World powers on ‘war footing’
ROME: World powers were on a war footing against the spiralling coronavirus pandemic yesterday despite a sign of hope from China where zero new domestic cases were reported for the first time.
Italy extended its lockdown after suffering the world’s highest single-day death toll while Europe and the United States unleashed nearly a trillion dollars to prop up the teetering global economy.
Across the planet, the death toll has risen to over 9,000 with more than 217,000 infections reported, according to an AFP tally based on official sources.
“I view (myself ) as a, in a sense, a wartime president. I mean, that’s what we’re fighting,” Donald Trump said on Wednesday as he announced the deployment of military hospital ships to treat a fast-growing number of American patients.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel took a similar tone, echoing French President Emmanuel Macron who earlier this week compared the battle to war as he ordered his citizens to stay home.
“Not since the Second World War has our country faced a challenge that depends so much on our collective solidarity,“Merkel said in a television address.
Dire news came out of Italy on Wednesday, which reported 475 new deaths, the highest single-day toll of any country, despite having imposed a national shutdown on March 12 that has been copied around the world.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the lockdown would be prolonged to April 3, shattering hopes that Italy’s methods might herald a quick end to the crisis.
“We will not be able to return immediately to life as it was before,” he said.
There were 4,100 coronavirus related deaths in Europe – exceeding the 3,400 fatalities in Asia.
Trump signed a US$100 billion (RM441 billion) emergency aid package that sailed through Congress to provide free Covid-19 testing for those who need it, sick pay and paid family leave.
Trump also invoked a Korean War-era law that allows the government to compel businesses to sign contracts – which can be used to expand production of necessities such as protective masks.
Canada and the US said on Wednesday they were closing their border – the world’s longest – to all but essential travellers for 30 days.
The European Union this week imposed a 30-day ban on travellers from outside the bloc.
Within the bloc, some countries have sealed borders while bars, restaurants and most shops have closed until further notice, bringing life in Europe’s normally bustling cities to a halt.
The Eurovision song contest and football tournaments have been suspended.
The first reported infection on the tiny Pacific island of Fiji and the first confirmed coronavirus death in Sub-Saharan Africa highlighted how the battles had only begun in other parts of the world.
World Health Organisation director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to “come together as one against a common enemy: an enemy against humanity”.
He sounded a special alarm for Africa, saying the continent must “wake up” and prepare for the worst.
The Sub-Saharan Africa fatality was in Burkina Faso, with the death of the first-vice president of parliament.
A slew of Latin American countries announced night-time curfews, with Chile declaring a “state of catastrophe” and Cuba and Costa Rica recording their first deaths. – AFP