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Coronavirus live updates: Ireland closes all schools and universities
Coronavirus live updates: Ireland closes all schools and universities as two more die in England
(32 minutes later)
Global recession fears intensify; Tom Hanks tests positive in Australia; NBA basketball season suspended indefinitely. Follow the latest.
Stock markets plunge again; death tolls rise around the world; more countries shut down schools, nurseries and universities. Follow the latest news
A total of 590 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 9amon Thursday, up from 456 at the same point on Wednesday, the Department ofHealth said.
The Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen has confirmed that he is self-isolating after having lunch last week with the health minister Nadine Dorries who was tested positive for the virus earlier this week.
NHS England has confirmed two more patients have died from coronavirus, taking the UK death toll to 10. Both patients were in London and had underlying health problems.
A spokesperson for Imperial College Healthcare NHS trust said:
Tony Chambers, interim chief executive at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University hospitals NHS trust, said:
Martin Hibberd, Professor of Emerging Infectious Disease, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, says the UK response has not been adequate to contain the virus.
He writes:
The Czech Republic will close its borders to travellers coming from Germany and Austria and also ban the entry of foreigners coming from other risky countries to contain the outbreak, Prime Minister Andrej Babis has said.
Reuters reports:
The number of positive Covid-19 cases in Scotland has increased by 24 from 36 to 60 in the last day.
The latest UK total is expected to be announced soon.
A second member of staff at Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool has tested positive for coronavirus (Covid-19), the hospital said.
A spokesman said:
Trading has been suspended on Wall Street triggering another monster selloff in Europe.
The FTSE 100 has plunged 9%, shedding 546 points to just 5,330.37 -- levels not seen since 2012.
European stock markets have crated by 10% -- which would be the worse day ever for the Stoxx 600 index of EU companies.
Norway and Lithuania have become the latest countries to shut down nurseries, schools and universities, AP reports.
The Norwegian government says employees at work must be at least one meter apart and gatherings of more than 50 people have been banned. Norway’s royal palace said all official arrangements till early April will either be cancelled or postponed.
Lithuania suspended gatherings of more than 100 people and closed museums, cinemas and sports clubs. In the capital of Vilnius, the lockdown is due to last for five weeks.
Mike Tinmouth, a digital marketing consultant from South London has finally been tested for coronavirus more than a week after first reporting a fever to NHS 111 following a trip to Thailand and Singapore.
Speaking to the Guardian before his test he said that government plans to increase the testing regime from 1,500 tests a day to 10,000 was “too little too late”.
He said:
He pointed out that he was due to speak at a care home conference this week and has tried to avoid contact with his husband who teaches in a London school.
UK Ministers, officials, medical officers and the chief of the defence staff have arrived for the latest emergency Cobra meeting.
UK Ministers, officials, medical officers and the chief of the defence staff have arrived for the latest emergency Cobra meeting.
The meeting is expected to confirm that the UK has officially moved from the contain to the delay phase as set out in a plan for tackling Covid-19.
The meeting is expected to confirm that the UK has officially moved from the contain to the delay phase as set out in a plan for tackling Covid-19.
The streets in Denmark were this morning almost empty during the rush hour as the Danes followed the the danish Prime Minister’s recommendation for people to stay home, writes reader Ralf Kauffmann.
The streets in Denmark were this morning almost empty during the rush hour as the Danes followed the the danish Prime Minister’s recommendation for people to stay home, writes reader Ralf Kauffmann.
What exactly happens once someone is infected with this new virus? The Guardian’s Science Weekly podcast explains.
The US vice-president, Mike Pence, has defended the Trump administration’s restrictions on travel from 26 European nations, saying the centre of the pandemic has shifted from Asia to Europe, Reuters reports.
In a round of television interviews, Pence said thousands more cases of Covid-19 were expected in the United States, and that clamping down on travel from Europe was just part of the government’s strategy to fight the outbreak.
Speaking to NBC’s Today, he said: “We know there will be more infections in the days ahead. We’re trying to hold that number down as much as possible.”
And he told CNN: “We’ve recognixed ... that the epicentre of the coronavirus has shifted from China and South Korea to Europe.”
He added that Trump made the decision to impose the travel ban “on the spot” after a briefing from health experts in the Oval Office.
Spain’s health ministry has said the number of confirmed cases in the country has risen to 2,968, and that 84 people have died.
The new figures came as the two houses of the country’s parliament suspended all activities for a fortnight and Spain’s equality minister, Irene Montero, became the latest MP to be diagnosed with the virus.
All cabinet members are being checked for the virus after Montero, whose partner is the Podemos leader and deputy prime minister, Pablo Iglesias, tested positive. King Felipe and Queen Letizia are also being tested after the queen participated in a joint event with Montero last Friday.
All schools, nurseries and universities in the Madrid region have been shut until 23 March, and all gatherings of more than 1,000 people banned. Catalonia, Galicia, Murcia and the Basque country are also planning to shut down their educational institutions to try to halt the spread of the virus.
The death toll from coronavirus in Spain has risen from 47 to 84 in the last day, according to Reuters, citing the country’s health ministry.
How will pupils who have free school meals be fed if schools in England close for a long period?
Vic Goddard, the headteacher of Passmores Academy secondary school, who featured in Channel 4’s Educating Essex documentary series, has a plan:
The Guardian reported on the issue earlier this week.
A shutdown of schools and universities in Malta has been announced by the prime minister, Robert Abela.
He also banned mass gatherings. “The government will not tolerate people going on with mass events. Now is not the time for such attitudes,” he said according to Times Malta.
Here’s a summary of another busy day on the coronavirus front.
Ireland’s taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has announced the closure of all schools, colleges and childcare facilities from tomorrow. “I know that some of this is coming as a real shock... but we’re doing it for each other,” he said.
Europeans have been reacting with alarm to Donald Trump’s move to ban travel from 26 European countries in the Schengen zone. Dacian Cioloş, a former prime minister of Romania who now leads the Renew group, accused Trump of trying find a scapegoat for his own failures to act.
The US travel ban prompted more heavy losses on the financial markets. The FTSE 100 was still down over 5%, having briefly hit its lowest level since 2012 this morning.
India has barred the entry of all foreign tourists for one month starting tomorrow in a bid to contain the coronavirus. The ban on foreign visitors includes foreign nationals of Indian origin.
Actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have announced that they have both tested positive for Covid-19 while filming in Australia.
A nursing home in Basingstoke has become the first care home for older people to be hit by the virus. Oakridge House been closed to visitors after a person tested positive. A paramedic in Hertfordshire has also tested positive.
The chief medical officers from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern have instructed doctors to change the way they work to deal with “very abnormal emergency situation”. A letter to doctors waned: “Clinicians may need to depart, possibly significantly, from established procedures in order to care for patients in the highly challenging time-bound circumstances of the peak of an epidemic.”
Every member of the Spanish cabinet is being tested for coronavirus after the country’s equality minister, Irene Montero, became the latest politician to test positive for the virus. Spanish football matches have also been suspended for two weeks.
The total number of coronavirus cases worldwide now stands at 126,258, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University. There have been 4,638 deaths.
Mainland China reported 15 new infections, eight of which are in Hubei. There have been 11 new deaths, 10 of which were in Hubei.
The NBA has suspended play indefinitely after after a Utah Jazz player preliminarily tested positive for Covid-19.
Italy’s government has ordered all shops, bars and restaurants across the country to close after the country’s death toll from the coronavirus outbreak rose by 31% in the space of 24 hours to a total of 827.
As governments across Europe cancelled events, shut schools and imposed travel bans and the World Health Organization formally declared a pandemic, the Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, said all stores would close nationwide bar those selling “basic necessities”, such as pharmacies and supermarkets.
“Industries can stay open, but with strict measures in place, as well as essential services such as banks. Transport will be guaranteed,” Conte said on Wednesday night, warning Italy’s population of over 60 million not to “rush to the supermarkets” as shelves would be restocked as normal.
Ireland’s taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has announced the closure of all schools, colleges and childcare facilities from tomorrow as part of a partial lockdown that will apply from 6pm tonight until 29 March.
All indoor gatherings of 100 people or more and outdoor gatherings of 500 or more will be cancelled.
Public transport will still run and shops will remain open. He said:
Staff should work from home where possible with meetings online if possible.
Varadkar said he was acting on new medical advice the government had received following a meeting of the national emergency team last night.
“The virus is all over the world, it will continue to spread but it can be slowed,” he said in an address outside Blair House in Washington before a breakfast meeting with the US vice president Mike Pence.
“Acting together as one nation we can save many lives our economy will suffer but in time it will bounce back,” he warned.
McLaren have withdrawn from the Australian Grand Prix, scheduled for this Sunday, after a member of their team staff tested positive for coronavirus. The news throws increasing doubt on the race going ahead.
A statement from the team said:
Earlier on Wednesday, the world champion Lewis Hamilton admitted he was “shocked” that the race was planned to go ahead at all amid the ongoing outbreak.
When asked why he thought it was going ahead, Hamilton pointedly noted: “Cash is king. I can’t add much more to it. I don’t feel like I should shy away from my opinion.”
