WHO hails Italy’s “courageous” measures, a “real sacrifice”

The epidemic due to the new coronavirus, which now affects more than 100,000 people worldwide, is spreading and is forcing authorities to take extra precautions.

The accelerated spread of the virus is considered “very worrying“by the World Health Organization (WHO): a total of 94 countries are now affected by Covid-19, which has killed more than 3,500 people worldwide.

►►► Read also : All the info on the coronavirus

►►► Also read: 200 cases detected in total in Belgium, a limited number of tests carried out due to lack of reagents

Italy: 10 million people in quarantine

In this context,Italy will close large areas of the north to fight the spread of the new coronavirus, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said early Sunday, Ansa news agency reported. The measure was qualified as “courageous“by the WHO who sees in this decision a”real sacrifice“.

The regions concerned are Lombardy, including the city of Milan, as well as the provinces of Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna, Rimini, Pesaro and Urbino, as well as Alessandria, Asti, Novara, Verbano Cusio Ossola, Vercelli , Padua, Trevise and Veneto.

In total, more than 10 million people are affected by the measure. The Italian Prime Minister was forced on Sunday to confirm the extension of the quarantined areas after the news leaked on Saturday evening in several Italian media.

►►► Read also : What are the rules for quarantined Italians?

Fifth most affected country, the France now has 16 deaths and 949 cases, with five additional deaths announced on Saturday evening.

The China 28 new deaths were announced on Saturday, bringing the total death toll to 3,070 in the country, and said a further increase in the number of cases outside central Hubei province where the virus first appeared in December.

At the same time, the number of infections confirmed in South Korea has exceeded 7,000 Saturdays, making it the most affected country outside of China. Follows theIran, where 21 new deaths and 1,076 infections in the past 24 hours were recorded, bringing the total to 145 deaths and 5,823 contaminations.

The island of Malta and the Paraguay announced a first contamination on Saturday, while the archipelago of Maldives detected its first two cases among the staff of a luxury hotel on an island 150 km from the capital Male.

New York State Emergency

To the United States, expansion of the epidemic worries: the virus was detected on 21 people aboard the Grand Princess, a cruise ship maintained off the coast of California, after the discovery of symptoms in some of its 3533 passengers and members of crew, according to US Vice President Mike Pence.

Two people also died of coronavirus in Florida, the first American victims outside the west coast, announced the health authorities of this state in the southeast of the United States.

On the East Coast, New York State has declared a state of emergency to speed up the fight against the disease.

Cancellations of events

As a reflection of the authorities’ concern, sports events and rallies continue to be canceled or postponed: the Barcelona marathon scheduled for March 15 will finally be held on October 25. Hungary has canceled the celebration of the national holiday, scheduled for March 15 in Budapest.

In Canada, the Women’s World Ice Hockey Championships, scheduled to take place from March 31 to April 10, have been canceled.

In Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, Ryad has decided to reopen the esplanade surrounding the Kaaba, the holiest place in Islam, located in the heart of the Great Mosque in Mecca.

Thirteen countries have closed their schools: 300 million students worldwide are out of school for several weeks.

For the World Tourism Organization, the number of tourists in the world should drop by 1 to 3% in 2020, a loss “30 to 50 billion dollars“.

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