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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 […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — A British woman has died in Bali from coronavirus, authorities said Wednesday, marking Indonesia’s first confirmed death from the rapidly spreading illness. The 53-year-old died early Wednesday in a hospital on the Indonesian holiday island, but it was unclear if she contracted the virus before or after arriving in Bali late last month, local officials said. She was taken to hospital last week. Indonesian health authorities said Wednesday the woman had […]
LUXOR, Egypt (AFP) — Egyptian authorities said Wednesday that 46 French and US tourists who had been quarantined on a coronavirus-hit Nile cruise boat have flown home. They were among dozens of foreign tourists and Egyptian crew who had been either confined to the vessel or hospitalized after an outbreak of the virus. A health ministry statement said that the repatriated French and American tourists had left the A-Sara cruise boat overnight, noting that 45 […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran on Wednesday reported 63 new deaths from the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the highest single-day toll since it announced the first deaths from the outbreak. “Based on new lab results, we have identified 958 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection in the country, bringing the total number of cases to 9,000,” health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said in a televised news conference. “Unfortunately in the past 24 […]
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 […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Beijing on Wednesday ordered people arriving in the city from any country to go into 14-day quarantine as China reported an increase in imported coronavirus cases, threatening its progress against the epidemic. China has made major strides in its battle against the virus, prompting President Xi Jinping to visit Wuhan, the central city at the heart of the global epidemic, on Tuesday and declare that it has “basically curbed” the spread […]
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 […]
RABAT, Morocco (AFP) — Morocco’s health ministry said Tuesday the country had recorded its first death linked to the new coronavirus, an 89-year-old woman who suffered from chronic health problems. The woman, a Moroccan citizen who had been living in Italy, “suffered from chronic illnesses affecting the respiratory and cardiovascular system”, the ministry said in a statement. She returned to Morocco in late February, before testing positive for the virus and being transferred under medical […]
