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Coronavirus live updates: Ireland closes all schools and universities as two more die in England Coronavirus live updates: Ireland closes all schools and universities as two more die in England
(32 minutes later)
Stock markets plunge again; death tolls rise around the world; more countries shut down schools, nurseries and universities. Follow the latest newsStock 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 majority of coronavirus infections may be spread by people who have recently caught the virus and have not yet begun to show symptoms, scientists have found.
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. An analysis of infections in Singapore and Tianjin in China revealed that two-thirds and three-quarters of people respectively appear to have caught it from others who were incubating the virus but still symptom-free.
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. The finding has dismayed infectious disease researchers as it means that isolating people once they start to feel ill will be far less effective at slowing the pandemic than had been hoped.
A spokesperson for Imperial College Healthcare NHS trust said: A leading public health expert has launched a devastating critique of the government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak in the UK, saying it is too little too late, lacks transparency and fails to mobilise the public.
Tony Chambers, interim chief executive at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University hospitals NHS trust, said: Prof John Ashton, a former regional director of public health for north-west England, lambasted a lack of preparation and openness from the government and contrasted Britain’s response to that of Hong Kong.
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. “Right at the beginning of February, they [Hong Kong] adopted a total approach to this, which is what we should have done five weeks ago ourselves. They took a decision to work to three principles – of responding promptly, staying alert, working in an open and transparent manner,” he told the Guardian.
He writes: “Our lot haven’t been working openly and transparently. They’ve been doing it in a (non) smoke-filled room and just dribbling out stuff. The chief medical officer only appeared in public after about two weeks. Then they have had a succession of people bobbing up and disappearing. Public Health England’s been almost invisible.
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. “Boris Johnson should have convened Cobra himself over a month ago and had regular meetings with the chief medical officer with the evidence. The thing should have been fronted up nationally by one person who could be regarded as the trusted voice and who could have been interrogated regularly. That’s not happened.”
Reuters reports: The sea-side resort of Knokke-Heist has become the first municipality in Belgium to declare itself in ‘lockdown’.
The number of positive Covid-19 cases in Scotland has increased by 24 from 36 to 60 in the last day. Sports centres, bars and cinemas must remain closed until 30 April and all cultural events organised by the local authority have been called.
The latest UK total is expected to be announced soon. The mayor of Knokke, Leopold Lippens, said he was acting in the face of prevarication by the central government.
A second member of staff at Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool has tested positive for coronavirus (Covid-19), the hospital said. He said: “While the federal government continues to talk, we intervene ourselves. I think about the health of my Knokke people. What the rest of Belgium does, I don’t care.”
A spokesman said: The director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has urged government’s to “double down” on efforts to control the Covid-19 pandemic.
Trading has been suspended on Wall Street triggering another monster selloff in Europe. In a briefing today he said:
The FTSE 100 has plunged 9%, shedding 546 points to just 5,330.37 -- levels not seen since 2012. Colombia has ordered the cancelation of all events of more than 500 people in the latest attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
European stock markets have crated by 10% -- which would be the worse day ever for the Stoxx 600 index of EU companies. The measures announced by the president, Iván Duque, also include a suspension of transiting cruise ships in the country, and follow protocols put in place on Wednesday that oblige people arriving from China, Italy, France and Spain to go into self-isolation at their homes or hotels for two weeks.
Norway and Lithuania have become the latest countries to shut down nurseries, schools and universities, AP reports. Colombia’s football league will play matches behind closed doors, Duque said, as Colombians begin to stockpile household goods and masks in anticipation of a difficult few months.
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. Declaring a “sanitary emergency” on Thursday morning, Duque said that “quick and exceptional measures” must be taken. He said those measures will be in place until 30 May.
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. Colombia, an oil exporter, continues to feel the economic fallout from the pandemic, with its peso (COP) the weakest against the dollar (USD) it has ever been when markets opened on Thursday. Colombia has confirmed nine cases of Covid-19.
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. Mark Jit, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who also works with Public Health England, told the Guardian that at this stage of the outbreak, the government’s plan appeared to be a sensible approach.
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”. His colleague has criticised the UK response as insufficient (see earlier), but Jit said:
He said: Here’s a roundup on the rapidly changing travel restrictions around the world.
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. Three Leicester City players have shown symptoms of coronavirus and been placed in self-isolation, manager Brendan Rodgers has said.
UK Ministers, officials, medical officers and the chief of the defence staff have arrived for the latest emergency Cobra meeting. A total of 590 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 9am on Thursday, up from 456 at the same point on Wednesday, the Department of Health said.
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 134 daily increase is the biggest numerical rise so far, and represents a daily increase of 29.4%
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 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.