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Coronavirus latest updates: flight bans and lockdowns increase across the world as deaths in Spain double Coronavirus latest updates: flight bans and lockdowns increase globally as Spanish deaths jump
(32 minutes later)
UK not ruling out closure of bars, restaurants and non-essential shops while other countries introduce new measuresUK not ruling out closure of bars, restaurants and non-essential shops while other countries introduce new measures
The UK government is being urged to block book hotel rooms to enable rough sleepers to self-isolate amid the coronavirus pandemic. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said he would not rule out closing the nation’s borders or forcing people arriving from foreign nations to go into self-isolation to help combat a coronavirus outbreak.
Grassroots volunteer network Streets Kitchen and the Museum of Homelessness (MoH) have said that hotel bills could be covered by the £500million coronavirus hardship fund announced in chancellor Rishi Sunak’s budget on Wednesday. Asked specifically whether Canada might shut its borders to Europe or the United States, Trudeau told CTV: “We are not taking anything off the table.”
The MoH tweeted: So far 249 Canadians have tested positive for Covid-19 and one person has died.
“This would mean people are safer, cross infection rates likely in shared shelter spaces are minimised … This plan would reduce hospital admissions and stop people being turfed out of shelters onto the streets and concentrate community efforts.” City, University of London will also end face-to-face teaching by 23 March.
The charity Beauty Banks has launched a fundraiser for people in the UK who are most vulnerable to the impact of the coronavirus and cannot afford basic hygiene essentials and foodstuffs. Donations will go to food banks, homeless shelters, youth centres, NHS trusts and refugee centres.
You can donate here.
The Spanish government has sparked ire among hairdressers over its decision to allow hair salons to remain open during the nationwide near-lockdown.
Spain declared a state of emergency on Saturday, ordering the closure of all non-essential shops as well as bars, restaurants, cafes, football grounds and cinemas.
The country’s 47 million residents have been ordered to stay at home, allowed out only to buy food and medicine or travel to work, health centres or banks.
Sources with the Spanish government said the decision to allow hairdressers to remain open was made for hygiene reasons, so as to guarantee services for people with mobility issues who may need help washing their hair.
A workers’ union representing hairdressers in the southern Spanish city of Cordoba launched a Change.org petition on Sunday calling for hairdressers to be shuttered during the lockdown.
“It doesn’t make sense to expose this sector, which has so much contact with the public, to the virus,” reads the petition. Less than a day after its launch, it had racked up more than 70,000 signatures.
Two other associations representing hairdressers said they had advised their members to close during the lockdown in order to avoid any risk of spreading the virus.
Germany is set to close its borders with France, Austria and Switzerland from 8am on Monday to try to stem the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, German media reported on Sunday afternoon.
Exceptions are expected to be made for goods traffic and commuters.
The German government took the step following a conference call with the premiers of the affected states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg and Saarland, said newspaper Bild.
The government has not officially communicated the border closures.
The US embassy and the British Foreign Office are also advising their non-resident citizens to leave Argentina quickly while flights are still open.
A hotel chain has said it could turn its properties into temporary hospitals if the NHS needs additional bed space during the coronavirus outbreak, PA reports.
Best Western Great Britain said it will discuss the move this week and would be willing to take “unprecedented” steps to help.
The chain, which is the largest independent hotel group in Britain, said it had seen a significant increase in cancellations over the last month due to the outbreak.
Rob Paterson, chief executive officer of Best Western Great Britain, said: “We are in unprecedented territory so we would be willing to take unprecedented steps to support the national effort.
“If the NHS wants additional bed space, and we can partner with other companies to provide the right medical equipment and supplies, and we can do it safely, then we would be willing to start having those conversations immediately.
“Whatever we can do to help.”
The National Education Union hastoday asked Ofsted to suspend its inspections of schools in England because of the pressure being placed on teachers by the Covid-19 outbreak.
Ofsted has come under fire after the inspectorate said it was “business as usual” during the outbreak, and noted existing guidance for inspections in situations where headteachers had died, for which it later apologised.A letter to Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of schools in England, from the NEU’s leadership, states: “We are very concerned, given the serious challenges that Covid-19 poses for schools, that Ofsted is still planning to conduct inspections.”
The Association of School and College Leaders(ASCL)has also called on Ofsted to halt its regular inspections.
Ofsted’s counterpart in Scotland has already announced that it has suspended school visits.
Sean Harford, Ofsted’s national director of education, told ASCL’s conference that “we will look very favourably” on all requests to postpone inspections.
Any move to halt inspections will need a decision by the government and even an amendment to current legislation that mandates Ofsted to carry out regular inspections.
Arts Council England (ACE) has announced details of a three-month coronavirus action plan designed to ensure “as strong a sector as possible as we come out the other side of this crisis”.
ACE has a £622m annual budget supporting England’s arts organisations – including theatres, orchestras, festivals and opera and dance companies – as well as individual artists, museums and libraries. All of them will be affected by the escalating coronavirus situation.
On Sunday, ACE announced measures that include refocusing some grant programmes to help compensate individual artists and freelancers for lost earnings.
“This will require further planning,” ACE said in a statement. “It may take about 10 days before we can announce the details.”
It also said funding conditions for the 800-plus national portfolio organisations to which it gives money would be suspended for three months with immediate effect.
That means organisations, whether a small fringe theatre or the National Theatre for example, don’t have to worry about whether they are meeting targets on diversity or achieving goals around the relevance or distinctiveness of their work.
The same also applies to projects that get money from ACE’s creative people and places scheme. “We can also advance grant payments to assist with cashflow.”
ACE said the priority was for arts organisations to stay in business. “In exchange for our support we ask them to honour contracts agreed with freelancers and artists and to think about what help they can offer their communities.
It said the new support was “just the start” and it was “collecting intelligence from across the sector so we can understand what is needed.”
Unlike the US and much of Europe, most UK galleries, museums, theatres and concert halls have followed government advice and remained open.
That could change quickly. On Saturday, South London Gallery said it was closing until further notice because of the spread of coronavirus “in order to protect the health and wellbeing of our staff, partners and visitors”.
Organisers of mass event festivals including Glastonbury in June, Edinburgh in August and Hay in May are also ploughing on with plans assuming they will be allowed to take place.
Edinburgh international festival has cancelled public launch events due to have taken place on Wednesday in Edinburgh and London. Instead it will announce details of its 2020 programme digitally through Facebook Live. It has also promised to refund in full anyone unable to attend an event because of coronavirus.
The Vatican’s Holy Week ceremonies will go ahead but without public attendance as Italy tries to contain the coronavirus outbreak, the Holy See has said.
The UK government is being urged to block-book hotel rooms to enable rough sleepers to self-isolate amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Grassroots volunteer network Streets Kitchen and the Museum of Homelessness (MoH) have said hotel bills could be covered by the £500m coronavirus hardship fund announced in chancellor Rishi Sunak’s budget on Wednesday.
The MoH tweeted: “This would mean people are safer, cross infection rates likely in shared shelter spaces are minimised … This plan would reduce hospital admissions and stop people being turfed out of shelters onto the streets and concentrate community efforts.”
The groups said volunteers could deliver food and supplies in a safe and managed way.The groups said volunteers could deliver food and supplies in a safe and managed way.
The call comes more than a week after homelessness charity Crisis raised concerns that the government has no clear strategy in place to protect homeless people from catching the coronavirus.The call comes more than a week after homelessness charity Crisis raised concerns that the government has no clear strategy in place to protect homeless people from catching the coronavirus.
Glass Door, one of London’s biggest night shelter operators, revealed on Friday it refused to admit a rough sleeper it feared might be carrying the virus amid a lack of guidance.Glass Door, one of London’s biggest night shelter operators, revealed on Friday it refused to admit a rough sleeper it feared might be carrying the virus amid a lack of guidance.
A Public Health England spokeswoman said the advice is being coordinated by the ministry of housing and will be released within days.A Public Health England spokeswoman said the advice is being coordinated by the ministry of housing and will be released within days.
The British Foreign Office is now advising against all but essential travel to Myanmar due to the risk of quarantine for British nationals arriving in country.
Myanmar has announced that travellers who have recently visited France, Italy, Iran, Spain and Germany will be placed in government quarantine facilities for 14 days on arrival.
Recent travellers to the US will be put under surveillance for 14 days, while people who have visited China or the Republic of Korea will not be allowed to enter.“This list of countries, and the nature of the restrictions, could change without warning,” the Foreign Office warned. Myanmar has recorded no cases of the coronavirus.
A spokesperson for the president’s office said recently that “the lifestyle and diet of Myanmar citizens” had helped protect the country.
Myanmar’s preference for paper currency over credit cards was also cited as a factor. “[In other nations] The person handling credit cards at the counter would be in close contact with hundreds of different people in a day. This is avoided by Myanmar’s predominant use of paper currency,” U Zaw Htay told a press conference.
Bulgaria will ban incoming flights from Italy and Spain as of midnight on 17 March in measures to contain the spread of coronavirus, its transport minister said.
Rosen Zheliazkov said on Sunday that Bulgarians who wanted to return home from these countries would have Monday and Tuesday to do so and would face 14 days’ quarantine.
He said the Balkan country, on the gateway between Asia and Europe, will ensure the free transport of goods and escort heavy trucks that need to pass through its territory.
The Philippines recorded four more coronavirus deaths and 29 new cases, bringing the domestic tally of infections to 140, as authorities placed the entire capital, Manila, under “community quarantine” for about a month beginning on Sunday.
The latest deaths include an 86-year-old American male with travel history from the US and South Korea, the Department of Health said in an advisory.
The other three are Filipinos, including the latest fatality. In total, 12 people have died from the virus in the country, according to the health department.
The number of deaths in Spain from the coronavirus have more than doubled in a day, to 288, with the number of infections near 8,000, Associated Press reports.
In Wales, 34 more people have tested positive for the coronavirus, taking the country’s number of confirmed cases to 94.
Public Health Wales said it was working with partners in the Welsh government and the wider NHS in Wales now that the country had entered the “delay” phase.
Eleven new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Northern Ireland, bringing the total number of known cases there to 45.
The Department of Health said people with mild symptoms – new persistent cough and/or fever – should stay at home and self-isolate for seven days and that they will not require testing.
Argentina is planning a 10-day lockdown with a nationwide quarantine, President Alberto Fernández has said in a radio interview.
“Everything that can be done to stop people circulating, better be done,” the president said. “If you can stay at home, stay.” An official announcement that may include the general self-isolation order and the suspension of classes is expected this evening.
Known cases of coronavirus have reached 45, after authorities announced 11 new cases Saturday, the highest day-to-day jump since the crisis began. The new cases include a four-year-old child and a man recently returned from the UK. Two people have died so far.
Argentina has closed its main nature tourist attractions, including Argentina’s side of the Iguazú waterfalls, the largest in the world when combined with their Brazilian side. The falls draw about 5,000 daily visitors this time of year.
Argentina last week suspended all flights from the US, UK, Europe, Iran, South Korea, Japan and China and police checks are in place at hotels and the homes of new arrivals to ensure they are obeying the two-week self-isolation period mandated by the government.
The Lebanese president Michel Aoun has said his country is in a state of “medical emergency” because of the threat of coronavirus.
The president called for citizens to work from home and avoid socialising to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
“Each of us is called upon to continue his work, from home, in the way he sees appropriate,” he said in a televised address at the start of a cabinet meeting that was expected to declare measures to deal with the outbreak.
Lebanon’s health ministry said on Sunday that it had recorded 99 cases of coronavirus.
The University of Law has also temporarily suspended face-to-face teaching.
Liverpool John Moores University has suspended all face-to-face teaching for the rest of the semester with immediate effect, as concerns continued to grow about the coronavirus outbreak.