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ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy on Sunday recorded 368 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, its highest one-day increase to date, taking the total to 1,809, the most outside China, official data showed. The number of infections has reached 24,747, a count released to the media by Italy’s civil protection service said. The northern Lombardy region around Milan remained the European epicenter of the pandemic, officially reporting 1,218 deaths or 67 percent of the Italian […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Food has been quickly disappearing from US supermarket shelves in signs of panic-buying but President Donald Trump and other government and industry officials assured on Sunday that the supply chain is intact and there’s plenty of food. “You don’t have to buy so much… Relax,” Trump said at a press conference of his new-coronavirus task force, after speaking with CEOs of major US supermarkets and food companies such as Walmart […]
VICTORIA, Seychelles (AFP) — Seychelles has confirmed its first two cases of coronavirus, which has now hit 25 countries in Africa, largely spared by the pandemic until recently. Public Health Commissioner Jude Gedeon announced late on Saturday that two citizens returning from Italy on March 11 had tested positive for the virus. “As we learnt these two people had been in contact with a sick person, we decided to do the tests this morning and […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday announced the closure of public schools in America’s biggest city, bowing to pressure after strongly resisting the move aimed at curbing the coronavirus pandemic. “I regret to announce that as of tomorrow our public schools will be closed,” de Blasio told a news conference, saying they would stay shuttered until April 20, and potentially for the remainder of the school year. […]
LISBON Portugal (AFP) — UN chief Antonio Guterres on Sunday urged governments to work together to stop the coronavirus pandemic from plunging the global economy into recession. “No country can face it alone,” the secretary-general wrote in an opinion article in the Publico daily. “More than ever, governments must cooperate to revitalize economies, expand public investment, promote trade and ensure that people and communities affected by the disease are supported,” he said. The virus was […]
BELGRADE, Serbia (AFP) — Serbia declared a state of emergency Sunday to halt the spread of the new coronavirus, shutting down many public spaces, deploying soldiers to guard hospitals and closing the borders to foreigners. Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic said the new restrictions were necessary to “save our elderly” in the Balkan state of some seven million, which has detected around 50 infections of COVID-19 so far with limited testing. “From tomorrow, there is no […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Lebanon on Sunday urged people to stay at home for two weeks and prepared to close its main airport to stem a novel coronavirus outbreak that has killed three people in the country. The COVID-19 virus has officially infected 99 people in the Mediterranean nation. Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad ordered “citizens to remain at home and not go out except out of extreme necessity” until March 29. The Beirut international […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany staked its claim Sunday to ongoing work into a vaccine against the coronavirus, after media reports claimed US President Donald Trump was trying to poach research from a German company. “The German government has a strong interest in producing vaccines in Germany and Europe,” a spokesperson for the economy ministry told media group Funke. The ministry also pointed out that the government had the power to scrutinize foreign takeovers of […]
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered on Sunday a “collective quarantine” in seven states, including the capital Caracas, from Monday to stem the spread of the new coronavirus pandemic. All activities in the seven states are to be suspended from 5:00 am on Monday, except food distribution, health services, transport and security, Maduro said in a television address to his crisis-devastated nation where the economy had already collapsed long before the pandemic […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — The US territory of Puerto Rico on Sunday ordered a 9:00 pm to 5:00 am curfew to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, the strongest measure yet taken on American soil. It took effect immediately and lasts until March 30. “Faced with the possibility of transmission and propagation of the virus, I have ordered the imposition of a curfew for all residents of Puerto Rico,” Governor Wanda Vazquez announced […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The Swiss health minister on Sunday urged people not to be afraid as Geneva residents applauded, whistled and rang bells from their balconies and windows to thank health workers on the frontline in the battle against the coronavirus. Health Minister Alain Berset’s comments came as cases of COVID-19 surged and drastic measures to halt the spread of the virus took hold. “We must not give in to fear,” Berset told NZZ […]
by Damon WAKE BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The EU on Sunday imposed restrictions on exports of masks and other protective medical equipment as it seeks to protect its own supplies for the fight against the coronavirus epidemic. Announcing the measure in an online video, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also warned that EU countries imposing border checks were threatening supply chains and increasing the risks of shortages. The move came as Germany became […]
