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PARIS, France (AFP) — More than 2.6 billion people worldwide will be in lockdown once India introduces its measures to fight the coronavirus pandemic at 1830 GMT on Tuesday, according to an AFP tally. The figure represents more than one-third of a global population the United Nations estimates at 7.8 billion in 2020. At least 42 countries or territories have imposed a mandatory lockdown, including Britain, France, Italy, and Spain as well as Colombia, the […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia’s King Salman will chair an emergency virtual summit of leaders from the Group of 20 major economies on Thursday to discuss a global response to the coronavirus pandemic. World leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, will take part in the talks which the Kremlin said will take place by videoconference. “King Salman will chair the meeting to advance a coordinated global response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Six hundred people have died from the new coronavirus in the United States, while the number of confirmed cases now stands at 49,768, a tracker maintained by Johns Hopkins University showed Tuesday. The US has the third-highest number of confirmed cases globally, behind China and Italy. The death rate based on reported cases is now 1.2 percent — but the actual number believed to be infected is far higher, which […]
by Harumi OZAWA TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese citizens reacted with bitter disappointment Tuesday at the news their Olympics were postponed after years of preparation but many said they understood the move in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Tokyo’s famous Shibuya crossing was thronged with late-night crowds of young people following the announcement, as Japan has not been subject to the same movement restrictions imposed on much of the rest of the world. Earlier in […]
by Dmitry ZAKS ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy on Tuesday received more reassuring evidence that its coronavirus infection rate was slowing thanks to a painful lockdown that other nations are starting to apply at great economic cost. Health officials across the ravaged Mediterranean country are poring over every new piece of data to see whether two weeks of bans and closures have made a dent in the crisis. The harshest restrictions are theoretically due to […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The first known death of a child due to the novel coronavirus in the United States was a teenager in previously good health, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Tuesday. The death of the youth from Lancaster, just north of Los Angeles, was reported hours earlier by public health officials, and comes despite the disease not typically proving severe for juveniles. “A teenager in good health, succumbed to this […]
by Bhuvan Bagga with Aishwarya Kumar and Vishal Manve in Mumbai NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India’s 1.3 billion people will go under “total lockdown” for 21 days to combat the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday, sparking panic buying. “From 12 midnight today (1830 GMT Tuesday), the entire country will be in lockdown, total lockdown,” Modi said in a national television address to the world’s second-most-populous nation. “To save India, […]
Calls for unity for the nation to beat the pandemic (Eagle News) – President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday, March 24, 2020 signed into law the “Bayanihan To Heal as One Act” that gives him additional powers to address the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis in the country. With the signing into law of the Act, the President assured the entire nation that the government would tirelessly work to beat the pandemic together with all the Filipinos. […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The COVID-19 outbreak in the United States has the potential to exceed that in Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday as the number of reported US cases surges. The pandemic began in China in December but the epicenter has since shifted from Asia to Europe. WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told reporters during a virtual press conference that 85 percent of the new cases reported to the global body overnight […]
LYON, France (AFP) — French diagnostics firm Biomerieux said Tuesday it had secured emergency approval from US regulators for a coronavirus test that can produce results in 45 minutes, potentially offering a new tool for stemming the outbreak. The company said its Biofire Covid-19 test was developed with funding from the US Defense Department, which will be distributing the tests while Biomerieux awaits full commercial approval for the US market and elsewhere. Biomerieux said it […]
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AFP) — The 2020 Tokyo Olympics have been postponed to no later than the summer of 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe, the International Olympic Committee announced Tuesday. The Games were scheduled for July 24-August 9, but after telephone discussions between IOC president Thomas Bach and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a historic joint decision was taken for the first postponement of an Olympics in peacetime. Abe had earlier said […]
AMMAN, Jordan (AFP) — More than 1,600 people have been arrested in Jordan in three days for violating a curfew aimed at stemming the spread of coronavirus, a security official said Tuesday. The source said the 1,657 people arrested across Jordan since the curfew came into effect on Saturday had been placed in quarantine centers run by the army. The government has warned that people caught breaking the rules would be quarantined for 14 days […]
