Italy’s death toll from coronavirus overtook that of China, where the virus first emerged, on Thursday as hospitals said they were being overwhelmed and the government prepared to prolong emergency lockdown measures.

A total 427 deaths were registered in Italy over the past 24 hours, bringing the total nationwide tally to 3,405 since the outbreak surfaced on Feb. 21. China has recorded 3,245 deaths since early January.

However, Italy has far fewer confirmed cases – 41,035 as of Thursday against 80,907 in China.

Officials and experts believe the total number of infections there is significantly higher, with testing largely limited to those arriving for hospital care. The country’s large, elderly population, who are particularly vulnerable to the virus, is also seen as factor for the high number of fatalities.

“We’re working in a state of very high stress and tension,” said Daniela Confalonieri, a nurse at a hospital in Milan, the capital of the wealthy northern region of Lombardy, which has been the epicentre of the epidemic.

“Unfortunately we can’t contain the situation in Lombardy. There’s a high level of contagion and we’re not even counting the dead any more,” she said.

Underscoring the scale of the drama, soldiers transported bodies overnight from the northern town of Bergamo, northeast of Milan, whose cemetery has been overwhelmed.

An army spokesman said 15 trucks and 50 soldiers had been deployed to move coffins to neighbouring provinces. Earlier local authorities had appealed for help with cremations as their own crematorium could not cope with the huge workload.

“Look at the news that’s coming out of Italy and take note of what the situation really is like. It’s unimaginable,” said the Milan nurse, Confalonieri.

Police checks

Italy went into virtual lockdown before other countries in Europe but, with cases still rising, the government is considering even tougher measures that would further restrict the limited amount of outdoor movement currently permitted.

Luca Zaia, governor of the Veneto region neighbouring Lombardy, demanded stronger curbs from Rome, including closing all shops on Sunday, and said if they were not passed, he would consider passing a regional decree.

“I hope there will soon be measures to restrict people jogging or going out for walks. I’m sorry about that, but the alternative is intensive care, hospitalisation and contagion,” he said.

At the other end of the country, in Sicily, the regional governor said the army would now help police make spot checks to ensure only people with legitimate reasons were out.

Police across Italy have stopped more than 1.2 million people over the past week and booked some 51,000 for violating the rules, the interior ministry said on Thursday.

Corriere della Sera newspaper quoted Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte as saying the government would extend the deadline on emergency rules closing schools and many businesses.

The measures currently order most shops to stay shut until at least March 25 and schools till April 3. He did not say how long schools would have to remain closed.

Education Minister Lucia Azzolina told SkyTG24 television that schools would reopen only when there was “certainty of absolute safety”, adding that the end of the school year would depend on how well online lessons went in coming weeks.

The contagion is also badly damaging Italy’s economy, which had already been on the brink of recession before the virus struck last month and the government imposed a nationwide clampdown, causing many businesses to grind to a halt.

The Treasury has announced a 25 billion euro ($26.84 billion) package of measures to support companies and workers and sources said it was considering extending guarantees on bank loans to help firms hit by a collapse in orders. ($1 = 0.9315 euros).

Source: REUTERS

Before shutdowns swept the globe and many were urged — or mandated — to stay indoors to stymie coronavirus’s spread, Divya Sonti sensed the worst was yet to come.

A specialist in public health communications, the 31-year-old encouraged her millennial peers to steer clear of bars and parties — but says “friends would think I was overreacting.”

Her age group is considered low-risk if they contract coronavirus — but today authorities warn younger generations are likely carriers of asymptomatic cases, and could easily infect older or immunocompromised people.

Deborah Birx, the White House taskforce coronavirus administrator, said “the millennial generation” could include many more virus carriers than previously thought.

She also said COVID-19 — which has infected at least 210,000 people, leaving more than 8,800 people dead worldwide — could hit younger people harder than believed, noting reports from France and Italy of serious cases even among 20 and 30-somethings.

“We need them to be healthy,” Birx said. “I’m not only calling on you to heed what’s in the guidance, but to really ensure that each and every one of you are protecting each other.”

– ‘Invincible’ –

Donald Trump also has pointed to young people, saying “we don’t want them gathering. And I see they do gather, including on beaches and including in restaurants.”

“Young people — they don’t realize, they’re feeling invincible,” said the 73-year-old president of the United States, which so far has reported more than 9,300 cases with 150 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University count.

“Millennial” is often used as a blanket term for all young people, though the Pew Research Center defines it as those born between 1981 and 1996.

Those approximately 24 and younger are considered members of Generation Z — the group most likely to be flying south for spring break beach trips.

The Miami Beach mayor, Dan Gelber, warned of “devastating consequences” over the virus and ordered bars and gyms to close this week, telling springbreakers: “You’ve got to think about the person next to you and even the person you don’t know.”

Shelly Hill, a 21-year-old university student, told AFP she cut short her Miami trip as airlines axe flights.

“I’m not really scared of corona, but I feel like it’s causing a lot of problems… a lot of stuff is getting shut down,” the Atlanta resident said.

But “people need to be safe and quarantine, because it is spreading really fast.”

– ‘Stupid and privileged’ –

A streak of individualism runs through contemporary society, standing out most prominently among youth, according to Jean Twenge, a psychology professor and author of “Generation Me.”

Individualism has led to more equality and less prejudice, she said — along with a flippant attitude towards rules and less trust in institutions, including science.

“All of us have to realize that we’re going to have to shift our thinking,” she told AFP.

“It just might be particularly challenging for a generation that has not ever experienced a culture that needs to be more collectivistic for some really good reasons.”

Celebrities, like 18-year-old Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande, 26, have urged people to heed COVID-19 warnings.

“The ‘We will be fine because we’re young’ mindset is putting people who aren’t young and/or healthy in a lot of danger,” Grande posted recently. “You sound stupid and privileged and you need to care more about others.”

“Like now.”

– ‘Fever dream’ –

Nate Christensen has been laying low at home in New York — which closed schools and banned gatherings — for a week with his partner.

The nursing student, 30, compared attitudes towards coronavirus to those of climate change: “I think people have a hard time taking something seriously that’s not right in their backyard.”

As America’s most populated city began closing up shop over the weekend, Christensen said he “saw a lot of millennials on social media self-isolating — but many also still going to the gym, going on dates.”

“Ultimately I don’t blame people for wanting to continue living a normal life,” he said, criticizing the city’s mayor and New York’s state governor “for not acting sooner to shutter public life.”

He said his generation’s strength has been savvy use of social media to spread coronavirus risk awareness — though he said some people on his feeds, especially Trump supporters, are still touting an “invincible approach.”

“Anyone that has seen what is happening in Italy but still thinks this country will deal with the virus like any flu season is certainly living in an ‘American exceptionalism’ fever dream,” Christensen said.

“The virus is about to show just how not great this country truly is.”

Source:  AFP

German leaders on Monday urged citizens to stay home, as the government announced unprecedented nationwide measures to radically scale back public life in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Germans to cancel any holidays at home and abroad, while president Frank-Walter Steinmeier told people to “stay at home”.

The government banned gatherings in churches, mosques and synagogues and ordered non-essential shops as well as playgrounds shut.

The number of virus cases in Germany rose to 6,012 on Monday, a leap of 1,174 in 24 hours, according to the tally posted on disease control agency Robert Koch Institute’s website.

So far the country has seen 16 fatalities.

At a press conference in Berlin, Merkel said that under the new measures, “there shouldn’t be any holiday trips undertaken inside the country or outside it”.

“There have never been measures like this in our country before. They are far-reaching, but at the moment they are necessary.”

Meanwhile, Steinmeier called on Germans to “work together to ensure the virus spreads as slowly as possible”.

“So wherever possible: stay at home! Avoid close contact… and have understanding for all restrictive measures,” he said in a statement.

The sweeping restrictions aimed at “limiting social contact in public places” will leave most sites from museums to swimming pools to gyms shuttered.

But supermarkets, banks and post offices will stay open, as will pharmacies and petrol stations.

Hairdressers, construction supply stores and laundromats will also keep operating, the government said.

Restaurants and cafes can stay open, but only until 6 pm daily.

Hotels will only be used for “essential and explicitly not for tourist purposes”, the government added.

Authorities had last week ordered schools shut, and regional trains have been curtailed in a bid to reduce travel.

Germany also from Monday re-introduced checks on its borders with Austria, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Denmark, turning back motorists without an essential reason to enter Germany.

With most of Europe now in lockdown, and stock markets in a tailspin, Berlin on Friday promised companies “unlimited” credit to keep them afloat.

The economic package is worth at least 550 billion euros ($614 billion) initially — the biggest in Germany’s post-war history.

(AFP)

The White House on Monday urged all older Americans to stay home and everyone to avoid crowds and eating out at restaurants as part of sweeping new guidelines meant to combat an expected surge of coronavirus cases.

President Donald Trump and the Coronavirus Task Force released the guidelines as the US government moved to try to blunt the impact of the virus, racing to bolster testing and aid even as financial markets fell and Americans scrambled to reorder their lives.

The new recommendations included: over the next 15 days, Americans should not gather in groups of more than 10 people, schooling should be at home and discretionary travel and social visits should be avoided. If anyone in a household tests positive for the virus, everyone who lives there should stay home.

“If everybody in America does what we ask for over the next 15 days, we will see a dramatic difference,” Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, said at the White House briefing.

‘Crisis could pass by July or August’

When asked when the pandemic would subside, Trump said that “if we do a really good job” the crisis could pass by July or August, a far less optimistic take than in his earlier predictions that it could be over within weeks.

“We will rally together as one nation and we will defeat the virus,” the US president added. “We can turn the corner and turn it quickly.”

Trump also, for the first time, acknowledged that the virus, which has battered the global markets, may send the nation’s economy into a recession, a potentially brutal blow for an incumbent in an election year.

He also, without providing details, said of the administration, “We’re going to back the airlines 100 percent,” a note of reassurance for an industry crippled by travel bans and fears of spreading the virus.

Trump, who adopted his most somber tone yet when discussing the crisis, acknowledged that it was “not under control” in the United States or globally, but said he did not yet plan to call for domestic travel restrictions.

The administration did not immediately define what an an older American was in terms of the recommendation to stay home.

Trump may ask military for help

On Monday Trump also said he might ask the military to help build temporary hospitals to tackle the worsening coronavirus outbreak.

Asked if the Army Corps of Engineers would build emergency hospitals, Trump said, “We’re looking into it… we’re looking into it very strongly.”

Trump also said he felt that postponements of primary elections, like those announced in Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana and Kentucky, were generally unnecessary.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said on Twitter his administration was ordering polls closed on Tuesday in defiance of a state court ruling to the contrary.

The number of known coronavirus infections and deaths in the United States has paled in comparison with hot spots of the global pandemic, such as China, Italy or Iran.

But the tally of confirmed U.S. cases has multiplied quickly over the past few weeks, surpassing 4,600 and prompting fears American hospitals might soon be overwhelmed, as Italian medical centers have been strained to the breaking point.

At least 83 people in the United States had died of the virus, as of Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University and public health agencies, with the hardest-hit state, Washington, accounting for the bulk of the fatalities, including six more announced on Monday.

Restaurants, bars, cafes and casinos closed

The unprecedented wave of closures and restrictions, which began to accelerate last week, took on fresh urgency as New Jersey “strongly discouraged” all non-essential and non-emergency travel between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m., starting on Monday.

The states of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut struck a regional agreement to close all movie theaters, casinos and gyms as of 8 p.m. Monday (0000 GMT). Restaurants and bars in the three states – where more than 22 million people live – will serve takeout and delivery only.

Officials in six San Francisco Bay Area counties on Monday ordered residents to stay at home for all but the most crucial outings until April 7. That directive came a day after California Governor Gavin Newsom urged adults older than 65, and their caretakers, to remain indoors whether or not they have underlying health conditions.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said efforts by state and local governments were insufficient to confront the coast-to-coast crisis.

“This is a national problem. It cannot be done in a piecemeal method,” Cuomo said, calling for bold action involving the military and Army Corps of Engineers to quickly create excess hospital capacity.

In the nation’s capital, Washington, a deeply divided Senate was considering a multibillion-dollar emergency spending bill requiring sick leave for some workers and expanded unemployment compensation, while the Supreme Court postponed oral arguments for the first time in over a century.

(FRANCE 24 with AP, REUTERS)

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday said South African would close its borders from Wednesday to all foreigners from countries highly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Visas will be refused to anyone who has visited a high-risk country in the last 20 days, and 35 of the country’s 53 land ports will also be shut as of Monday.

“We are imposing a travel ban on foreign nationals from high-risk countries such as Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom and China from 18 March 2020,” Ramaphosa said in an address to the nation.

The president also announced the closure of schools for around three weeks from Wednesday.

Public gatherings of more than 100 people will be been banned and mass celebrations cancelled to limit contact. 

“Given the scale and the speed at which the virus is spreading, it is now clear that no country is immune from the disease or will be spared its severe impact,” said Ramaphosa, who declared a “national state of disaster”.

To date 61 people in South Africa have tested positive for novel coronavirus — the second-highest number of cases in Africa after Egypt, which has reported 110 so far.

The number of infections more than doubled over the weekend with 37 new cases announced.

Around 50 of South Africa’s coronavirus patients had recently traveled abroad. 

Most came from Europe, the new epicenter of the virus, while others had returned from the United States and the Middle East.

But Ramaphosa suggested the latest confirmed cases had contracted the virus in South Africa.

“Initially, it was people who had traveled out of the country, especially from Italy,” he said. 

“It is concerning that we are now dealing with internal transmission of the virus.”

Sub-Saharan Africa has so far escaped the worst of the pandemic, which has infected more than 160,000 people worldwide and killed over 6,000.

The region has recorded just over 100 cases in more than 20 countries, almost all of which were imported from the West.

But numbers have been creeping up fast, prompting several African leaders to roll out measures to limit infections.

Kenya blocked entry to all except citizens and residents on Sunday as the number of confirmed cases rose to three. 

Governments across the continent have banned public gatherings, shut schools and restricted travel from areas hit by the pandemic.

South Africa’s new measures are bad news for tourism, which is a major foreign exchange earner and contributes to 10 percent of GDP.

The industry already suffered a blow after Beijing blocked overseas tours from China, where coronavirus was first detected in December.

“These losses are still going to increase,” Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane warned last week, when travel bans had not yet been implemented.

“Whatever happens, the truth of this situation is the virus will have a negative impact on the tourism sector.”

More than half the tourists that visited South Africa from overseas in December came from Europe, according to government statistics, followed by the US and Asia. 

Source: Presstv

Health Ministers from countries in Central Africa agreed on Thursday to jointly combat COVID-19 by sharing information and best practices.

The six-member states of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) made the commitment after a meeting on the novel coronavirus disease held in Cameroon’s commercial capital Douala. The ministers emphasized the growing urgency for cooperation in COVID-19 surveillance, prevention, detection and control in the sub-region, said Cameroonian Health Minister Manaouda Malachie, who chaired the deliberations.

“We now have a roadmap to combat the virus in the sub-region and our priority is to prevent its spread,” Malachie told reporters at the meeting. “We will reinforce communication and information sharing,” he said, adding that several other “strong and urgent measures” have been adopted, including “the networking of laboratories and the publication of community diagnostic directives.”

So far, Cameroon and Gabon have reported confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the region.

The CEMAC countries include Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo.

Source: Xinhuanet

Democratic Republic of Congo Health authorities confirm that a second person has tested positive for coronavirus in the country, and is being treated in hospital:

The patient is a 46-year-old Cameroonian national who lives in DR Congo with this family.

He returned to the country from France on 8 March, and did not show symptoms of the virus.

Congolese health authorities say they have so far identified 117 people who have come into contact with both of the country’s confirmed cases.

The news comes a day after doctors in DR Congo decided to return to work, ending a two-month strike.

Correspondents say the medical union signed an agreement with the government to improve their working conditions and pay.

Source: Report Focus News