Coronavirus spreads to over 60 countries; France closes Louvre, UK to implement ‘social distancing’

The number of cases in Italy surge 50 per cent in 24 hours as France closes the world-famous Louvre Museum.

People walk by the now-closed Louvre museum, in Paris, on Sunday.

Britain was preparing to implement a “social distancing” policy after a second case of community spread of the coronavirus emerged in the UK.

Coronavirus cases surged in Italy, and France closed the world-famous Louvre Museum as the deadly outbreak that began in China sent fear rising across Europe, threatening its tourism industry.

The number of countries hit by the virus climbed past 60, and the death toll worldwide reached at least 3000. More than 88,000 around the globe have been infected, with the virus popping up on every continent but Antarctica

As the number of positive coronavirus cases in Britain jumped to 35, authorities were concerned that at least two sufferers had not travelled recently and appeared to have caught the virus in the community. One of the victims came from Surrey, the other from Sussex.

Of the new cases on Sunday, it emerged two had recently returned from Iran, where the outbreak of coronavirus appears to be under-reported.

Two schools in England have also closed after staff members had tested positive. One of the schools had a staff member just returned from Italy, where the virus has spread further, with nearly 1700 people confirmed with the virus and the death toll in that country reaching 34.

The Italian numbers are particularly concerning as it represents a one day jump of around 50 per cent: up from 1128 to 1694 in 24 hours. Ten days ago, Italy had just three cases.

Italian officials said of the 1694 people who had the virus, 639 were in hospital, including 140 in intensive care, mostly in the region of Lombardy.

Italy’s economic minister Roberto Gualtieri has promised a €3.6bn emergency package to help the economy, including deferring electricity and tax payments and helping small and medium businesses funds to support workers who are impacted by the crisis or have their hours cut. The tourism industry, which has been badly impacted, will also receive support.

France raised its number of reported cases to 130, an increase of 30 from the day before, and said it has seen two deaths.

The Louvre, home of the Mona Lisa and other priceless artworks, closed after workers expressed fear of being contaminated by the stream of visitors from around the world. Staffers were also concerned about museum workers from Italy who had come to the Louvre to collect works by Leonardo da Vinci that were loaned for an exhibition.

The Louvre, the world’s most popular museum, received 9.6 million visitors last year, almost three-quarters of them from abroad. “We are very worried because we have visitors from everywhere,” said Andre Sacristin, a Louvre employee and union representative. “The risk is very, very, very great.” While there are no known infections among the museum’s 2300 workers, “it’s only a question of time,” he said.

The shutdown followed a government decision to ban indoor public gatherings of more than 5000 people. The Paris half-marathon was also abandoned.

Boris Johnson visits the command centre at the Public Health England National Infection Service. Picture: AP

Meanwhile in Britain, Mr Johnson toured the Public Health England National Infection Service in Colindale, north London on Sunday afternoon. He said the country “had a great plan” and he was confident the National Health Service could cope.

He confirmed that the government was looking into the next steps of containing the spread of the virus. “There’ll be questions we might need to consider about very big public events,” he said, ahead of hosting an emergency Cobra meeting that will determine if the country follows France’s lead in banning any gathering of 5000 people. Britain is also considering measures taken in Switzerland, where indoor gatherings of more than 1000 people have also been banned.

Mr Johnson also said the government may need to consider closing schools but he did not want children to be sent home “unnecessarily”.

“Coronavirus is of concern, but we amply have the resources to deal with it. Believe me, we are going to beat this,” he said.

With agencies