Australia shuts pubs and cinemas but schools stay open; Italy warns of worst crisis since WWII; Romania records first death, India launches curfew
- Coronavirus latest developments at a glance
- Italian PM warns of worst crisis since second world war
- UK: NHS doctors warn service could be overwhelmed within weeks
- US: Trump talks himself up as ‘wartime president’
- Australia live: clubs, pubs, cinemas close but schools stay open
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Albania has said it will suspend all commercial flights to and from the country from midnight, allowing only flag carrier Air Albania to fly to Turkey and operate humanitarian flights, the government and airport operator said.
The government had already cut all air and sea links with Italy, now the worst-hit country and home to 400,000 Albanians, after its first coronavirus case arrived from Italy a fortnight ago along with 120,000 returning Albanians.
We have had lots of people get in touch about lack of social distancing in the UK, with people going out in the sunny weather.
A reader from the Lake District - a popular holiday destination in north-west England - sent in the picture, below, taken yesterday. They did not want to be named but said:
A picture tells a thousand words - take a look at the attached image. People are escaping to the countryside for days out as normal.
The National Trust shut all its properties, but kept the outdoor places open for people to exercise. They had to reverse this decision overnight as thousands of tourists saw the sunny weather as an opportunity to have a day out. Many of the properties where busier that a normal bank holiday weekend. This is just not acceptable.
We’ve taken the decision to close our parks and gardens to restrict the spread of coronavirus. Our countryside and coastal locations remain open with parking charges waived, but we encourage people to stay local and observe social distancing. pic.twitter.com/HmXrz2efft
The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has announced restrictions on businesses but has said schools will remain open. In a press conference, which is ongoing - you can follow it on our dedicated Australia live blog - he said that Australians had been disregarding advice on social distancing. In response, he announced that from tomorrow at midday, the following businesses will be closed or restricted in their trade:
Hong Kong has reported 44 more cases confirmed over the past 24 hours, the city’s second highest daily increase to date, RTHK reports.
The highest daily toll to date was the 48 confirmed on Friday. The total number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong now stands at 317.
NHS nurses are being made to use various items they can find – including bin bags – in the hospital to help protect themselves, with many using plastic aprons over their head, buying wellies or wrapping clinical waste bags around their feet.
One nurse, who did not wish to be named, said:
Widespread nurses are making their own PPE [personal protective equipment]. I know friends I trained with doing the same. We have to protect ourselves, some of us have children and babies. We are trying to help people but have to protect families. I don’t know why we are not getting PPE.
I don’t think it’s about money but management. Some third world countries are dealing properly with this pandemic but we are not. We are doing our best - really doing our best but in terms of the equipment needed to help patients they are failing. Ventilators, for example. If we have unwell patients but no ITU [intensive treatment unit] capacity we can’t do much.
A further seven patients in Wales who tested positive for coronavirus have died, bringing the total to 12, the chief medical officer for Wales, Dr Frank Atherton, has said.
Iran has also issued its latest figures, which show the death toll has risen to 1,685, an increase of 129 in 24 hours, and the number of cases has risen by 1,028 to 21,638.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany has risen by 1,948 to 18,610, and the number of deaths has increased by nine to 55, the country’s public health institute has said.
Covid-19 could pose a threat to Africa’s endangered mountain gorilla, conservationists have warned. From AP:
Congo’s Virunga National Park, home to about a third of the world’s mountain gorillas, is barring visitors until 1 June, citing advice from scientific experts indicating that primates, including mountain gorillas, are likely susceptible to complications arising from the Covid-19 virus.
We know that gorillas are very sensitive to human diseases. If anyone has a cold or a flu they are not allowed to go and see the gorillas. With coronavirus having such a long time of no symptoms in some cases, it means that we could actually put those gorillas at risk.
Even existing measures may not be enough to protect them.
A UK pet shop chain, Pets At Home, has been criticised for claiming key worker status for its staff. Schools in the UK have closed but children of those classified as key workers are still allowed to attend. A letter from Pets At Home tells schools to contact their legal department in case of questions.
.@petsathome we are either social distancing or we are not! Many of your employees are passing this letter onto Headteachers. We are working at speed on this and are prioritising our "corona critical" workers. #InThisTogether @chrisdysonHT @goodman_ang @smithsmm @GNev2 pic.twitter.com/CkY0MD8Sgm
Head Teachers are making good decisions. Have the confidence in your skill and judgement. You deserve praise for your efforts to support the country right now. Not abuse and threats of legal proceedings. NAHT will defend its members in the normal way when necessary. @NAHTnews
The UK communities secretary, Robert Jenrick, has reiterated government warnings for people to maintain social distancing, refusing to dismiss the idea of an Italian-style lockdown if needed to curb the further spread of the virus. He told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday:
We want to continue in a free society. But this isn’t a game, people need to follow the advice.
We’re doing all the things we can, but let’s be clear, the numbers are rising, we need to follow the advice of healthcare professions.
Indonesia has confirmed 10 new deaths from Covid-19 and 64 new cases, taking the respective totals to 48 and 514.
On Saturday, Indonesia reported six deaths and 81 new cases.
A group of almost 4,000 NHS workers in the UK have pleaded with the prime minister, Boris Johnson, to ensure they have adequate protective equipment to deal with the coronavirus crisis.
In an open letter to The Sunday Times, the medics have called on Johnson to “protect the lives of the life-savers” and resolve the “unacceptable” shortage of protective equipment.
Front-line doctors have been telling us for weeks that they do not feel safe at work.
Intensive care doctors and anaesthetists have told us they have been carrying out the highest-risk procedure, putting a patient on a ventilator, with masks that expired in 2015.
GPs have told us they feel abandoned; many have been left without any protection for weeks and do not even have simple masks to protect them if a patient comes in with symptoms of Covid-19.
Iran’s supreme leader has today refused US humanitarian assistance to fight the new coronavirus, citing an unfounded conspiracy theory that the virus could be man-made by America.
Washington has offered to help Iran while refusing to lift crushing sanctions blocking the country from selling its crude oil and accessing international financial markets.
Possibly your (offered) medicine is a way to spread the virus more, Khamenei said. Or if you send therapists and doctors, maybe he wants to see the effect of the poison, since it is said that part of the virus is built for Iran.
There is no scientific proof offered anywhere in the world to support Khamenei’s comments. Earlier this month, Chinese government spokesman Lijian Zhao tweeted that it might be US army who brought the epidemic - described by Donald Trump as the Chinese virus - to Wuhan.
Romania has today confirmed its first death in the due to coronavirus, Reuters reports.
The deceased was a 67-year-old man who had been suffering from terminal cancer, the government said. He was confirmed to be infected with coronavirus on 18 March and was being treated in a hospital in the southern Romanian city of Craiova.
This video is of Piccadilly in London’s West End, one of the capital’s busiest districts, which would usually be packed full of revellers and tourists on a Saturday night.
London’s famous tourist hotspot Piccadilly Circus at 10:30 last night. I have lived in the capital for over 20 years and I have never seen the West End so quite. #coronavirus #covid19 pic.twitter.com/ZNfcQuGtXM
Hello, this is Haroon taking over from Helen. If you want to get in touch you can contact me via the following channels:
Twitter: @Haroon_Siddique
That’s all from me for now. I’ll leave you in the capable hands of my colleague Haroon Siddique. Take care.
Indonesia has turned its “Athlete’s Village” built for the 2018 Asian Games into an emergency hospital with a capacity to hold more than 4,000 patients, authorities said on Sunday, as coronavirus cases and deaths in the country rose.
Four out of 10 towers in the Athlete’s Village, located in the country’s capital city, have been converted into a medical facility that would house more than 7,000 people, including a coronavirus task force, medical staff and up to 4,208 patients.
From Reuters: Malaysia has deployed the army to enforce a two-week curb on travel in a country that has the highest number of coronavirus cases in Southeast Asia, most of them linked to a mass religious gathering.
The country has so far reported nine deaths and 1,183 infections. Southeast Asia has recorded a total of more than 3,200 positive cases, with the other big centres being Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines.
If you want to save lives and make a difference then I beg you to share this message. #uniteagainstCOVID19 pic.twitter.com/vC0eKjU1fN
From my colleague Akhtar Mohammad Makoii in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan has reported 10 new coronavirus cases in last 24 hours raising the total cases to 34.
The Russian military will start sending medical help to Italy from Sunday in order to help it battle the new coronavirus after receiving an order from President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s Defence Ministry said in a statement.
Putin spoke to Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Saturday, the Kremlin said, saying the Russian leader had offered his support and help in the form of mobile disinfection vehicles and specialists to help the worst hit Italian regions.
China’s aviation regulator said on Sunday that all international flights due to arrive in Beijing would be diverted to other airports as their first port of entry beginning on Monday, as the country steps up measures to battle the coronavirus.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said incoming international flights to Beijing would land at one of 12 other designated airports, where passengers would be screened. Passengers who were cleared would then be permitted to reboard the plane, which would take them on to Beijing, it said.
More than 50,000 people queued to see the Olympic flame in northeastern Japan on Saturday.
Honestly.
A brilliant visualisation of how and why isolation and distancing is so important to stop people dying.
A simple expression of why physical distancing is crucial & urgent & will help you & your loved ones & the loved ones of your loved ones, etc - AND lift the load on our medical pros. Share, repost, republish; it's creative commons.
@SiouxsieW & @XTOTL https://t.co/cfXuXp8fy2 pic.twitter.com/Aw2PPTowSH
Another Australian state is effectively closing its borders by requiring all entrants to undergo 14 days quarantine.
The Western Australian border will close at 1.30pm Tuesday, at the same time as South Australia and the Northern Territory. The WA police commissioner Chis Dawson indicated that self-isolation would occur at the point of arrival.
Two people are dead and six wounded in a protest at a Sri Lankan prison where guards fired on inmates to prevent them from fleeing.
Prisoners at the Anuradhapura prison, about 200km from Colombo, were complaining about the decision by the authorities not to allow visitors as a move to contain the virus.
Netflix Inc said it will cut traffic by 25% on networks across Europe in a relief measure for internet service providers (ISPs) experiencing a surge in usage due to government “shelter in place” orders aimed at slowing the coronavirus outbreak.
The streaming giant, which has already deployed a way to reduce its traffic on networks in Italy and Spain by a quarter, on Saturday said it would do the same for the rest of Europe in the next two days.
Thailand reported 188 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, its largest daily increase, taking the total to 599 cases, a senior health official said.
The majority of the new infections are connected to a previous cluster of cases from a boxing stadium, Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a Public Health Ministry spokesman, told a news conference adding one patient had recovered.
Two female nurses at a medical centre in Japan have contracted the virus, Kyodo newswire said, according to Reuters. One of the nurses was in her 20s and another in her 50s, taking the total at the facility in Oita prefecture to 14.
The south-western prefecture is conducting virus tests for about 600 staff and patients who are or were hospitalised, the newswire said, with the view that they may be linked to a cluster.
The outbreak is gathering pace in Latin America.
Colombia has recorded its first death late on Saturday. The victim was a 58-year-old taxi driver from the coastal city of Cartagena, the health ministry said in a statement. Earlier this month he had two Italian tourists in his taxi and two days later presented the first symptoms, the ministry said, adding the man had untreated hypertension and diabetes.
At midnight tomorrow, Trinidad is closing its borders to commercial passengers, including nationals. A thing so many people with far-flung friends and family are facing: we don’t know when we will see them again. We don’t know if we’ve seen some of them for the last time.
Singapore has just declared a raft of restrictions and bans on entrants.
According to the Straits Times, Singapore will ban all short term visitors from entering or transiting, from 11.59pm Monday.
News America is reporting the number of Covid-19 diagnoses in the Caribbean has surpassed 400.
According to the report the Dominican Republic has the highest number of people confirmed to have Covid-19, with 40 new cases reported on Saturday, bringing the total to 112. Trinidad and Tobago reported 40 new cases on Saturday, having only previously had nine.
Amazon is raising overtime pay for associates working in its US warehouses as the world’s largest online retailer tries to meet the rapidly growing demand for online shopping from consumers stuck at home during the coronavirus outbreak.
CEO Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person, said in a message posted on the company website on Saturday: “My own time and thinking is now wholly focused on Covid-19 and on how Amazon can best play its role.”
At least 38 people have tested positive for coronavirus in New York City jails, including at the notorious Rikers Island jail complex, the board that oversees the city’s jail system said Saturday.
In the past six days the Board of Correction learned that at least 12 Department of Correction employees, five Correctional Health Services employees, and 21 inmates have tested positive for the virus.
South Australia has followed Tasmania and the Northern Territory in effectively closing its state borders, enforcing any new arrival to undergo 14 days of quarantine.
South Australia, like the Northern Territory and Queensland (which closed its NT border earlier this week) has a number of remote Indigenous communities. These communities are extremely vulnerable and any outbreak would be devastating.
New cases in South Korea, Mexico, Philippines
South Korea reported 98 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing national infections to 8,897, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
India launched a 14-hour long curfew on Sunday to limit the fast-spreading coronavirus epidemic in the country, where 315 people have so far been found to have contracted the disease.
The prime minister, Narendra Modi, in an address to the nation last week urged citizens to stay indoors from 7am to 9pm Delhi time - a move that he said would be a crucial test for a country to assess its abilities to fight the pandemic.
In a few minutes from now, the #JantaCurfew commences.
Let us all be a part of this curfew, which will add tremendous strength to the fight against COVID-19 menace. The steps we take now will help in the times to come.
Stay indoors and stay healthy. #IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/11HJsAWzVf
Guam has reported the death of an 68-year-old woman from the Covid-19 illness, Radio New Zealand has reported.
According to Dr Mike Cruz, who is leading Guam’s virus response, the woman had “multiple co-morbidities”, including end-stage renal disease. She was the relative of a person who returned to Guam with Covid-19.
From Reuters: North Korea on Saturday welcomed what it said was a letter from US president Donald Trump to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying it was a sign of “the special and very firm personal relations” between the two leaders despite recent frictions.
A senior Trump administration official confirmed Trump sent the letter and said it was “consistent with his efforts to engage global leaders during the ongoing pandemic”.
For the first time in four days China has reported a new domestic case of the virus.
The case is one of 46 new confirmed diagnoses in mainland China, which is the fourth straight day of an increase.
In the Pacific island state of Hawaii, governor David Ige has just announced a mandatory 14 day quarantine period for any new arrival. It is the first US state to enact such measures.
The process is much the same as that in other places - on arrival at the airport passengers must declare where they intend to self-isolate for 14 days, and go straight there. They can only leave for medical emergencies or to seek medical care.
@GovHawaii gives an update on #coronavirus 2500 tests completed in the state including private labs and community survey testing and state lab testing pic.twitter.com/D2BLGXqx5i
Back at the press conference with Australia’s PM:
There is an extraordinary story in Australia this weekend, where almost 2,700 people were allowed to disembark a cruiseship in Sydney despite several people on board testing positive. Some of those passengers have since travelled on to other places in Australia.
Related: Ruby Princess logged 158 cases of illness before passengers disembarked without coronavirus testing
From my colleague Uki Goñi in Argentina:
Argentina could declare a state of siege to enforce the mandatory nationwide lockdown that started Friday, said Security Minister Sabina Frederic, amid concerns about the social effect of the spread of the coronavirus here. “It’s an extreme measure that we’re trying to avoid,” said the minister.
The Australian government is banning all non-essential domestic travel as it unveils a A$66bn stimulus program to deal with the virus impact.
It has warned of more draconian measures to come.
What happened at Bondi Beach yesterday was not OK.
And served as a message to federal and state leaders that too many Australians are not taking these issues seriously enough.
Incredibly, people across multiple countries are still ignoring warnings to stay home.
We’ve seen the pictures of Australia’s Bondi Beach, and we heard earlier from a UK dentist in Skegness, in Lincolnshire, warning of a “disaster waiting to happen” as thousands of people flocked to his seaside town in spite of official guidance to stay at home.
We decided to remain open to provide a takeaway service for what I thought would be a few people grabbing the opportunity to appreciate a walk along Largs prom.
Staying open a few more days also allows us to wind things down in and business sense meaning less waste and staff completing their planned shifts.
Welcome to our continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. This is Helen Davidson here to take you through the next few hours of developments.
Here’s what’s happened recently:
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