Governments ban entry to foreigners and announce quarantine measures as Donald Trump says keeping US deaths to 100,000 would be ‘very good’
Japan and South Korea are poised to tighten restrictions on overseas visitors in renewed efforts to prevent “imported” cases of the coronavirus, as American authorities warned that the US could face 200,000 deaths.
Japan will expand its entry ban to include people travelling from the US, China, South Korea and most of Europe, local media reported on Monday. The measure will apply to foreign nationals who have been to any of the listed regions within 14 days of arriving in Japan.
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China reported a drop in new cases for the fourth consecutive day on Sunday, as Beijing seeks to stamp out the risk of a second wave of infections by shutting its borders to foreign travellers and cutting international flights.
Australia was preparing for new rules that including limiting both indoor and outdoor gatherings to two people only.
A senior WHO adviser appeared to hang up after being asked about Taiwan’s response to the pandemic, and then did not answer further questions because they had “already talked about China”.
Argentina extended its quarantine until mid-April.
Indian doctors are being ostracised from communities and evicted from their homes over fears they may be carrying the virus.
The stricken Zaandam cruise liner and its sister ship will start crossing the Panama canal on Monday night. The number of people with flu-like-symptoms on a Covid-19 stricken cruise ship off the coast of Panama has risen by almost a third in two days, from 138 to 179.
The coronavirus pandemic could cause UK economic output to plunge by an unprecedented 15% in the second quarter of the year and unemployment to more than double, according to dire forecasts.
In the US, the singer-songwriter John Prine is critically ill and has been placed on a ventilator while being treated for Covid-19-type symptoms.
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