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LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain unveiled Wednesday a package of stimulus measures worth £30 billion ($39 billion, 34.4 billion euros) to fight the growing threat from the coronavirus epidemic to the economy. “I am announcing today in total a £30-billion fiscal stimulus to support British people, British jobs and British businesses through this moment. And of course, if further action is needed if the situation evolves… I will not hesitate to act,” finance minister […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Coronavirus infections in Spain has passed the 2,000 marks with 47 deaths, the health ministry announced on Wednesday, making it Europe’s second most severe outbreak after Italy. “By this morning, we had 2,002 cases,” said health ministry emergencies coordinator Fernando Simon, up from 1,639 on Tuesday and almost quadruple Sunday’s total. Madrid is the worst-hit region with half of the confirmed cases and 31 of the deaths. Officials quickly unveiled a […]
WARSAW, Poland (AFP) — Poland’s prime minister on Wednesday said the government has decided to close down all educational and cultural facilities for two weeks to stem the spread of the coronavirus, which has infected 25 people in the EU member to date. “The fight against the spread of the virus is a priority for us,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters. He said all schools, nurseries, universities, theatres, cinemas, museums and operas will be […]
VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — Austria said Wednesday it will close its national museums and suspend all remaining trains to neighboring Italy to stem the spread of the new coronavirus. The decision affects rail links from regions in western and southern Austria which border Italy. All long-distance routes — notably overnight trains to Rome, Milan, and Venice — had already been canceled. The country announced on Tuesday the near closure of its land border with its […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel signaled Wednesday that she does not rule out suspending a self-imposed dogma of keeping Germany’s budget balanced in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak. “It is an extraordinary situation, we will do what’s necessary and luckily Germany is relatively robust… we see at the end of that where our budget stands,” she said, stressing that ending the virus crisis “comes first”. Maintaining a balanced or “black zero” budget […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Wednesday that Rome was allocating 25 billion euros ($28.3 billion) to fight the novel coronavirus outbreak that has killed 631 people in Italy. “We have allocated an emergency sum of 25 billion euros,” Conte told reporters during a break in a meeting on the government’s response to the rapidly escalating health crisis. The entire sum “will not all be used immediately,” Conte added. Economy Minister Roberto […]
KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) –Ukraine’s capital Kiev announced Wednesday it was closing schools and universities until the end of March to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. “We are introducing preventive measures in Kiev as of March 12,” mayor Vitaly Klitschko said, saying classes would be suspended in schools and universities until the end of March. Kindergartens, movie theatres and entertainment centers will also be closed and mass events canceled, Klitschko said on Facebook. “Even […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — The head of the Lombardy region around Milan urged the Italian government Wednesday to shut down all non-essential businesses and transport for 15 days in the industrial north to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus. The appeal from Attilio Fontana came as Italy’s death toll from the new disease shot up to 631 and infections surpassed 10,000, the worst numbers after China. The Italian fashion and financial capital Milan has […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — Belgium has recorded its first death from the novel coronavirus strain that is sweeping the globe, health officials said Wednesday. Maggie De Block, health minister in the caretaker federal government, said the victim was 90 years old. The ministry is to hold a news conference later in the day, but as of Tuesday Belgium had recorded 267 cases of the coronavirus strain that causes COVID-19 disease. China remains the hardest-hit country […]
by Dmitry ZAKS ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy prepared Tuesday to let families skip mortgage and some tax payments to help deal with a coronavirus outbreak that has killed 631 people and forced the government to restrict movement for its 60 million citizens. Ministers said they would also ask the European Union to allow Rome to raise its deficit spending to 10 billion euros ($11.3 billion) to help businesses hurt by a precipitous drop in […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy reported five more deaths Tuesday from prison riots linked to the new coronavirus that have now officially claimed 12 lives over three days. The justice ministry has blamed all the deaths on drug overdoses that occurred after prisoners broke into medical storage rooms. The claim was impossible to immediately verify through independent sources. Jails have been ordered to stop visits and limit day releases as part of broad government response […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday pledged to mobilize “all the tools” available to the bloc to lessen the economic impact of the coronavirus epidemic, which has roiled markets across the globe. After EU leaders held crisis talks by videoconference to try to coordinate their response to the epidemic, Von der Leyen sought to reassure businesses and governments spooked by the spread of the disease. Among the measures is […]
