How other countries are coping with the pandemic

THE coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 800,000 people worldwide and more than 38,000 deaths have been recorded.

The World Health Organisation warns that while attention has shifted to epicentres in Western Europe and North America, Covid-19 epidemics are “far from over” in Asia and the Pacific.

Here is the latest on the situation from around the world:

■■INDONESIA Authorities plan to release 30,000 prisoners to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Law and Human Rights Ministry spokesman Bambang Wiyono said the department has issued a decree to regulate the release of adult prisoners who have served two-thirds of their sentences, and half of the sentence for children prisoners.

The ministry recorded 270,386 prisoners across the country while the capacity of the prisons is only 131,931.

■■LITHUANIA

The Vilnius municipality has started using drones to patrol the skies over the Lithuanian capital as authorities try to prevent citizens from gathering in public.

IT adviser Egle Radvilaite said seven unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with loudspeakers had been launched and dozens more are expected to join the enforcement task.

The drones are operating daily from 9am to 6pm over parks, squares and other places where people gather to enforce restrictions banning crowds of more than five people.

■■RUSSIA

The country registered 500 confirmed cases yesterday in the biggest spike since the beginning of the outbreak, bringing Russia’s total to 2,337.

The report comes as Moscow edges closer to declaring a state of emergency, with many regions and cities ordering lockdowns and sweeping self-isolation protocols.

The capital has been on lockdown since Monday, with similar regimes in place in more than 30 Russian regions.

■■DENMARK

Prime minister Mette Frederiksen said Denmark could start lifting some restrictions next month if the coronavirus curve continues to flatten out.

She said that if Danes continue to stand together – at a distance – the government will consider gradually opening up in two weeks.

She underlined that the crisis is far from over but there is growing evidence that Denmark, which started a gradual lockdown on March 11, had “succeeded in delaying the infection”, adding it gave “a rise to optimism”. cases are now above 5,000.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says 48 of the continent’s 54 countries now have cases, with 5,255 in all, and 173 deaths.

But shortages of testing materials mean the real number of cases could be higher.

South Africa’s president on Monday night announced that the country, which has the most cases in Africa with 1,326, will launch a mass screening and testing programme with about 10,000 field workers going door-to-door.

Sierra Leone has announced its first case. Sierra Leone was one of the three nations hit hard from 2014-16 by the Ebola outbreak, which killed more than 11,000 people.

■■SOUTH KOREA

Seoul said it will send two flights to evacuate more than 500 citizens and their families from Italy, where the outbreak has killed more than 11,000 people.

South Korea has been strengthening border controls to prevent the virus from re-entering the country amid broadening outbreaks in Europe, North America and beyond.

■■JAPAN

Tokyo has extended its highest travel warnings to 49 countries, including the US, Canada and Britain, as well as all of China and South Korea.

The country is urging Japanese citizens not to visit places where infections are escalating, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also said returnees and visitors from those nations will be tested at airports when they arrive and requested to selfquarantine at home or designated facilities for 14 days.

The number of confirmed cases among people arriving at Tokyo’s international airports has surged recently, officials said, citing them as the main sources of infections in Japan.

Japan now has about 2,700 confirmed cases, including 712 from a cruise ship, with 67 deaths.

■■MEXICO

The government has broadened its shutdown of “non-essential activities” to the private sector and prohibited gatherings of more than 50 people.

The one-month emergency measures will be in effect until April 30.

The move came as the number of confirmed cases reached 1,094, with 28 deaths.

Health undersecretary Hugo Lopez-Gatell said Mexicans would be urged to stay off the streets for a month, but announced no sanctions.

Mexico will ask older people at greater risk to stay home, even if they work in so-called essential sectors like health care or law enforcement.