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More than 100 millions Europeans are on lockdown after Spain joined Italy in imposing a national quarantine to combat coronavirus, with a wave of further restrictions on travel and movement elsewhere in the world set to come into effect over the next 48 hours.
The number of people infected with coronavirus has grown to more than 155,000, according to the World Health Organization, with at least 5,800 deaths, including more than 400 over the past day.
Spain, the worst-affected European country after Italy, announced on Saturday that citizens would be confined to their homes for 15 days unless they had to buy food or medicine or go to work or seek medical treatment. The country has 6,251 cases of the virus and 193 deaths. Italy, with more than 1,400 deaths so far, implemented similar measures last week.
In France, where 91 people have died, cafes, restaurants, cinemas and most shops are shut. Plane, train and coach services between cities will be reduced from Sunday but Paris Métro services would continue for the time being, the government said.
With infections exponentially increasing in many countries, leaders of the G7 were preparing to hold an extraordinary summit via video link on Monday to try to coordinate a financial and medical response to the pandemic.
International travel and internal movement in many countries will be severely curtailed by restrictions set to come into effect over the next days.
Austria said that from Tuesday the freedom to move would be “massively limited”, with non-essential shops closed along with restaurants, bars, playgrounds and sports venues. Pharmacies would remain open for now, the chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, announced, warning the next weeks would be “challenging, difficult and painful”.
More than 800 people have been infected in the alpine state of 8.8 million and one person has died. Vienna has banned anyone entering from the UK, the Netherlands, Ukraine and Russia.
The World Health Organization is recommending that people take simple precautions to reduce exposure to and transmission of the coronavirus, for which there is no specific cure or vaccine.
The UN agency advises people to:
- Frequently wash their hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or warm water and soap
- Cover their mouth and nose with a flexed elbow or tissue when sneezing or coughing
- Avoid close contact with anyone who has a fever or cough
- Seek early medical help if they have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, and share their travel history with healthcare providers
- Avoid direct, unprotected contact with live animals and surfaces in contact with animals when visiting live markets in affected areas
- Avoid eating raw or undercooked animal products and exercise care when handling raw meat, milk or animal organs to avoid cross-contamination with uncooked foods.
Despite a surge in sales of face masks in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak, experts are divided over whether they can prevent transmission and infection. There is some evidence to suggest that masks can help prevent hand-to-mouth transmissions, given the large number of times people touch their faces. The consensus appears to be that wearing a mask can limit – but not eliminate – the risks, provided it is used correctly.
In China, where the vast majority of fresh cases were being recorded among people arriving from abroad, rather than through domestic transmission, the government announced that anyone landing in Beijing from Monday would be quarantined for 14 days in a government facility.
Anyone arriving in Australia will be ordered to self-isolate for two weeks and could face steep fines for not doing so, the government said on Sunday, as two more people there were confirmed to have died from the virus. Nearly 250 people have tested positive, according to the country’s health department.
The US on Saturday added Great Britain and Ireland to a list of European countries from which entrants would be temporarily banned.
Pictures from several American airports showed huge crowds of people scrambling to return to the US, raising concerns that the government’s response might itself help to spark new cases.
The UK Foreign Office on Sunday advised against “all but essential travel” to the US. The US president, Donald Trump, said on Saturday he had been tested for the virus and found negative.
The Vatican’s Easter services will be held next month without attendees, the Holy See has said, in a move believed to be unprecedented in modern times.
Iran, whose caseload and number of deaths are the highest in the world after China and Italy, announced 113 deaths over the past 24 hours, its highest single-day toll so far. More than 14,000 people have been infected and 724 have died, according to official statistics, the accuracy of which has been challenged by the WHO.
Those dying in the Iranian outbreak are significantly younger than elsewhere, with 15% of them younger than 40, according to health ministry statistics. The official leading the response was quoted on Sunday warning that the country’s sanctions-hit health system threatened to be overwhelmed by the virus.
“If the trend continues, there will not be enough capacity,” Ali Reza Zali was quoted as saying earlier by the state-run IRNA news agency.
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