

South Africa may approach the International Monetary Fund and World Bank for funding, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said in the Sunday Times newspaper.

Investors rushed into cash and out of bonds at a record pace over the past week, BofA’s weekly fund flow data showed on Friday.

Credit: The Peninsula Qatar

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