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Coronavirus world live updates: Italy records most deaths in a single day, now in total lockdown

With a dense population of 1.3 billion, India is bracing for the worst. Today it tested its coronavirus preparedness with a nationwide shutdown.

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March 22, 2020 - 6:22PM
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Italy has announced a total lockdown after suffering its worst day of the coronavirus pandemic, with 793 new deaths and 6557 new confirmed cases.

Both of those totals blow past the country's previous records.

A total of 4825 people have now died in Italy, and 53,578 have caught the virus.

READ MORE: Follow the latest coronavirus updates

Italian PM Giuseppe Conte, in announcing the closures, said: "Today we decided to make one more step. The decision that has been taken by the government is to close on the whole territory of Italy any production activity that is not essential to provide us with goods and services of primary necessity."

He added that supermarkets, pharmacies, postal, and banking services will remain open, public transport will also be ensured.

The death toll from the global coronavirus pandemic has surpassed 12,000 people worldwide and sickened more than 291,000.

Traditional tourist magnets like London are eerily quiet. Presidential nominating contests in the U.S. are being pushed back, and a $1 trillion-plus U.S. economic rescue package is being negotiated. Organizers of the Tokyo Olympics are facing resistance from athletes who want the games postponed.

Angola has announced its first coronavirus case, bringing to at least 40 the number of African countries to report an infection. New York state now has more than 10,000 cases and is scrambling for medical equipment and hospital beds. Spain now has the third-highest number of infections worldwide. The first two cases of the coronavirus in the Gaza Strip have been discovered.

Follow our live, rolling coverage of the coronavirus pandemic below.

Live Updates

India institutes 'people's curfew'

The typically boisterous streets of India’s capital of New Delhi fell silent on Sunday as the country observed a 14-hour “people’s curfew”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for the brief lockdown in a national address to stem the rising coronavirus caseload.

Mr Modi asked Indians to stay at home but go out on their balconies at 5pm with pots and pans to cheer frontline health care workers.

Most businesses were expected to be closed on Sunday except for essential services like hospitals.

India has come to a stand-still during a one day curfew designed to test the country's preparedness. Picture: AFP


A road in New Delhi near a Sufi shrine where hundreds of pilgrims often camp was empty except for an occasional passing car.

While some Indian states had already issued stay-in-place orders, Sunday marked the first nationwide effort at social isolation practices the World Health Organization believes are critical to flattening the infection curve worldwide.

No commercial airplanes from abroad are allowed to land in India for a week starting Sunday, and four states sealed their borders to public and tourist buses.

Experts fear the worst for India due to its enormous population and dense cities. Picture: AFP


India’s Ministry of Health has reported 296 active cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, and four deaths.

India’s government has made fervent appeals to the public to practice social distancing and good hand hygiene.

However, experts have said community spread of the disease in a country of 1.3 billion people, where tens of millions live in dense urban areas with irregular access to clean water, is inevitable.
AP

Trump contacts Kim over coronavirus

President Donald Trump reportedly sent a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, seeking to maintain good relations and offering cooperation in fighting the viral pandemic.

The dictator’s sister Kim Yo Jong praised Mr Trump for the correspondence, which came at a time when “big difficulties and challenges lie ahead in the way of developing ties” between the countries.

In the letter, she said Trump explained his plan to “propel the relations between the two countries … and expressed his intent to render cooperation in the anti-epidemic work” in an apparent reference to the global coronavirus outbreak.

She said her brother expressed his gratitude for Trump’s letter.

The latest correspondence came as Kim observed the firing of tactical guided weapons over the weekend, drawing criticism from South Korea, as the nuclear talks remain deadlocked.

AFP

China reports no new local infections

The strict confinement measures follow the template set by China, as a lockdown imposed in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, appeared to have paid off.

China reported no new local infections for a third straight day Saturday, and the WHO said the central city of Wuhan, where the virus first emerged late last year, offered a glimmer of “hope for the rest of the world.”

But there are growing concerns of a new wave of “imported” infections in the region, with Hong Kong reporting 48 suspected cases on Friday – its biggest daily jump since the crisis began.

Coronavirus enters Africa

Africa’s cases of the coronavirus have risen above 1,000.

Angola announced its first cases, meaning at least 40 of Africa’s 54 countries are now affected.

Congo reported its first death and Burkina Faso reported two new ones – that country now has the most virus deaths of any country in sub-Saharan Africa.

The West African nation also has one of the highest caseloads on the continent with 64.

Somalia said it’s lifting its ban on international flights for two days so stranded citizens can come home.

Angola closed its air, land and sea borders this week. Botswana has suspended international travel by all government employees.

Spain 'third-highest number of infections worldwide'

Spain now has the third-highest number of infections worldwide, followed by the U.S.

Spanish health authorities have acknowledged that some intensive care units in the hardest-hit areas are close to their limit.

The army was building a field hospital with 5,500 beds in a convention center in Madrid, where hotels are also being turned into wards for virus patients without serious breathing problems.

Dr. Olga Mediano, who treated victims of a 2004 jihadist bomb attack in Madrid that killed nearly 200 people and wounded many more, said nothing prepared her for the national health tragedy Spain is now enduring.


“This cannot be withstood much longer,” Mediano said from Guadalajara.

“We are doubling up on our shifts. We have strategies to hang in there this week, but beyond that we need the situation to improve because we professionals are bearing a lot of pressure, including emotional.”

444 Canadians flown home in first rescue flight

Air Canada posted Sunday its first flight to bring Canadians home from Casablanca to Montreal.

It comes as Air Canada planned to temporarily lay off more than 5,000 flight attendants due to the new coronavirus pandemic, their union said Friday.

“This has been the most challenging time any of us will likely ever experience as flight attendants,” union president Wesley Lesosky said in a statement.

In a statement, it attributed the decision to lay off employees to the “rapid evolution” of the new coronavirus pandemic and the reduction in service it has caused.

“When conditions permit and service resumes, these employees will be recalled,” the airline said.

On Wednesday, the airline said it planned to gradually reduce its domestic and US transborder flights by March 31, after Canada temporarily closed its border with the United States to contain the spread of the virus.

Its international service has been reduced from 101 destinations to just six, while its cross-border operations have been cut to just 13 destinations from 53.

Air Canada continues to serve domestic destinations but has reduced to 40 airports from 62.

Boris Johnson's stark warning: 'UK will be next Italy'

British PM Boris Johnson says the UK is on track to become the next Italy and its health system will soon be "overwhelmed" in virus cases.

Mr Johnson warned the public the UK was "two to three weeks" behind Italy.

Mr Johnson said Britain will become like Italy unless people immediately follow social distancing orders in his starkest warning to the nation yet about what is coming.

"The numbers are very stark, and they are accelerating. The Italians have a superb health care system, and yet their doctors and nurses have been completely overwhelmed by the demand," he said.

"Unless we act together, unless we make the heroic and collective national effort to slow the spread, then it is all too likely that our own NHS will be similarly overwhelmed."

The British government is heightening its response to the new coronavirus, telling up to 1.5 million sick and vulnerable people to stay home and avoid contact with others for at least 12 weeks.

Fifty-three more people have died in the United Kingdom, bringing its death toll to 233.

That isn't as bad as Italy, where 793 people just died in 24 hours, but it's still the highest number Britain has recorded in one day.

There has also been an alarming spike in confirmed cases. Yesterday there were 3983. Now there are 5018.

Italian PM: New restrictions amid 'most difficult time since WWII'

Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has made an extraordinary speech to the beleagured nation announcing the immediate closure of all non-essential businesses, a total shutdown of the Italian economy and describing the crisis as "the most difficult since the end of World War Two".

The Prime Minister's speech to the nation has been described as a "dramatic late night communication".

Italy has just suffered its worst day of the pandemic, with 793 new deaths and 6557 new confirmed cases.

Both of those totals blow past the country's previous records.

A total of 4825 people have now died in Italy, and 53,578 have caught the virus.

Prime Minister Conte announced further countrywide lockdowns on all factories that aren't "necessary" to close.

He said all supermarkets, pharmacies and banks will remain open.

Tobacco shops will also close.

How social distancing works

This is a great example from the South China Morning Post about how social distancing stops the spread of the virus. Check it out.

Sharp increase in United States

The United States has also seen its numbers rise sharply.

There are 22,397 confirmed cases there, up from 9259 just three days ago, and 278 people have died.

Today President Donald Trump continued to tout a combination of drugs as a treatment for the coronavirus, calling it potentially "one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine" – despite warnings from his own government's experts that it's unproven.

Mr Trump tweeted that the drugs – hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin – should be "put in use IMMEDIATELY". Emphasis his, not mine.

At a press conference earlier this week, Mr Trump incorrectly said hydroxychloroquine had been approved by America's Food and Drug Administration, which regulates drugs.

Infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci, standing next to Mr Trump, had to step in with words of caution.

"We're trying to strike a balance between making something with a potential of an effect to the American people available, at the same time that we do it under the auspices of a protocol that would give us information to determine if it's truly safe and effective," Dr Fauci said.

New York state officials are considering establishing temporary hospitals on college campuses and in New York City’s main convention center in preparation for a possible onslaught of coronavirus patients, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

Cuomo said the government is seeking to increase hospital bed capacity by 50 percent – up to 25,000 more beds. Officials have also identified 2 million protective masks to send to hot spots.

The state is reviewing four possible locations for temporary hospitals, which would be operated by the Army Corps of Engineers. The governor also said 1 million N-95 masks are being sent to New York City on Saturday, with another 500,000 masks going to Long Island. He is also trying to find a supplier for more gowns, and clothing companies are converting to make masks.

“Everything that can be done is being done,” he said, adding, ‘We are literally scouring the globe looking for medical supplies.”

New York has seen about 10,400 coronavirus cases, and about 1,600 people hospitalized. Spread of the rapidly advancing virus has strained health care systems across the globe, and three American states with a combined population of 70 million are moving to restrict residents to their homes to prevent its spread.

California started restricting residents Friday, and New York and Illinois were to follow this weekend. Connecticut and Oregon were preparing to do the same.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/coronavirus-world-live-updates/live-coverage/0f195d52233bfc38b22f5d15c81b50e0