by Summary for 11th March
- The number of cases in Europe continues to rise, with more than 10,000 in Italy
- A UK health minister, Nadine Dorries, is among 382 cases in Britain
- Bank of England cuts interest rates from 0.75% to 0.25% to shore up economy
- Some key industries in Wuhan, where the outbreak began, will restart
- There are now more than 1,000 confirmed cases in the US
- Troops will deliver food to quarantined people in New Rochelle, New York
- Google's parent company asks North American staff to work from home
- One of the world's biggest music festivals, Coachella, postponed until October
- Australia announces A$2.4bn health package
7:09am
- There are now 119,000 cases of coronavirus globally and 4,296 deaths
- More than 55% of the cases are reportedly cured
- New countries reporting cases include Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jamaica and Turkey
The decision was made after some Arsenal players met Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis two weeks ago, who later tested positive.
"The medical advice we have received puts the risk of them developing Covid-19 at extremely low," said Arsenal.
"However, we are strictly following the government guidelines which recommend that anyone coming into close contact with someone with the virus should self-isolate at home for 14 days from the last time they had contact.
"As a result, the players are unavailable for tonight's match against Manchester City and the Premier League has decided the game should be postponed."
Read more here.
But other leagues have called off matches to stop the virus spreading. Speaking before tonight's postponement, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said there was no point playing without fans...
The list includes top-flight Italian and Spanish football, the Champions League, Japanese baseball, and the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Read a full list here .
The 62-year-old said she was self-isolating at home and that healthcare officials had began tracing people she came into contact with.
All health ministers will now have to undergo testing for the virus.
It comes as a sixth person died from the virus in the UK, which has a total of 382 cases.
7:24
A UK health minister who came down with the coronavirus is hopeful that she is "over the worst of it now".
Nadine Dorries is the first UK MP to test positive for the virus.
The 62-year-old said in a tweet that she was more worried about her mother, who has begun to cough.
It was set to take place in April in California, but has now been shifted to October.
Hundreds of acts including Travis Scott, Calvin Harris, Lana Del Ray and K-pop group Bigbang were set to perform.
New York City has 36 confirmed cases of the virus. But New Rochelle, which has a population of just 77,000, is believed to have at least twice as many.
A one mile (1.6km) "containment zone" will be enforced in the town, and the National Guard will deliver food to quarantined individuals.
That's almost double the number from a day before. At least 28 people have died.
The rise in cases is linked to an expansion in testing.
The top ten are:
- China 80,956
- Italy 10,149
- Iran 8,042
- South Korea 7,755
- France 1,784
- Spain 1,695
- Germany 1,565
- United States 1,025
- Japan 581
- Switzerland 491
The new patients are:
The 64-year-old man, who was reportedly already suffering from diabetes complications, died from Covid-19 on Sunday.
There are currently eight cases of the virus in the country.
The Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said it’s a temporary measure until coronavirus cases come down.
It is estimated there are 45 Indians stranded at Rome Airport – Emirates is not allowing them to board as they will not be able to disembark when they land in India.
A $30 million dollar advertising campaign - aimed at raising public awareness - will also form part of the package.
Australia has recorded 112 cases of the virus, with three deaths.
Haruyuki Takahashi, one of more than two dozen members of the Tokyo 2020 executive board, said: "We need to start preparing for any possibility.
"If the games can't be held in the summer, a delay of one or two years would be most feasible."
"A delay is not under consideration," said Seiko Hashimoto in a parliamentary committee, according to a Bloomberg report. "[It] is inconceivable."
A member of the organising committee's executive board earlier said they had to start "preparing for any possibility".
Hashimoto - a former Olympic athlete - acknowledged that the final decision rests with the International Olympic Committee.
More than 3,000 people have died in total in China - the majority in Wuhan and its province, Hubei.
US Think Tank the Council on Foreign Relations was due to hold a conference called "Doing Business Under Coronavirus" on Friday in New York.
This makes it the biggest Covid-19 cluster in Seoul.
There are currently 7,755 confirmed cases in South Korea.
He rejected calls to follow its neighbour Austria - which now denies entry to visitors from Italy.
"The virus is in Germany, it is in Europe. That's the thought we have to get used to," he told local radio station Deutschlandfunk radio, reported Reuters.
"It will still spread even if you close all the borders. Sooner or later you have to let people in or out and then it starts spreading again."
There are currently 1,296 confirmed cases in Germany.
Thousands of passengers on the US liner were stranded off the coast of California for days due to testing, and then an outbreak of coronavirus.
The 135 British nationals are expected to arrive in Birmingham on Wednesday evening. They will then be expected to self-isolate for two weeks.
Yesterday, it banned all foreigners from flying in from areas affected by the virus.
Moldova has reported three cases so far, but no deaths.
This could result in measures like the closing of shops, offices and public transport.
Around 60 million Italians entered a nationwide lockdown yesterday. The lockdown saw travel restrictions enforced, people told to stay at home, and a ban on public gatherings, amongst others.
The number of confirmed cases in Italy has reached 10,149, with 631 deaths.
The patient was 90 years old.
The patients are:
"Two members showed some cold-like symptoms this morning. With the guidelines we've followed, they have been tested (for coronavirus)," a Haas spokesman told Reuters.
The patient is a Belgian citizen who has been in the country for several days, Health Minister Eteni Longondo said.
"We are tracking people who came into contact with him so that they too can be placed in quarantine, and tested," Mr Longondo said.
The central African nation is the seventh sub-Saharan country to confirm a case of coronavirus.
Meanwhile, DR Congo is hoping to declare its recent Ebola outbreak over by next month if no new cases are discovered in the next three weeks.
9:15
A Foreign Office spokesman said the woman had died in the tourist spot of Bali.
The woman was reportedly already critically ill and suffering from diabetes, hypertension, hyperthyroidism and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, an Indonesian government spokesman said.
There have been 27 cases of the virus in Indonesia.
“The United States will hold the Iranian regime directly responsible for any American deaths. Our response will be decisive,” Mike Pompeo warned in a statement on Tuesday night .
The Iranian judiciary has temporarily released 70,000 of the estimated 189,500 people held in its prisons in an attempt to contain the outbreak, which has left at least 291 people dead and infected more than 8,000 others.
But the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, has noted that only those serving sentences of less than five years have been freed . Political prisoners and people sentenced to more than five years in connection with their participation in anti-government protests remain in prison.
"A number of dual and foreign nationals are at real risk... they are really fearful of the conditions," Mr Rehman told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.
The latest restriction is that all international arrivals in the capital Beijing will have to be quarantined for two weeks, a city official has said.
Previously this measure only applied to people from the hardest-hit countries outside China - including South Korea, Iran, Italy and Japan.
Meanwhile, Vietnam has temporarily suspended visas for people from eight European countries: France, Spain, Germany, the UK, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
And India has suspended visas and e-visas for French, German and Spanish nationals.
She first showed symptoms on Thursday - the same day she attended an event at Downing Street that was hosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
But she's not the only senior politician to have caught the virus. In fact, many around the world have.
In France this week, Culture Minister Franck Riester was diagnosed. The 46-year-old minister was tested after displaying symptoms, but is "feeling well" in quarantine, French media say.
Five French MPs have also tested positive for the virus.
In Italy, Democratic Party leader Nicola Zingaretti tested positive and went into quarantine last week. Announcing his diagnosis, he said: "So, it's arrived."
Italy has the highest number of cases outside China, and is currently in lock-down. European Parliament President David Sassoli has also self-quarantined, after visiting Italy on the weekend.
Iranian ministers and politicians have been affected particularly severely. Two politicians have died from the virus, Fatemeh Rahbar and Mohammad Ali Ramazani, as has Mohammad Mirmohammadi, a top adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei.
In total, more than 20 politicians in Iran have the virus.
In the US, five Republican lawmakers - including Senator Ted Cruz - have had to self-quarantine after coming into contact with a confirmed coronavirus case at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month.
US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence both attended and spoke at the conference, but the White House insists that they don't need a coronavirus test.
She said that since there's no cure yet, governments need to focus on slowing its spread.
"When the virus is out there, the population has no immunity and no therapy exists, then 60 to 70% of the population will be infected," she was quoted by the Reuters news agency as telling reporters in Berlin.
"The process has to be focused on not overburdening the health system by slowing the virus's spread. It's about winning time."
We brought you quite a drastic warning earlier from German leader Angela Merkel's press conference in Berlin, and we now have a few more details.
To recap, the chancellor said 60-70% of the population of Germany would likely become infected with the coronavirus.
That figure comes from scientists at the country's public health body, the Robert Koch Institute, and is set against the context of there continuing to be no vaccine nor specific treatment available for Covid-19.
As of yesterday evening, Germany had 1,296 cases of the virus and three deaths.
This is Mrs Merkel's first address to the public on the coronavirus crisis.
The number of people infected has passed 1,000 with new cases reported on both sides of the country, rather than just the west coast where the earliest outbreak took place.
Dozens of cases have been linked to a conference held at a hotel in Boston in February. Other clusters have emerged nursing homes around Seattle in Washington state.
In one of the most drastic moves so far, gatherings of more than 250 people have been banned in the Seattle area.
Nationally, there have been five more deaths, taking the total to 31, US media reported. Of the latest fatalities, two were in Washington state and there was one each in New Jersey, South Dakota and California.
Nineteen states have declared emergencies, the Washington Post reported.
Egypt's tourism ministry says that a group of 46 French and American tourists who were quarantined on board the A-Sara as a precaution flew home on Tuesday night after testing negative for Covid-19.
Seventeen Indian passengers who also tested negative have been taken to Cairo airport and are waiting to leave.
Egypt has so far reported 59 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and one death - a German tourist.
One of the cruise ship passengers who tested positive was US journalist Matt Swider, the managing editor of website TechRadar. He has been tweeting about his experiences at a hospital in Egypt. Many Egyptians have been sharing his posts with pride, according to BBC Monitoring.
Sources say the talks scheduled to take place in London on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday next week are still on but they are under review.
For the first round of negotiations, 100 British officials travelled to Brussels. The general advice for EU officials now is that only essential meetings should be held and that video-conferencing and working from home should be considered.
Time is short in this process, but some diplomats in Brussels say it could be wrapped up quickly if some big political decisions are swiftly made. So maybe a delay might not be as dramatic as it seems?
And if both sides stick to their pledges to provide draft treaty texts “soon” there will be plenty of reading that negotiators can do at their own desks.
If you're a bit confused about where we are with Brexit, this explainer might help.
Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said there had now been 354 deaths since the outbreak began last month. The real figure is believed to be much higher.
Mr Jahanpour added that a further 958 confirmed cases of Covid-19 had also been reported, bringing the total number of infections in the country to exactly 9,000.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak summarises his Budget plans:
"Taken together, the extraordinary measures I have set out today represent £7bn to support the self-employed, businesses and vulnerable people.
"To support the NHS and other public services, I am also setting aside a £5bn emergency response fund - and will go further if necessary.
"Those measures are on top of plans that I will set out later in this Budget, which provide an additional fiscal loosening of £18bn to support the economy this year.
"That means I am announcing today, in total, a £30bn fiscal stimulus to support British people, British jobs and British businesses through this moment."
Most of the country's cases – 15 so far – have been in Sindh in the south, where the provincial government says the federal authorities aren't doing enough to prevent the spread of infection.
"I believe that all these patients entered through Karachi airport, which is why we need to improve the surveillance at airports," provincial minister Murtaza Wahab told a news conference in Karachi, a megacity and transit hub of 15 million people.
He said about 2,300 people who had entered Sindh had been contacted and, if necessary, tested.
But he wants quarantine camps and virus monitoring at airports improved, as well as lab testing at Pakistan’s international borders and airports, to make sure only those travellers who are not infected can enter the country.
“The queues are twice as long as normal,” a shop-worker told me. Panic buying had stripped the shelves of hand sanitiser and cleaning alcohol.
Today the Philippines confirmed 16 more cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number of cases to 49. Although still low by comparison to other countries’ outbreaks, there’s fear that this country of more than 100 million people is under-reporting the real extent of local transmission.
Former Philippine Health Secretary Dr Manuel M Dayrit oversaw the country’s response to the Sars coronavirus outbreak of 2003. He believes that with only 2,000 Covid-19 test kits in the country, screening for the virus has been too limited.
“We are not doing any testing for Covid-19 in the community,” said Dr Dayrit. “We are only testing the patients that show up in the hospitals usually with pneumonia, so we can only speculate how extensive community spread is.”
The fear now is if there’s an outbreak in a squatters’ area of Manila, where it is not uncommon to see five families share one cramped makeshift hut, a community outbreak would be extremely difficult to contain.
The ride-hailing app will temporarily block the accounts of those affected but provide them with financial aid.
Read more
In a tweet posted two days ago and "liked" more than 230,000 times, one American claims to have found a "loophole".
"If you don't have insurance and can't afford to take the $3,200 test for the virus ($1,000 with insurance), DONATE BLOOD," she writes. "They HAVE to test you for the virus in order to donate blood."
The figures she cites are based on another viral social media post, about a man who reportedly returned to Florida from China with flu symptoms, that was later debunked.
The UK's National Health Service (NHS) has now weighed in:
14:00
Yesterday we shared the news that Chinese President Xi Jinping had declared the epidemic in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged, as "virtually curbed".
Now, in a powerful signal, the country is sending aid to Italy.
Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, who has nurtured close ties with Beijing, had a chat with his opposite number on Tuesday.
Now China has offered 100,000 face masks, 20,000 protective suits and 1,000 ventilators. Chinese state media said the Red Cross Society of China was even considering sending a medical team to Italy.
Late last night, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a €25bn (£22bn; $28bn) Corona Response Investment Fund.
At present, three EU states - Germany, France and the Czech Republic - have banned the export of face masks to ensure they don't go short themselves.
Because the US has a largely private healthcare system, the cost of a coronavirus test is largely up to what kind of insurance a person has, and which particular lab carries out the test.
Experts are concerned that people with poor cover or no insurance will avoid getting tested - leaving them open to serious illness, and to infecting others.
US Vice President Mike Pence has said cost will not be a barrier to people getting tested, because Medicare and Medicaid healthcare payment systems will cover the costs of those who need government healhcare support.
A group of major health insurance companies also said there would be no surprise billing for costs associated with the coronavirus.
In the episode last month, Mr Bakker claimed colloidal silver - a liquid that contains tiny particles of silver - could treat the virus, which has infected more than 1,000 people and killed 31 in the US.
He has long pushed what he calls "Silver Solution" as a cure-all for different ailments.
The video led to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the New York Attorney General's Office to immediately send him cease-and-desist letters.
Now he's facing a awsuit from Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.
In a statement, Mr Schmitt said he was seeking an injunction "ordering Bakker to stop selling Silver Solution as a coronavirus treatment".
"Anyone who has bought 'Silver Solution' from the Jim Bakker Show should know that it cannot cure or treat coronavirus," he added.
Colloidal silver can cause a host of negative side effects - including turning skin blue.
The country's universities will be shut down and public gatherings of more than 100 people inside and 500 outside will be banned, an official told a news briefing.
The restrictions will be in force until further notice.
Hungary has 13 confirmed cases of the coronavirus but no virus-related deaths.
In Ireland, a patient died in the east of the country on Wednesday morning. The person is understood to be elderly, according to The Irish Times .
There are a total of 34 confirmed cases in total in Ireland.
Meanwhile in Belgium, three people died on Wednesday, marking the first deaths in the country from the virus.
One was a 73-year-old man, another was an 86-year-old man and the third person was a 90-year-old woman.
The order gave students less than 24 hours to pack up and leave.
Local media report the protest, which grew to more than 1,000 people, started as a party before the crowd became unruly.
University of Dayton officials said the crowd was "throwing objects and bottles in the street and at police, and jumping on cars".
"Police gave verbal orders to disperse which were ignored. Police initially launched pepper balls, which contain powder with an irritant that disperses quickly, that were unsuccessful in reducing the crowd size," a statement from officials said.
Student Chris Rose told WHIO-News: "We were all kind of shocked, being gassed was kind of crazy. It’s one of the last nights I have on campus as a senior; I'm just trying to make the best of it."
Students eventually cleared the area at about 02:15 (06:15 GMT).
16:05
Ms Dorries was confirmed as having Covid-19 yesterday.
She didn't name the staff member, but according to the parliamentary register of MPs' staff she employs three people - one of whom is her daughter.
This morning Ms Dorries posted in a WhatsApp group of Tory MPs that if any of them had sat next to her last week in the "tea room or library etc", to please let her know, because it was "hard to remember" everyone she had come into contact with.
This afternoon she told the BBC: "Contact tracers have full list of everyone I have been in contact with."
She apparently started experiencing symptoms on Thursday, but afterwards attended an event at Downing Street hosted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and held a constituency surgery attended by dozens of members of the public.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell met Ms Dorries last week, and has now been told to self-isolate after feeling unwell.
One of the world's biggest music festivals - Coachella - had been due to take place in California next month with a star-studded lineup. But organisers have shelved it until October . Last year, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival attracted about 250,000 people.
In Spain, the Unesco-recognised Fallas festival in Valencia has also been postponed.
The festival features giant papier-mache structures that are paraded through the town and on the last night are set alight. Organisers have not set an alternative date.
Also cancelled is Series Mania, a leading European festival featuring upcoming streaming and TV series, due to take place in the northern French city of Lille on 20 March. The gathering was expected to draw more than 80,000 people.
And just in - the E3 gaming expo, a huge video game industry event scheduled for June in Los Angeles, has been cancelled, its organisers said. In sport, the English Premier League match between Manchester City and Arsenal this evening has been postponed amid news that several Arsenal players were going into self-isolation. The players and some team staff had come into contact with Evangelos Marinakis - owner of the Greek team Olympiacos - who has contracted the virus. Arsenal and Olympiacos met in a 27 February Europa League tie at the Emirates Stadium in London.
The measure comes into effect from 13 March, but exemptions will be granted for diplomats, government and UN officials, and people travelling on work visas.
A minimum 14-day quarantine has also been announced for all incoming travelers - including Indian nationals - arriving from or having visited China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, France, Spain and Germany after 15 February.
Canada is setting up a C$1bn ($728m; £562m) coronavirus response fund, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced.
The funding package is meant to help the country address the domestic impact of the virus and to support further research, including vaccine development.
There are currently 93 confirmed cases of the disease in Canada. One death has been linked to the coronavirus.
"We are pulling out all the stops to make sure Canadians stay healthy, safe and supported," Mr Trudeau said earlier today.
Funds allocated include C$275m for research and C$500m for provinces and territories to support critical health care system needs and mitigation efforts.
For workers who are in quarantine or who have been directed to self-isolate, the federal government is also waiving its mandatory one-week waiting period to claim unemployment benefits.
He had been practising medicine at an outpatient clinic in Busto Arsizio, north-west of Milan, and Italian reports say he and a colleague were infected at the weekend.
Varese is in the Lombardy region, which has been at the centre of Italy's coronavirus outbreak.
There are now 12,462 reported cases in Italy, which is now the worst-affected nation outside China. Earlier this week the government announced emergency measures - including travel restrictions - to help stem the outbreak.
Latest from the US (at 18:11)
The number of known cases across America has hit over 1,000, and authorities report 31 deaths from the virus. More than a quarter of new cases were announced on Tuesday.
In other developments around the country:
The countries include the UK, the US and several European nations.
The authorities have also said passengers arriving at the International Airport in Entebbe will soon be sprayed with a disinfectant.
Uganda has no recorded positive case of coronavirus.
The East African nation's health minister admits its hospitals and economy would not be able to cope with a serious outbreak.
Two other cabinet members have also tested positive for the disease, according to Fars: Cultural Minister Ali Asghar Mounesan and Reza Rahmani, minister of industry, mines and business.
They are among the many Iranian officials and politicians who have been infected in recent weeks.
- The number of cases in Europe continues to rise, with more than 10,000 in Italy
- A UK health minister, Nadine Dorries, is among 382 cases in Britain
- Bank of England cuts interest rates from 0.75% to 0.25% to shore up economy
- Some key industries in Wuhan, where the outbreak began, will restart
- There are now more than 1,000 confirmed cases in the US
- Troops will deliver food to quarantined people in New Rochelle, New York
- Google's parent company asks North American staff to work from home
- One of the world's biggest music festivals, Coachella, postponed until October
- Australia announces A$2.4bn health package
7:09am
The global picture at a glance
Here is a look at what's been happening around the world in the last few hours:- There are now 119,000 cases of coronavirus globally and 4,296 deaths
- More than 55% of the cases are reportedly cured
- New countries reporting cases include Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jamaica and Turkey
Manchester City v Arsenal off
Manchester City v Arsenal, due to be played on Wednesday evening, has become the first Premier League game to be called off because of the coronavirus.The decision was made after some Arsenal players met Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis two weeks ago, who later tested positive.
"The medical advice we have received puts the risk of them developing Covid-19 at extremely low," said Arsenal.
"However, we are strictly following the government guidelines which recommend that anyone coming into close contact with someone with the virus should self-isolate at home for 14 days from the last time they had contact.
"As a result, the players are unavailable for tonight's match against Manchester City and the Premier League has decided the game should be postponed."
Read more here.
'No reason to play without people'
The Manchester City v Arsenal match has been postponed because Arsenal players are in isolation.But other leagues have called off matches to stop the virus spreading. Speaking before tonight's postponement, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said there was no point playing without fans...
The impact on sport so far
The Premier League has postponed its first game, but hundreds of sporting fixtures have already been postponed - or will be played with no fans.The list includes top-flight Italian and Spanish football, the Champions League, Japanese baseball, and the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Read a full list here .
UK health minister tests positive for virus
UK health minister and Conservative MP Nadine Dorries has been diagnosed with the coronavirus - making her the first MP to test positive.The 62-year-old said she was self-isolating at home and that healthcare officials had began tracing people she came into contact with.
All health ministers will now have to undergo testing for the virus.
It comes as a sixth person died from the virus in the UK, which has a total of 382 cases.
7:24
UK MP 'over the worst of it'
A UK health minister who came down with the coronavirus is hopeful that she is "over the worst of it now".
Nadine Dorries is the first UK MP to test positive for the virus.
The 62-year-old said in a tweet that she was more worried about her mother, who has begun to cough.
Thanks for so many good wishes. It’s been pretty rubbish but I hope I’m over the worst of it now. More worried about my 84yo mum who is staying with me and began with the cough today. She is being tested tomorrow. Keep safe and keep washing those hands, everyone.
Coachella postponed over virus fears
Coachella - one of the world's biggest festivals - has been postponed due to coronavirus fears.It was set to take place in April in California, but has now been shifted to October.
Hundreds of acts including Travis Scott, Calvin Harris, Lana Del Ray and K-pop group Bigbang were set to perform.
New York sends in troops to contain virus
Troops will be sent to the town of New Rochelle, just north of New York City, in an effort to contain the coronavirus.New York City has 36 confirmed cases of the virus. But New Rochelle, which has a population of just 77,000, is believed to have at least twice as many.
A one mile (1.6km) "containment zone" will be enforced in the town, and the National Guard will deliver food to quarantined individuals.
More than 1,000 cases confirmed in US
The United States has now had more than 1,000 confirmed cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.That's almost double the number from a day before. At least 28 people have died.
The rise in cases is linked to an expansion in testing.
Number of cases by country
The United States' sharp increase means it now has the eighth most cases worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University's tracker.The top ten are:
- China 80,956
- Italy 10,149
- Iran 8,042
- South Korea 7,755
- France 1,784
- Spain 1,695
- Germany 1,565
- United States 1,025
- Japan 581
- Switzerland 491
Six more cases in Thailand
Six more cases have been confirmed in Thailand, bringing the total to 59.The new patients are:
- Two Thai men working at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport, who have come into in contact with foreign visitors
- A 25-year-old Thai man
- A 27-year-old Thai woman returning from South Korea
- A 40-year-old Thai man returning from Japan
- A 36-year-old Singaporean man living in Thailand
New York student confirmed to have virus
The City University of New York (CUNY) added that the school would be closed on 11 March.First virus death in Central America
The first virus-linked death in Central America has come out of Panama, its health minister has confirmed, reported AFP.The 64-year-old man, who was reportedly already suffering from diabetes complications, died from Covid-19 on Sunday.
There are currently eight cases of the virus in the country.
Tighter restrictions hit stranded Indians
In India, passengers travelling from Italy and South Korea, or people who have recently visited there, now need a "tested negative certificate" from those countries.The Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said it’s a temporary measure until coronavirus cases come down.
It is estimated there are 45 Indians stranded at Rome Airport – Emirates is not allowing them to board as they will not be able to disembark when they land in India.
Australia announces $2.4bn package
Up to 100 pop-up respiratory clinics will be established around Australia under a A$2.4bn government health package.A $30 million dollar advertising campaign - aimed at raising public awareness - will also form part of the package.
Australia has recorded 112 cases of the virus, with three deaths.
Olympics could be delayed by 'one or two years'
A delay of one or two years would be the "most feasible" option if the Tokyo Olympics is postponed, a member of the organising committee's executive board has told Reuters.Haruyuki Takahashi, one of more than two dozen members of the Tokyo 2020 executive board, said: "We need to start preparing for any possibility.
"If the games can't be held in the summer, a delay of one or two years would be most feasible."
Olympics delay is 'inconceivable' says minister
Japan's Olympics minister has responded to suggestions that the Games could be delayed by one or two years."A delay is not under consideration," said Seiko Hashimoto in a parliamentary committee, according to a Bloomberg report. "[It] is inconceivable."
A member of the organising committee's executive board earlier said they had to start "preparing for any possibility".
Hashimoto - a former Olympic athlete - acknowledged that the final decision rests with the International Olympic Committee.
All new China deaths in Wuhan
China announced 22 new deaths on Wednesday - all in Wuhan, the city where the virus emerged late last year.More than 3,000 people have died in total in China - the majority in Wuhan and its province, Hubei.
Virus conference gets cancelled due to virus
A coronavirus conference has been cancelled because of the coronavirus, according to a Bloomberg report.US Think Tank the Council on Foreign Relations was due to hold a conference called "Doing Business Under Coronavirus" on Friday in New York.
More than 90 infections from one Seoul call centre
More than 90 virus cases have been linked to a call centre in Seoul, said a Yonhap report quoting the capital's mayor.This makes it the biggest Covid-19 cluster in Seoul.
There are currently 7,755 confirmed cases in South Korea.
Sealing Germany's borders won't work
Sealing Germany's borders to prevent the spread of the virus will not work, the country's Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Wednesday.He rejected calls to follow its neighbour Austria - which now denies entry to visitors from Italy.
"The virus is in Germany, it is in Europe. That's the thought we have to get used to," he told local radio station Deutschlandfunk radio, reported Reuters.
"It will still spread even if you close all the borders. Sooner or later you have to let people in or out and then it starts spreading again."
There are currently 1,296 confirmed cases in Germany.
Brits on cruise ship to head home
British passengers who were on the Grand Princess cruise ship are on a flight back to Britain, said the Foreign Office.Thousands of passengers on the US liner were stranded off the coast of California for days due to testing, and then an outbreak of coronavirus.
The 135 British nationals are expected to arrive in Birmingham on Wednesday evening. They will then be expected to self-isolate for two weeks.
Moldova closes all schools
Moldova has closed all its nurseries, schools, colleges and universities for two weeks from today, state health officials said.Yesterday, it banned all foreigners from flying in from areas affected by the virus.
Moldova has reported three cases so far, but no deaths.
Italy's Lombardy could impose stricter restrictions
Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he was not ruling out a stricter lockdown of the Lombardy region of Italy - one of the country's worst hit areas.This could result in measures like the closing of shops, offices and public transport.
Around 60 million Italians entered a nationwide lockdown yesterday. The lockdown saw travel restrictions enforced, people told to stay at home, and a ban on public gatherings, amongst others.
The number of confirmed cases in Italy has reached 10,149, with 631 deaths.
First death in Belgium
Belgium's health ministry has reported the first Covid-19 death in the country, the Belga news agency said citing a statement.The patient was 90 years old.
Six more cases in South Africa
South Africa has six new cases of the virus, its Health Ministry confirmed, bringing the total to 13.The patients are:
- A 33-year-old female that had travelled to Italy and returned on 1 March
- A couple - a 34-year-old and a 33-year-old - who travelled to Germany and returned on 9 March
- A 57-year-old who travelled to Austria and Italy and returned on 8 March
- A 40-year-old who travelled to Portugal and returned on 7 March
- A 36-year-old who travelled to multiple countries including Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Turkey. He returned on 9 March
Three in quarantine before Australian Grand Prix
Two members of the Haas Formula One team and one from McLaren were quarantined in Melbourne on Wednesday as a precaution before Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix."Two members showed some cold-like symptoms this morning. With the guidelines we've followed, they have been tested (for coronavirus)," a Haas spokesman told Reuters.
DR Congo announces first coronavirus case
Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the country in the capital, Kinsasha.The patient is a Belgian citizen who has been in the country for several days, Health Minister Eteni Longondo said.
"We are tracking people who came into contact with him so that they too can be placed in quarantine, and tested," Mr Longondo said.
The central African nation is the seventh sub-Saharan country to confirm a case of coronavirus.
Meanwhile, DR Congo is hoping to declare its recent Ebola outbreak over by next month if no new cases are discovered in the next three weeks.
9:15
British woman dies in Bali
A foreign patient who became the first person with Covid-19 to die in Indonesia is a 53-year-old woman from the UK, the Foreign Office told Channel News Asia.A Foreign Office spokesman said the woman had died in the tourist spot of Bali.
The woman was reportedly already critically ill and suffering from diabetes, hypertension, hyperthyroidism and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, an Indonesian government spokesman said.
There have been 27 cases of the virus in Indonesia.
US urges Iran to free Americans in virus-hit jails
The US secretary of state has called on Iran to immediately release on humanitarian grounds all Americans imprisoned in the country, amid reports that Covid-19 has spread inside overcrowded Iranian jails.“The United States will hold the Iranian regime directly responsible for any American deaths. Our response will be decisive,” Mike Pompeo warned in a statement on Tuesday night .
The Iranian judiciary has temporarily released 70,000 of the estimated 189,500 people held in its prisons in an attempt to contain the outbreak, which has left at least 291 people dead and infected more than 8,000 others.
But the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, has noted that only those serving sentences of less than five years have been freed . Political prisoners and people sentenced to more than five years in connection with their participation in anti-government protests remain in prison.
"A number of dual and foreign nationals are at real risk... they are really fearful of the conditions," Mr Rehman told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.
Beijing arrivals face mandatory quarantine
The number of new infections have been decreasing by the day in China and the country is now tightening travel restrictions to try and prevent imported cases.The latest restriction is that all international arrivals in the capital Beijing will have to be quarantined for two weeks, a city official has said.
Previously this measure only applied to people from the hardest-hit countries outside China - including South Korea, Iran, Italy and Japan.
Meanwhile, Vietnam has temporarily suspended visas for people from eight European countries: France, Spain, Germany, the UK, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
And India has suspended visas and e-visas for French, German and Spanish nationals.
Politicians are getting the virus too
UK health minister Nadine Dorries has been diagnosed with coronavirus , and is now self-isolating at home.She first showed symptoms on Thursday - the same day she attended an event at Downing Street that was hosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
But she's not the only senior politician to have caught the virus. In fact, many around the world have.
In France this week, Culture Minister Franck Riester was diagnosed. The 46-year-old minister was tested after displaying symptoms, but is "feeling well" in quarantine, French media say.
Five French MPs have also tested positive for the virus.
In Italy, Democratic Party leader Nicola Zingaretti tested positive and went into quarantine last week. Announcing his diagnosis, he said: "So, it's arrived."
Italy has the highest number of cases outside China, and is currently in lock-down. European Parliament President David Sassoli has also self-quarantined, after visiting Italy on the weekend.
Iranian ministers and politicians have been affected particularly severely. Two politicians have died from the virus, Fatemeh Rahbar and Mohammad Ali Ramazani, as has Mohammad Mirmohammadi, a top adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei.
In total, more than 20 politicians in Iran have the virus.
In the US, five Republican lawmakers - including Senator Ted Cruz - have had to self-quarantine after coming into contact with a confirmed coronavirus case at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month.
US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence both attended and spoke at the conference, but the White House insists that they don't need a coronavirus test.
70% of Germany could get virus - Merkel
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that according to experts, 60-70% of the German population could become infected with the coronavirus.She said that since there's no cure yet, governments need to focus on slowing its spread.
"When the virus is out there, the population has no immunity and no therapy exists, then 60 to 70% of the population will be infected," she was quoted by the Reuters news agency as telling reporters in Berlin.
"The process has to be focused on not overburdening the health system by slowing the virus's spread. It's about winning time."
We brought you quite a drastic warning earlier from German leader Angela Merkel's press conference in Berlin, and we now have a few more details.To recap, the chancellor said 60-70% of the population of Germany would likely become infected with the coronavirus.
That figure comes from scientists at the country's public health body, the Robert Koch Institute, and is set against the context of there continuing to be no vaccine nor specific treatment available for Covid-19.
As of yesterday evening, Germany had 1,296 cases of the virus and three deaths.
This is Mrs Merkel's first address to the public on the coronavirus crisis.
US infections pass 1,000 as deaths rise to 31
As the US east coast wakes up, here's a quick recap on the situation in the country.The number of people infected has passed 1,000 with new cases reported on both sides of the country, rather than just the west coast where the earliest outbreak took place.
Dozens of cases have been linked to a conference held at a hotel in Boston in February. Other clusters have emerged nursing homes around Seattle in Washington state.
In one of the most drastic moves so far, gatherings of more than 250 people have been banned in the Seattle area.
Nationally, there have been five more deaths, taking the total to 31, US media reported. Of the latest fatalities, two were in Washington state and there was one each in New Jersey, South Dakota and California.
Nineteen states have declared emergencies, the Washington Post reported.
Tourists from Nile ship fly out of Egypt
We’ve got an update from Egypt, where 45 people with the new coronavirus were evacuated from a Nile cruise ship on Saturday and placed in isolation on land.Egypt's tourism ministry says that a group of 46 French and American tourists who were quarantined on board the A-Sara as a precaution flew home on Tuesday night after testing negative for Covid-19.
Seventeen Indian passengers who also tested negative have been taken to Cairo airport and are waiting to leave.
Egypt has so far reported 59 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and one death - a German tourist.
One of the cruise ship passengers who tested positive was US journalist Matt Swider, the managing editor of website TechRadar. He has been tweeting about his experiences at a hospital in Egypt. Many Egyptians have been sharing his posts with pride, according to BBC Monitoring.
Outbreak could hit Brexit negotiations
A delay to the negotiations between the UK and the EU because of coronavirus is a “live issue”, UK Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove has told a House of Commons Select committee.Sources say the talks scheduled to take place in London on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday next week are still on but they are under review.
For the first round of negotiations, 100 British officials travelled to Brussels. The general advice for EU officials now is that only essential meetings should be held and that video-conferencing and working from home should be considered.
Time is short in this process, but some diplomats in Brussels say it could be wrapped up quickly if some big political decisions are swiftly made. So maybe a delay might not be as dramatic as it seems?
And if both sides stick to their pledges to provide draft treaty texts “soon” there will be plenty of reading that negotiators can do at their own desks.
If you're a bit confused about where we are with Brexit, this explainer might help.
Iran reports biggest daily death toll yet
Iran’s health ministry has reported 63 new deaths from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours - the highest number in a single day in the country.Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said there had now been 354 deaths since the outbreak began last month. The real figure is believed to be much higher.
Mr Jahanpour added that a further 958 confirmed cases of Covid-19 had also been reported, bringing the total number of infections in the country to exactly 9,000.
Chancellor Sunak: £30bn stimulus to support UK in coronavirus
So how much is the government's response to coronavirus worth?Chancellor Rishi Sunak summarises his Budget plans:
"Taken together, the extraordinary measures I have set out today represent £7bn to support the self-employed, businesses and vulnerable people.
"To support the NHS and other public services, I am also setting aside a £5bn emergency response fund - and will go further if necessary.
"Those measures are on top of plans that I will set out later in this Budget, which provide an additional fiscal loosening of £18bn to support the economy this year.
"That means I am announcing today, in total, a £30bn fiscal stimulus to support British people, British jobs and British businesses through this moment."
Pakistan's cases double in a day
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Pakistan has more than doubled in the past 24 hours to 20, officials say, as the outbreak takes a hold in South Asia.Most of the country's cases – 15 so far – have been in Sindh in the south, where the provincial government says the federal authorities aren't doing enough to prevent the spread of infection.
"I believe that all these patients entered through Karachi airport, which is why we need to improve the surveillance at airports," provincial minister Murtaza Wahab told a news conference in Karachi, a megacity and transit hub of 15 million people.
He said about 2,300 people who had entered Sindh had been contacted and, if necessary, tested.
But he wants quarantine camps and virus monitoring at airports improved, as well as lab testing at Pakistan’s international borders and airports, to make sure only those travellers who are not infected can enter the country.
Fears grow of outbreak in Philippines
As I entered my local supermarket in Manila, I was met with a wave of people pushing fully-laden trolleys towards the exit.“The queues are twice as long as normal,” a shop-worker told me. Panic buying had stripped the shelves of hand sanitiser and cleaning alcohol.
Today the Philippines confirmed 16 more cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number of cases to 49. Although still low by comparison to other countries’ outbreaks, there’s fear that this country of more than 100 million people is under-reporting the real extent of local transmission.
Former Philippine Health Secretary Dr Manuel M Dayrit oversaw the country’s response to the Sars coronavirus outbreak of 2003. He believes that with only 2,000 Covid-19 test kits in the country, screening for the virus has been too limited.
“We are not doing any testing for Covid-19 in the community,” said Dr Dayrit. “We are only testing the patients that show up in the hospitals usually with pneumonia, so we can only speculate how extensive community spread is.”
The fear now is if there’s an outbreak in a squatters’ area of Manila, where it is not uncommon to see five families share one cramped makeshift hut, a community outbreak would be extremely difficult to contain.
Latest from around the world
There have been some new developments. Here's the latest:- Honduras has confirmed its first two cases of coronavirus in the country. One patient, a pregnant woman, had travelled from Spain and a second patient arrived from Switzerland.
- South Africa has called for calm after six more people tested positive for the virus bringing the total number of infections in the country to 13. There are concerns that because South Africa is home to the world's largest HIV epidemic, millions of people may be more vulnerable to coronavirus because their immune systems have already been weakened.
- Algeria has suspended economic, cultural and political gatherings to slow the spread of the virus.
- Israel, which has 42 cases, now requires anyone arriving from overseas to self-quarantine for 14 days.
Uber to suspend accounts of virus-hit drivers
The ride-hailing app will temporarily block the accounts of those affected but provide them with financial aid.
Read more
Donating blood 'won't detect coronavirus'
For a lot of people in the US, there's an additional worry: how much a coronavirus test might cost.In a tweet posted two days ago and "liked" more than 230,000 times, one American claims to have found a "loophole".
"If you don't have insurance and can't afford to take the $3,200 test for the virus ($1,000 with insurance), DONATE BLOOD," she writes. "They HAVE to test you for the virus in order to donate blood."
The figures she cites are based on another viral social media post, about a man who reportedly returned to Florida from China with flu symptoms, that was later debunked.
The UK's National Health Service (NHS) has now weighed in:
14:00
China comes to Italy's aid
Italy is in national lockdown and health systems in parts of the north are struggling to cope. China has offered a helping hand, our website's Europe editor Paul Kirby reports:Yesterday we shared the news that Chinese President Xi Jinping had declared the epidemic in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged, as "virtually curbed".
Now, in a powerful signal, the country is sending aid to Italy.
Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, who has nurtured close ties with Beijing, had a chat with his opposite number on Tuesday.
Now China has offered 100,000 face masks, 20,000 protective suits and 1,000 ventilators. Chinese state media said the Red Cross Society of China was even considering sending a medical team to Italy.
Late last night, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a €25bn (£22bn; $28bn) Corona Response Investment Fund.
At present, three EU states - Germany, France and the Czech Republic - have banned the export of face masks to ensure they don't go short themselves.
Because the US has a largely private healthcare system, the cost of a coronavirus test is largely up to what kind of insurance a person has, and which particular lab carries out the test.
Experts are concerned that people with poor cover or no insurance will avoid getting tested - leaving them open to serious illness, and to infecting others.
US Vice President Mike Pence has said cost will not be a barrier to people getting tested, because Medicare and Medicaid healthcare payment systems will cover the costs of those who need government healhcare support.
A group of major health insurance companies also said there would be no surprise billing for costs associated with the coronavirus.
Televangelist sued for fake coronavirus 'cure'
YouTube televangelist Jim Bakker is being sued by a US state's attorney general for pushing a bogus coronavirus "cure" on his show.In the episode last month, Mr Bakker claimed colloidal silver - a liquid that contains tiny particles of silver - could treat the virus, which has infected more than 1,000 people and killed 31 in the US.
He has long pushed what he calls "Silver Solution" as a cure-all for different ailments.
The video led to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the New York Attorney General's Office to immediately send him cease-and-desist letters.
Now he's facing a awsuit from Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.
In a statement, Mr Schmitt said he was seeking an injunction "ordering Bakker to stop selling Silver Solution as a coronavirus treatment".
"Anyone who has bought 'Silver Solution' from the Jim Bakker Show should know that it cannot cure or treat coronavirus," he added.
Colloidal silver can cause a host of negative side effects - including turning skin blue.
Hungary shuts universities and bans big gatherings
Hungary has banned inbound travel from Italy, South Korea, Iran and China for non-Hungarians.The country's universities will be shut down and public gatherings of more than 100 people inside and 500 outside will be banned, an official told a news briefing.
The restrictions will be in force until further notice.
Hungary has 13 confirmed cases of the coronavirus but no virus-related deaths.
Ireland and Belgium record first coronavirus deaths
Both Ireland and Belgium have recorded their first coronavirus-related deaths today.In Ireland, a patient died in the east of the country on Wednesday morning. The person is understood to be elderly, according to The Irish Times .
There are a total of 34 confirmed cases in total in Ireland.
Meanwhile in Belgium, three people died on Wednesday, marking the first deaths in the country from the virus.
One was a 73-year-old man, another was an 86-year-old man and the third person was a 90-year-old woman.
Ireland has recorded its first death from coronavirus.
The patient died earlier on Wednesday in a hospital in the east of the country, where they were being treated in recent days.
It is understood the patient initally presented with respiratory symptoms and was later diagnosed with the disease when staff decided to perform a test.
The criteria for testing patients has been broadened this week to include those patients who have clinical respiratory symptoms but no history of travel to affected areas internationally. This is in recognition that the disease may be ciculating in the community. The patient is understood to be elderly.
The first Covid-19 cases was recorded in the Republic on February 29th and there are now a total of 34 confirmed cases. Two of these were acquired in the community and are being investigated.
A further update on this death, and the latest number of cases, will be given by the National Public Health Emergency Teams at its daily briefing this evening.
Meanwhile the Department of Health in Northern Ireland has confirmed two new positive tests for coronavirus bringing the total number of cases in the North to 18.
The department in a statement on Wednesday afternoon said that both cases were adults and both were secondary transmissions that can be traced to a previously reported case that involved recent travel to Northern Italy . The North’s Public Health Agency is currently undertaking contact tracing for both cases. In Northern Ireland there have been 246 concluded tests, of which 228 were negative, and 18 were positive.
Earlier on Wednesday a leading World Health Organisation (WHO) official expressed concern about the attitude of young people to the coronavirus.
Dr Margaret Anne Harris also advised the organisers of major events to take all precautions to protect people from the virus, also known as Covid-19.
Dr Harris said she had heard “some concerning things” about the attitude of young people who seemed to think that the virus “will just hit old people.” She pointed out that in Italy young people are getting ill.
“I don’t think it is just age related. This is something that we all have to take seriously,” she told RTÉ Radio’s Today with Sean O’Rourke show.
Asked about the wisdom of the Cheltenham racing festival being allowed to go ahead, Dr Harris replied: “We are saying to organisations ‘you do the risk assessment.’ They must take all the precautions necessary to protect people.”
She was speaking as University Hospital Waterford confirmed another case of Covid-19 in the State - a patient who tested positive and has since been moved into isolation.
Hospital management said the patient had been an inpatient in a medical ward as they had “not met the case definition” for Covid-19 at the time.
The case is expected to be included in the next briefing from the Department of Health on Wednesday evening.
Public health doctors said on Tuesday evening there was no need to close schools due to the outbreak “at this point in time”.
The National Public Health Emergency Team also advised nursing homes and some hospitals to lift blanket visiting bans, and it described measures recommended by undertakers, including the immediate cremation in bodybags of deceased people who had Covid-19, as “unnecessary”.
The emergency team announced plans for a massive increase in testing for coronavirus, with hospital laboratories in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford set to start testing for the illness.
These will back up the National Virus Reference Laboratory at University College Dublin and mean that thousands of cases a week can be processed in future. The number of suspected cases tested last week increased to 1,784, up from 297 a week earlier.
The type of patients tested is also being expanded to include some who have unexplained respiratory symptoms but no history of travel to affected areas.Impact on residents
Under new rules, people with Covid-19 “who are clinically appropriate” can remain in their homes in self-isolation rather than in hospital. This change is subject to new criteria for their discharge, due to be announced later this week.
Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said blanket restrictions on visiting at private nursing homes and some hospitals, aimed at curbing the risk of infection, should be lifted.
Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday night, Dr Holohan said visitor restrictions had a major impact on residents, for whom social interaction was a key part of wellbeing.
While restrictions might be necessary in a particular nursing home depending on circumstances, he said there was no case for across-the-board restrictions.
“We want to avoid introducing measures before they are really necessary,” he said.
Trinity College Dublin on Tuesday announced that it was cancelling all lectures. Asked whether schools would follow suit to curb the spread of the virus, Dr Holohan said such a measure could be deployed “at some point in time” depending on what happened “but that time is not necessarily now”.Community transmission
Dr John Cuddihy , director of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, said detailed guidelines on the handling of deceased people who had Covid-19 would be published on Wednesday and will make clear that the measures proposed by the Irish Association of Funeral Directors are not necessary.
Despite the increase of 10 in new cases – six males and four females – none involved community transmission, the type that is of most concern to public health doctors. Five of the new diagnoses relate to travel from an affected area, two relate to hospital transmission or possible hospital transmission, and three are associated with close contact with a confirmed case.
Five of the latest cases were in the south of the country, three in the east and two in the west.
Dr Holohan said 98 per cent of all suspected cases in Ireland have tested negative. “While Ireland remains in containment phase, there is no room for complacency.”
Across the world more than 118,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed and more than 4,200 have died as a result.Cross-border challenge
Public health expert Dr Gabriel Scally said the coronavirus “will not recognise the border” and said that this is the time for integration of services north and south.
“There need to be substantial cross border cooperation, sharing of resources, harmonisation,” he told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland.
“No health system in the world could cope with a full blown outbreak of the virus.”
The public health system in the Republic is “not that strong” he said, based on his experience of examining the cervical cancer service. However, he said, the level of awareness and guidelines to date seem to be “entirely appropriate”.
“It is really, really important that background planning goes on and that changes are being made in the hospital service and preparations are being made in the hospital service and also preparations right across the country when the situation changes.”
Students clash with police over virus order
Students at the University of Dayton in the US state of Ohio clashed with police early on Wednesday after they were told to clear out of their dormitories two days early due to coronavirus fears.The order gave students less than 24 hours to pack up and leave.
Local media report the protest, which grew to more than 1,000 people, started as a party before the crowd became unruly.
University of Dayton officials said the crowd was "throwing objects and bottles in the street and at police, and jumping on cars".
"Police gave verbal orders to disperse which were ignored. Police initially launched pepper balls, which contain powder with an irritant that disperses quickly, that were unsuccessful in reducing the crowd size," a statement from officials said.
Student Chris Rose told WHIO-News: "We were all kind of shocked, being gassed was kind of crazy. It’s one of the last nights I have on campus as a senior; I'm just trying to make the best of it."
Students eventually cleared the area at about 02:15 (06:15 GMT).
16:05
UK minister's staffer has coronavirus
UK Health Minister Nadine Dorries has told the BBC that a member of her parliamentary staff has also been infected with the virus.Ms Dorries was confirmed as having Covid-19 yesterday.
She didn't name the staff member, but according to the parliamentary register of MPs' staff she employs three people - one of whom is her daughter.
This morning Ms Dorries posted in a WhatsApp group of Tory MPs that if any of them had sat next to her last week in the "tea room or library etc", to please let her know, because it was "hard to remember" everyone she had come into contact with.
This afternoon she told the BBC: "Contact tracers have full list of everyone I have been in contact with."
She apparently started experiencing symptoms on Thursday, but afterwards attended an event at Downing Street hosted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and held a constituency surgery attended by dozens of members of the public.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell met Ms Dorries last week, and has now been told to self-isolate after feeling unwell.
Festivals and sports fixtures fall victim to virus
Fears that the coronavirus will spread quickly among large gatherings is continuing to take its toll on cultural events and sports fixtures.One of the world's biggest music festivals - Coachella - had been due to take place in California next month with a star-studded lineup. But organisers have shelved it until October . Last year, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival attracted about 250,000 people.
In Spain, the Unesco-recognised Fallas festival in Valencia has also been postponed.
The festival features giant papier-mache structures that are paraded through the town and on the last night are set alight. Organisers have not set an alternative date.
Also cancelled is Series Mania, a leading European festival featuring upcoming streaming and TV series, due to take place in the northern French city of Lille on 20 March. The gathering was expected to draw more than 80,000 people.
And just in - the E3 gaming expo, a huge video game industry event scheduled for June in Los Angeles, has been cancelled, its organisers said. In sport, the English Premier League match between Manchester City and Arsenal this evening has been postponed amid news that several Arsenal players were going into self-isolation. The players and some team staff had come into contact with Evangelos Marinakis - owner of the Greek team Olympiacos - who has contracted the virus. Arsenal and Olympiacos met in a 27 February Europa League tie at the Emirates Stadium in London.
India suspends visas until mid-April
In an attempt to stem the spread of the virus, India has announced it will suspend many different types of visas used to visit the country until 15 April.The measure comes into effect from 13 March, but exemptions will be granted for diplomats, government and UN officials, and people travelling on work visas.
A minimum 14-day quarantine has also been announced for all incoming travelers - including Indian nationals - arriving from or having visited China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, France, Spain and Germany after 15 February.
Canada pledges C$1bn to virus response
Jessica Murphy, BBC News, TorontoCanada is setting up a C$1bn ($728m; £562m) coronavirus response fund, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced.
The funding package is meant to help the country address the domestic impact of the virus and to support further research, including vaccine development.
There are currently 93 confirmed cases of the disease in Canada. One death has been linked to the coronavirus.
"We are pulling out all the stops to make sure Canadians stay healthy, safe and supported," Mr Trudeau said earlier today.
Funds allocated include C$275m for research and C$500m for provinces and territories to support critical health care system needs and mitigation efforts.
For workers who are in quarantine or who have been directed to self-isolate, the federal government is also waiving its mandatory one-week waiting period to claim unemployment benefits.
Italian medical chief dies after contracting virus
The head of the medical association in the northern Italian province of Varese, Roberto Stella, 67, has died of respiratory failure after contracting coronavirus.He had been practising medicine at an outpatient clinic in Busto Arsizio, north-west of Milan, and Italian reports say he and a colleague were infected at the weekend.
Varese is in the Lombardy region, which has been at the centre of Italy's coronavirus outbreak.
Italy death toll now over 800
Official figures show the death toll in Italy has risen by 196 to 827 during the last 24 hours. This is a 31% rise from yesterday, and the largest jump since the start of the outbreak in the country.There are now 12,462 reported cases in Italy, which is now the worst-affected nation outside China. Earlier this week the government announced emergency measures - including travel restrictions - to help stem the outbreak.
Latest from the US (at 18:11)
The number of known cases across America has hit over 1,000, and authorities report 31 deaths from the virus. More than a quarter of new cases were announced on Tuesday.
In other developments around the country:
- At least 38 states have reported cases - the highest number is concentrated in New York state
- Nineteen states have declared emergencies, the Washington Post reported
- Gatherings of more than 250 people have been banned in the Seattle area - one of the most drastic moves so far
- Music festivals and other major events in the US, including Coachella festival in California, have been cancelled or postponed
- Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a Congressional hearing on Wednesday that "things will get worse than they are right now". He also suggested that the National Basketball Association should bar audiences from games
- Televangelist Jim Bakker is being sued by a US state's attorney general for pushing a bogus coronavirus "cure" on his YouTube show
- President Donald Trump has not yet said if he is willing to be tested, despite shaking hands and flying on Air Force One with several Republican lawmakers exposed to the virus
Uganda imposes self-quarantine for UK and US visitors
Uganda’s government has introduced a mandatory 14-day period of self-quarantine for travellers arriving from 16 countries to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.The countries include the UK, the US and several European nations.
The authorities have also said passengers arriving at the International Airport in Entebbe will soon be sprayed with a disinfectant.
Uganda has no recorded positive case of coronavirus.
The East African nation's health minister admits its hospitals and economy would not be able to cope with a serious outbreak.
Iranian vice president tests positive
Iran's Fars news agency reports that First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri has contracted the virus. In his role, Mr Jahangiri leads Cabinet meetings in the absence of the president, and is the most senior government figure to catch the virus. He has recently been absent from several top-level meetings, and there has been speculation about the state of his health.Two other cabinet members have also tested positive for the disease, according to Fars: Cultural Minister Ali Asghar Mounesan and Reza Rahmani, minister of industry, mines and business.
They are among the many Iranian officials and politicians who have been infected in recent weeks.
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