Several states ban mass events and close schools, as infection and death rates fall in China

This article is more than 6 months old

This article is more than 6 months old

European countries have scrambled to enact tough measures aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus as an unprecedented nationwide lockdown imposed by the Italian government won praise from the EU.

As the rate of new infections and deaths continued to fall in China and South Korea, multiple European countries outlawed mass public events and announced bans on people entering their territories from virus-affected states.

Austria’s chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, imposed a travel ban on all arrivals from Italy by car, train or plane, except for medical emergencies. Outdoor gatherings of more than 500 people, and indoor events with more than 100, were also banned.

Spain, which reported 35 deaths and 1,622 confirmed cases on Tuesday, shut schools in several regions, including the capital, Madrid; suspended flights from Italy; and closed the lower house of parliament for at least a week after an MP tested positive.

In Germany, which has 1,295 coronavirus patients and where two people have died, Berlin authorities announced the closure of all theatres, concert halls and opera houses until at least the end of the Easter holidays. The capital also became the seventh of Germany’s 16 states to ban gatherings of 1,000 people or more.

Greece, which has 89 confirmed cases, announced the nationwide closure of schools and universities; Poland, which has reported 17 infections and no deaths, cancelled all mass events; and the Czech Republic, with 40 cases, closed schools indefinitely and has banned all events involving more than 100 people.

Denmark blocked all air traffic from the hardest hit countries; Romania and Slovenia banned gatherings of more than 1,000 and 100 people respectively; Ireland cancelled St Patrick’s Day parades and Belgium’s prime minister, Sophie Wilmès, recommended indoor events with more than 1,000 people be postponed and told people to work from home if possible.

In the US, which has so far reported 26 deaths and 605 confirmed infections, New York’s governor said he was sending the national guard into a New York City suburb to help fight what is thought to be the nation’s biggest cluster of coronavirus cases. Schools, houses of worship and large gathering places in New Rochelle are to close for two weeks.

“It is a dramatic action, but the numbers are going up unabated and we do need a special public health strategy,” said governor Andrew Cuomo. There was alarm in Washington after at least two Republican politicians who had recently met the president announced they were going into self-quarantine after potentially being exposed to the virus.

In other developments:

The coronavirus has now infected more than 116,000 people and killed more than 4,000 worldwide.

The leaders of the EU 27 agreed to fund researchers developing a vaccine for the virus, allow greater flexibility for member states to subsidise hard-hit companies, and pledged to invest €25bn in parts of the economy devastated by the epidemic.

A number of universities, including Harvard, NYU and Trinity College Dublin, have closed their premises to students and moved lectures online.

Iran’s health ministry reported 881 new cases and 54 deaths in the past 24 hours, both record figures. Confirmed cases are now at 8,042, with 291 dead.

Hong Kong is to quarantine all visitors from Italy and affected parts of France, Germany and Japan for two weeks from 13 March.

Weeks before Passover and Easter, Israel announced it would quarantine anyone arriving from overseas for 14 days.

International financial markets stabilised on Tuesday amid hopes governments would act to protect their economies.

Lebanon, Panama, Mongolia, Burkina Faso, northern Cyprus and the Democratic Republic of the Congo all confirmed their first cases.

On Monday night Italy’s prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, announced that the entire country would be covered by restrictions that “can be summarised as follows: I stay at home”, with all travel banned unless justified on professional or health grounds.

Ministers said on Tuesday that Italians could get a “holiday” from mortgage payments under a raft of measures to ease the economic blow from the lockdown.

The EU praised Italy’s “very courageous measures” on Tuesday and pledged to do all in its power to help. Valdis Dombrovskis, the European commission’s executive vice-president, said the steps would “put a great strain on the Italian people, but it’s better to take them now to protect as many as possible”.

The total of 10,149 cases in the country (which include 631 deaths and 1,004 people who have since recovered) amount to the biggest outbreak after China. The country’s Patient 1 – the first to be diagnosed with the illness – was now breathing on his own again, officials said on Monday.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron said the country was “only at the beginning of this epidemic”, as authorities confirmed there had been 30 deaths and 1,606 confirmed infections.

The country has already banned all gatherings of more than 1,000 people, but with only a fraction of the number of deaths reported in Italy, it has thus far held off from introducing the draconian measures ordered by Rome.

Chinese authorities said 19 new cases had been recorded in the previous 24 hours, the lowest total since 20 January. President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan, the centre of the epidemic, on Tuesday, seemingly eager to demonstrate how the quarantine measures that are still largely in place were paying off.

China has registered a total of 80,754 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 3,136 deaths. But as authorities continued to record a slowdown in new cases, the last of 14 makeshift hospitals that were opened during the past six weeks was closed, and restrictions beyond Hubei province were easing, with people returning to work, and factories and some schools reopening.

Progress was also reported in South Korea, with authorities on Tuesday declaring 131 new infections, the lowest figure for a fortnight, taking the total to 7,513. Three more deaths took the country’s death toll to 54.

Yoon Tae-ho, of South Korea’s central disaster management headquarters, said the rate of increase was “coming to a standstill” but that the virus was still spreading, and advised against any relaxation of containment efforts.