Spain reports 1,500 new cases
MADRID: Spain confirmed more than 1,500 new cases of the novel coronavirus outbreak between Friday and Saturday, raising its total to 5,753 cases, the secondhighest number in Europe after Italy. The country was expected to declare a state of emergency on Saturday to try to mobilise resources to combat the virus, which has so far killed 136 people in Spain.
RUSSIA SHUTS BORDERS WITH POLAND, NORWAY MOSCOW: Russia will close its land borders with Poland and Norway to foreigners in a bid to limit the spread of the new coronavirus, the country’s prime minister said on Saturday.
The ban will come into force at midnight on Sunday and apply to all foreigners who are travelling
“for professional, private, study or tourist reasons”, apart from Belarusians, members of official delegations and residents of Russia, said the country’s prime minister Mikhail Mishustin in a statement.
SWISS ARMY TO HELP IN FIGHT AGAINST VIRUS GENEVA: Switzerland’s armed forces said on Saturday that the army is prepared to deploy to help in the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic, which has infected more than 1,000 people in the country. The army will as of Monday deploy one of its four hospital battalions, army chief Thomas Sussli said in a tweet.
The battalion will be carry out a “special service towards the security and protection of us all”, he wrote.
He pointed out that more than 90% of the personnel in Switzerland’s hospital battalions “work in other professions, but have civilian-recognised, military-acquired basic care training”.
Switzerland’s army spokesman Daniel Reist told AFP that the battalion, made up of between 500 and 600 people, will be prepared to support work at hospit al s across t he c ountry if requested. “There has not yet been a request,” he said.
T h e a r my h a s a l r e a d y deployed 23 people to support two hospitals in Switzerland’s southern Ticino region.