Coronavirus latest: Germany to partially close borders with several countries German authorities have decided to reimpose controls on the nation's borders with France, Austria, Denmark, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. Commuters would still be allowed to travel.
Updates in Universal Coordinated Time (UTC/GMT)19:38 Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro met with a crowd of supporters who gathered infront of the presidential palace on Sunday, celebrating and posing for selfies, according to a video posted to his official Facebook account. The 64-year-old president seemed to ignore medical advice to stay isolated after several of his aides tested positive for COVID-19. Bolsonaro himself tested negative.
19:28
Serbia has declared a state of emergency due to the pandemic.
19:22 The
Iraqi government has imposed a curfew in Baghdad amid a coronavirus outbreak. The curfew will go into effect on Tuesday next week and remain in force at least for the next seven days.
< snip >
19:13 Coronavirus death toll in
France has reached 120, up from 91 yesterday, with the number of infected jumping from 4,449 on Saturday to over 5,400.
18:57
Norway is set to aid its economy with a support package of 100 billion Norwegian crowns ($9.7 billion €8.7 billion). The authorities are also postponing the payment of payroll taxes.
"The government will do what's needed and spend the necessary funds to secure the Norwegian economy and support Norwegian businesses, big and small," Prime Minister Erna Solberg said.
18:41
Germany's federal police chief Dieter Romann says that police officers have already been deployed and enough officers are available to monitor the borders.
"We are not closing the borders, that is what they do in North Korea," he told reporters. "We are controlling the border, that is something completely different."
18:22
Germany now has 4,838 confirmed coronavirus cases, a jump of over 1,000 compared to Saturday. The virus has so far killed 12 people, according to the Robert Koch Institute.
18:12 The coronavirus outbreak is advancing "quickly and aggressively" and has not yet reached its peak, according to
Germany Interior Minister Horst Seehofer.
18:11
Germany nationals and foreign nationals residing in Germany will be allowed to travel back to the country, officials said.
18:09
Germany's Interior Minister Horst Seehofer confirmed that the government would close borders with several neighboring countries, including France, Austria, Denmark, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. The crossing will stay open for people traveling to and from work, and transporters delivering goods.
18:00 Pope Francis has visited two Rome churches to pray for the end of the pandemic. The pontiff's trip outside the Vatican also included a brief walk in Rome, according to Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni.
17:44 As the Catholic Church prepares for Easter on April 12, the Vatican said that all "Liturgical Celebrations of Holy Week" will take place this year"without the physical presence of the faithful."
17:40
Scandinavian airline SAS will temporarily lay off some 10,000 employees, or 90% of its workforce, as the demand for plane tickets sinks due to the coronavirus.
17:31 The German state of
Bavaria will be closing bars, cinemas and swimming pools on Tuesday, according to government sources cited by the DPA news agency. Many other businesses are to follow suit on Wednesday. However, food shops, pharmacies, banks, drugstores, and gas stations are set to stay open.
17:19
Italian officials say 368 people have died in the previous 24 hours, the biggest day-to-day jump since the outbreak reached the country.
17:01
French luxury giant LVMH, known for its flagship brand Louis Vuitton, said they would be making hydroalcoholic gel to help with the hand sanitizer shortages caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
"LVMH will use the production lines of its perfume and cosmetic brands ... to produce large quantities of hydroalcoholic gels from Monday," LVMH said in a statement quoted by the Reuters news agency.
"These gels will be delivered free of charge to the health authorities," LVMH added.
16:56
Italy will receive another 140 medicinal ventilators and 5 million face masks from China, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Sunday. The latest shipment comes after China delivered some 30 tons of medical equipment, including masks and respirators, on Thursday.
16:39
Germany is set to close its border with Denmark on Monday, the premier of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, Daniel Günther, told the DPA news agency.
The German government has yet to comment on multiple reports that borders with France, Austria, and Switzerland would also be blocked starting Monday morning.
16:25 The
US-based Johns Hopkins University has provided an interactive map for all those interested in live data on the coronavirus pandemic.
If you are unable to view the map, you can also access it on the Johns Hopkins University website.
16:20 The
EU has announced controls on exporting masks and other protective medical equipment.
Such goods can now "only be exported to non-EU countries with the explicit authorization of the EU governments," said the head of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
16:18 Another 14
Britons have died of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 35, UK health authorities said on Sunday. The country now has 1,372 diagnosed coronavirus patients.
16:13
Germany's flagship airline Lufthansa has set up charter flights to transport German holidaymakers and cruise ship passengers back home. Most of the German nationals would be flown from the Canary and Caribbean Islands.
16:06 The northern German state of
Schleswig-Holstein has decided to ban tourists from the islands in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea starting on Monday morning, according to German media. The measures are being taken to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
15:58 Following reports that US President Donald Trump was trying to entice
Germany's CureVac to create a vaccine only for the US, the head of CureVac's biggest investor told the Mannheimer Morgen newspaper such a deal was out of the question.
15:29 All schools in the
Netherlands will close in order to curb the transmission of the coronavirus, according to Dutch public broadcaster NOS.
15:16
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the US was playing a "huge game of catch-up" and urged the Trump administration to take control of supply chain of medical products.
"If the federal government doesn't realize this is the equivalent of a war already, there's no way that the states and localities can make all the adjustments we need to," he told CNN.
15:14 Several popular sex clubs in
Amsterdam were closed on Sunday as the country faces the coronavirus outbreak, according to the local Het Parool newspaper.
15:05
Tunisia has asked its citizens to donate to fighting the coronavirus outbreak in that country. The North African country has 18 confirmed coronavirus cases.
14:58 Residents of
Austria should only make social contact "with the people with whom they live," said the country's chancellor, Sebastian Kurz.
"Austrians are being summoned to isolate themselves," he said in the statement. People who urgently need to go outside "may do so, but only alone or with people living in the same apartment," Kurz clarified in a separate statement to the APA news agency.
14:33 In
Spain, the number of people infected with the novel coronavirus has grown by a third in the last 24 hours and is now at 7,753, authorities said on Sunday. Over 100 people have died during the previous day, with the death toll now at 288.
14:15
Germany's borders to
Austria, Switzerland, and France will be closed starting Monday morning in a bid to stem the spread of the coronavirus, according to the Spiegel magazine and the mass-circulation Bild newspaper. However, German authorities will keep the crossing open for commuters as well as the delivery of goods.
There was no immediate information on the possible closure of other border crossings, including those towards Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.
< snip >
13:23 Police in
Greece have arrested 96 people for breaking coronavirus lockdown terms since Thursday. Bars and restaurants have been closed and Greece has started closing beach resorts. All tourism accomodation is to be closed until April 30.
13:13
Austria has begun enforcing a nationwide curfew on Sunday, according to the APA news agency, with police patrols deployed. Previously, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said that gatherings of five or more people would be banned. Starting Monday, violators would face a fine of up to €2,000 ($2,220).
On December 31, 2019,
China notifies the World Health Organization of a string of respiratory infections in the city of Wuhan, home to some 11 million people. The root virus is unknown and disease experts around the world begin working to identify it. The strain is traced to a seafood market in the city, which is quickly shut down. Some 40 people are initially reported to be infected.
13:02
Germany rail operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) is cutting down on its regional train services as a result of the drop in commuters due to coronavirus, according to a DB spokeswoman. The official said tickets would also no longer be checked on regional trains to protect employees and passengers.
12:54
British food retailers have written an open letter asking customers to stop panic-buying.
"We understand your concerns but buying more than is needed can sometimes mean that others will be left without. There is enough for everyone if we all work together," the letter, signed by Tesco, Sainsbury's, Aldi, Lidl and others, said. Social media users over the past week have been uploading pictures of empty supermarket shelves, with toilet rolls, pasta and canned food especially in demand.
12:37
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his government plans to use anti-terrorism tracking technology to locate people who have been in contact with those infected by the coronavirus.
"We will very soon begin using technology ... digital means that we have been using in order to fight terrorism," Netanyahu said, describing the virus as an "invisible enemy that must be located."
Avner Pinchuk, a privacy expert with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, told Reuters that these cyber capabilities could include real-time tracking of patients' cellphones to identify quarantine breaches, as well as scanning metadata to find out where they had been and who they had been with.
"I am troubled by this announcement. I understand that we are in unique circumstances, but this seems potentially like overreach," Pinchuk said. "Much will depend on how intrusive the new measures are."
Netanyahu said he had requested approval from the Justice Ministry, as such measures could violate citizens' privacy.
