This Tuesday, British Airways and Ryanair announced the cancellation of all their flights to Italy.
Spain also announced that it was suspending all of its air connections with Italy and Austria. The Spanish government will only allow people from Italy who have a medical certificate to enter the country.
The Vatican decided to close the basilica and St. Peter’s Square to the public by April 3. Hours earlier, Pope Francis asked priests to “have the courage to go out and visit” those infected with the new coronavirus.
Thus, Italy becomes the first country in the world to extend more extreme measures throughout its territory, aiming to combat this epidemic that has already left 463 dead and contaminated about 9,000 people.
On the other hand, Madrid’s supermarkets saw a massive movement of people looking to supply their stores with essential goods.
“It’s crazy”, the supermarket “is sold out”, admitted Clara Badena to AFP, a supermarket employee in the north of Madrid, where the shelves of canned goods and toilet paper were half empty.
The association representing large distribution (ANGED) ensured that the stores’ supply is “guaranteed” and, therefore, asked not to “disproportionately accumulate food and products”.
The Spanish government plans a new meeting on Thursday to analyze the situation and take further action, if necessary. Pedro Sánchez will meet this day with unions and employers’ organizations to discuss an economic “shock plan”, of which no details have been advanced.
In Spain, football is without public
The government has ordered all sports competitions to be played behind closed doors in the country, including football matches for teams in the first division, whose next two days will be played with empty stadium seats.
Companies have also been asked to adjust their workers’ schedules or authorize them to work from home.
In the most affected Spanish regions, such as Madrid, complementary measures were taken, such as the suspension of any public event in closed spaces that gather more than a thousand people.
This region, with 6.5 million inhabitants, announced on Monday the closure of all schools and universities from this Wednesday, for two weeks. Disinfection of metro, bus and train carriages is also planned.
The Spanish Parliament announced a week-long postponement of its plenary session, at a time when one of the leaders of the far-right Vox party, Javier Ortega-Smith, tested positive for the coronavirus.
Other events outside the most affected areas have also been suspended, such as the Malaga Festival, one of the most important meetings of the seventh art in Spain, which was due to start this Friday, as announced by its organizers.
Epidemic in China “practically contained”
China has also quarantined large numbers of people to stem the epidemic. In all, 50 million citizens had to stay in their homes in the province of Hubei, the epicenter of COVID-19, but Italy was the first to take measures of this magnitude across its territory.
Contrary to what happens in Italy, China, some restrictive measures were suspended this Tuesday, coinciding with President Xi Jinping’s visit to Wuhan. The city is the capital of Hubei province, where the epidemic started. Xi spoke with patients and doctors by videoconference, according to photos released by the local press.
The president considered that “the spread of the epidemic was practically contained”, and the local authorities announced a partial easing of the isolation imposed on the inhabitants of this province, isolated since the end of January.
This Tuesday, there were only 19 new cases of contagion in the country, a small number, compared to the hundreds announced in February.
In Europe, in addition to Italy, Spain is one of the most affected countries, with 1,622 contagions and 35 deaths. In the three most affected areas, the Madrid region, La Rioja and two municipalities in the Basque Country, classes were suspended for 15 days.
Just the beginning
Worldwide, countries are multiplying their measures to ease contagions. In Japan, authorities may confiscate buildings for use as hospitals. In Slovakia, church services were banned, and in the Czech Republic, schools were closed.
Iran has announced 54 deaths in the past 24 hours. This is the most serious daily death toll in the country, where the number of infections is over 8,000, and the death toll is 291.
“We are just at the beginning of this epidemic” in France, warned President Emmanuel Macron.
Follow here, at the minute, all the information about the new coronavirus in Portugal and in the world.
See below the interactive map with confirmed coronavirus cases so far
If you cannot see the map developed by Johns Hopkins University, proceed to this link.
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