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Coronavirus live news: death toll in Spain passes China, as global numbers approach 20,000 Coronavirus live news: death toll in Spain passes China, as global numbers approach 20,000
(32 minutes later)
India locks down; Prince Charles tests positive for coronavirus; Senate and White House reach stimulus dealIndia locks down; Prince Charles tests positive for coronavirus; Senate and White House reach stimulus deal
As cases of the coronavirus continue to surge in Canada, the country’shealth minister will use powers under the Quarantine Act to levyfines—and criminal sanctions— against travellers refusing toself-isolate after entering the country, writes Leyland Cecco in Toronto
I am handing over to my colleague Alexandra Topping now. Please do keep sharing tips and insight with us, it’s very helpful. Thank you.
Nigeria has received test kits and protective gear from China’s richest man, Jack Ma, to help fight coronavirus.
So far, the virus has claimed one life and infected 45 others in Africa’s most populous nation.
Nigeria’s top health official, Abdulaziz Abdullahi, told AFP that the country had received 100,000 face masks, 1,000 protective gowns and 20,000 test kits. He said the equipment would be distributed to frontline health workers and hospital laboratories.
Ma, the founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has vowed to donate equal amounts of gear to all 54 countries in Africa. He has also offered the United States half a million test kits and a million masks.
Health experts are worried about Nigeria’s vulnerability to coronavirus because of its huge population and poor healthcare infrastructure.
Turkey will extend the closure of all schools in the country until April 30 over the coronavirus outbreak and home schooling will continue during this period, Education Minister Ziya Selcuk said on Wednesday.
Turkey had shut schools and set up a home-schooling system for students to continue lessons after the outbreak of the virus two weeks ago. Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, speaking alongside Selcuk, said the closure was not a break, but rather a preventative measure to protect families.
The Palestinians reported their first death from the coronavirus on Wednesday, a woman in her 60s who lived in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. “The woman had experienced symptoms and was later hospitalised” before succumbing to the illness, said Ibrahim Melhem, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in the West Bank. The woman was from Bidu, a Palestinian village north of Jerusalem and southwest of Ramallah, Melhem added. There are 62 confirmed coronavirus cases among Palestinians in the West Bank, and two in the Gaza Strip.
Canada is imposing mandatory self-isolation for those returning to the country under the Quarantine Act.
The health minister, Patty Hajdu, tweeted that the government was making it mandatory to better protect Canada’s most vulnerable. The deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, said it would begin at midnight on Wednesday and the requirement will be for 14 days.
Britain’s upper house of parliament has approved emergency legislation designed to help the government tackle the coronavirus outbreak, paving the way for the far-reaching bill to become law. The laws will create temporary powers across different areas, from giving police and immigration officers the ability to detain people to protect public health, to allowing people to leave their jobs to volunteer for the NHS.The bill now only requires royal assent before it officially becomes law. This is expected by Thursday or earlier.
Our UK-focused coronavirus live blog is here.
The death toll in Switzerland from coronavirus infections has increased to 103, the Swiss government has said. The number of dead was up from the 90 reported on Tuesday. Total confirmed cases also increased to 9,765, it said, from just under 9,000 on Tuesday.The death toll in Switzerland from coronavirus infections has increased to 103, the Swiss government has said. The number of dead was up from the 90 reported on Tuesday. Total confirmed cases also increased to 9,765, it said, from just under 9,000 on Tuesday.
Spain’s deputy prime minister, Carmen Calvo, has tested positive for coronavirus. It comes after she was hospitalised on Sunday with a respiratory infection.Spain’s deputy prime minister, Carmen Calvo, has tested positive for coronavirus. It comes after she was hospitalised on Sunday with a respiratory infection.
Calvo tested positive for the virus in a test performed on Tuesday after previously testing negative, but one more test was performed because the last one proved inconclusive, the government said in a statement. Calvo tested positive in a test performed on Tuesday after previously testing negative, but one more test was performed because the last one proved inconclusive, the government said.
It added that Calvo, who was born in 1957, was doing well and receiving medical treatment.It added that Calvo, who was born in 1957, was doing well and receiving medical treatment.
Hello, Sarah Marsh here taking the blog from Alexandra Topping for a bit. Please do share any stories with me via the usual channels below.Hello, Sarah Marsh here taking the blog from Alexandra Topping for a bit. Please do share any stories with me via the usual channels below.
Twitter: @sloumarshInstagram: sarah_marsh_journalistEmail: sarah.marsh@theguardian.comTwitter: @sloumarshInstagram: sarah_marsh_journalistEmail: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has launched a global humanitarian response plan for coronavirus, calling on governments to take decisive action and work together to find solutions to the global pandemic.
The plan “will save many lives” and arm humanitarian agencies and NGOs with laboratory supplies for testing, and with medical equipment to treat the sick while protecting healthcare workers, said Guterres.
The plan also includes additional measures to support host communities that continue to open their homes and towns to refugees and displaced persons, he said.
Here is an extract, the whole speech can be read here:
The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has been giving a briefing on the virtual G7 foreign ministers meeting that began by videoconference at 7am (ET). He said the main focus was the coronavirus, which Pompeo made a point of calling the “Wuhan virus”, writes my colleague Julian Borger.
The hardcore efforts of Italy’s mayors to stop residents leaving their houses continues, writes my colleague Lorenzo Tondo in Italy.
And, because this video compilation is a rare bright spot in this distinctly suboptimal year, here it is again:
The UN high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, has called on governments to take urgent action to protect the health and safety of people in prison and other closed facilities, as part of overall efforts to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
Eerie footage of deserted cities around the globe, from Reuters
New York governor Andrew Cuomo warned that more shutdowns to curb public gatherings may be imminent. New York City will begin closing streets to traffic, he said.
In his daily briefing, the governor once again lashed out at defiant New Yorkers who continue to frequent parks amid a coronavirus pandemic.
While Cuomo cautioned that stay-at-home regulations are voluntary, he warned that parks, playgrounds and streets could see mandatory closures if New Yorkers continued to ignore calls to self-quarantine.
“If you can reduce the density, you can reduce the spread very quickly,” he said.
Another four Italian doctors have died with the coronavirus, bringing the toll in the epidemic up to 29, the national federation of doctors told ANSA, reports Lorenzo Tondo in Italy.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo live now:
Canada’s parliament successfully passed $82bn CAD in funding for residents affected by the economic impacts coronavirus early on Wednesday morning, writes Leyland Cecco in Canada.
Thousands of 15-minute home tests for coronavirus will be delivered by Amazon to people self-isolating with symptoms or will go on sale on high street within days, according to Public Health England (PHE), in a move that could restore many people’s lives to a semblance of pre-lockdown normality, writes the Guardian’s health editor, Sarah Boseley.
Read the full story here: