Italy puts Milan region under lockdown
EXTREME MEASURES Saudi Arabia imposes a temporary lockdown on the eastern Qatif province even as WHO says that it was the first time that 100 countries were reporting coronavirus cases
ROME: Italy announced a sweeping quarantine early on Sunday, restricting the movements of about a quarter of its population in a bid to limit contagions and end the virus’ advance at the epicentre of Europe’s outbreak.
Shortly after midnight, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte signed a decree affecting about 16 million people in the country’s prosperous north, including the Lombardy region and at least 14 provinces in neighbouring regions. The extraordinary measures will be in place until April 3.
“For Lombardy and for the other northern provinces that I have listed there will be a ban for everybody to move in and out of these territories and also within the same territory,” Conte said.
Pope Francis expressed solidarity on Sunday with the victims of the novel coronavirus in his first livestreamed prayer and message from the Vatican.
“I am close through prayer with the people who suffer from the current coronavirus epidemic,” the 83-year-old pope said in a message recorded at the Vatican library and aired live on a screen on Saint Peter’s Square before a small crowd.
The Vatican said on Saturday that the pontiff was breaking with centuries of tradition and reverting to the use of streaming technology for his traditional Angelus Prayer at the request of the Italian authorities.
In West Asia, Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it has imposed a temporary lockdown on the eastern Qatif province, an oil-producing region and home to a large Shi’ite Muslim population, to prevent the spread of coronavirus after 11 people t here were infected.
All the individuals who had been diagnosed with the disease in the kingdom have either been to Iran or interacted with people who visited the Islamic Republic, home to major Shi’ite holy sites.
The Saudi interior ministry said in a statement that no one would be allowed to enter or exit Qatif. In Iran, fears over the virus and the government’s waning credibility has become a major challenge to leaders already reeling from American sanctions.
Iran’s health ministry on Sunday reported 49 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, the highest toll within 24 hours since the start of the outbreak in the country. “At least 194 of our compatriots who fell sick with the Covid-19 illness have passed away,” health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said in a televised news conference.
The outbreak of the virus in Iran is one of the deadliest outside of China, where the disease originated. Jahanpour added that 743 new infections were also confirmed within the past 24 hours, bringing the number of cases to 6,566 spread across all of Iran’s 31 provinces.
South Korea, the hardest-hit country outside China, reported on Sunday 272 new coronavirus cases, for a total of 7,313 in the country. Two further deaths took the toll to 50, it added.
The mayor of t he South Korean city Daegu, which has been hardest hit by that country’s coronavirus outbreak, expressed cautious hope on Sunday that the numbers of new cases may be dropping, after the rate of increase slowed to its lowest in 10 days. The increase in cases was lower than the same period a day before, though health officials have warned that numbers could fluctuate as more tests are processed.
US President Donald Trump said in a tweet that the White House has a “perfectly coordinated” plan to address the coronavirus. Trump earlier said he intends to continue holding large campaign rallies. Washington, DC, and Virginia reported their first cases, and Argentina its first death.
As of Sunday, about half of the world’s countries have reported cases of Covid-19, according to the World Health Organization. The global death count outside of China is edging toward 500.