Number of daily cases in Europe outstrips China total at its peak

Hard-hit countries take tough action as WHO chief says continent is now epicentre of coronavirus

EUROPE is at the core of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organisation confirmed yesterday, with the continent reporting more daily cases than China at the height of its outbreak.

“Europe has now become the epicentre,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a virtual press conference, describing the more-than5,000 deaths worldwide from around 134,000 cases as “a tragic milestone”.

Maria Van Kerkhove, who heads the WHO’S emerging diseases unit, said he couldn’t predict how the pandemic will develop. “It’s impossible for us to say when this will peak globally. We hope that it is sooner rather than later.”

The announcement came as countries around the continent stepped up drastic measures to slow the virus’s progress.

Spain, Europe’s worst-hit country after Italy, is to declare a state of emergency for the next 15 days starting today as cases soared to 4,209 by midday yesterday, up from 2,968 on Thursday, while the death toll rose to 120 from 84.

Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish prime minister, said the move would give the government special powers to requisition property and equipment and limit the right to freedom of movement anywhere in Spain.

Mr Sánchez, who said the number of people testing positive could reach 10,000 by next week, warned that the country was “only in the first phase of the battle”.

“Heroism is also washing your hands and staying home,” he said, referring to health advice to slow the propagation of the virus.

Some 62 countries have taken protective steps against arrivals from Spain, ranging from bans on all flights to quarantine and isolation requirements.

The Foreign Office advised Britons to avoid non-essential travel to Madrid, La Rioja and several towns and cities across the country.

Spain’s government banned all cruise ships from docking at its ports.

In neighbouring Italy, the number of cases hit 17,660, a 17 per cent increase. The death toll jumped in the last 24 hours by 250 to 1,266, a rise of 25 per cent and the largest increase in absolute terms since the start of the outbreak.

Another 18 people died from the coronavirus in France over the last 24 hours, bringing deaths from the virus to 79.

The total number of people infected with the virus also jumped to 3,661 from 2,876 Thursday evening.

In Paris, the Louvre, the world’s most popular museum, the Musée d’orsay, and the Moulin Rouge cabaret announced they were closing “until further notice”. The Palace of Versailles – France’s other big tourist attraction, with nearly 10 million tourists a year – swiftly followed suit, followed later by the Eiffel Tower.

The closures came after the French government banned all gatherings of over 100 people to limit the spread of the virus.

With global concern mounting, France announced that the G7 would hold an extraordinary meeting via video-conference next Monday to coordinate action against the virus in the spheres of health, economy, finance and research.

Mr Macron also suggested that the

European Union reinforce border control in the visa-free Schengen area or even close them in heavily affected or high-risk areas.

As nations scrambled to support faltering economies, the Swiss government announced it would make 10billion Swiss francs available in immediate assistance to support businesses hit by coronavirus.

It will also impose checks on all borders and close schools until at least Apr 4, it said, as the number of confirmed cases of the flu-like virus in Switzerland and Liechtenstein surpassed 1,000.

The government also banned events with more than 100 people, tightening existing curbs.

Greece, meanwhile, said it would shut down shopping malls, cafes and bars after confirmed cases jumped to 190, health authorities said yesterday.

The WHO chief said such measures could help, but would not “stop this on their own” and that countries must take “a comprehensive approach.”

“You can’t fight a virus if you don’t know where it is,” he said, calling on countries to “find, isolate, test and treat every case, to break the chains of transmission.”

“Every case we find and treat limits the expansion of the disease,” he said. “Do not just let this fire burn.

“Any country that looks at the experience of other countries with large epidemics and thinks ‘that won’t happen to us’ is making a deadly mistake.”