European countries boost defences as virus spreads
UK may bring doctors out of retirement; France shuts Louvre museum, famed Church; Germany cases jump to 117; Italy prepares deficit hike to tackle virus impact
European nations on Sunday rolled out bans on big gatherings and stricter travel restrictions as cases of the new coronavirus spread around the world.
Britain announced a jump in Coronavirus cases on Sunday, with 12 new infections taking the total to 35, as health minister Matt Hancock said the government was preparing for the global epidemic to get worse.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will chair a meeting of the government’s emergency response committee on Monday, signalling a stepping up in attempts to tackle a virus that began in China, where authorities estimate it has killed almost 3,000 people worldwide.
“We’ve got a clear strategy for dealing with Coronavirus - a very, very significant challenge,” Hancock told Sky News. “We’re also planning in case this gets worse, much worse.”
If the virus becomes more widespread, the government will look at registering retired health workers to work again, and whether encouraging people to work at home could delay its peak until summer when it can be more easily dealt with.
Chief Medical Office Chris Whitty said that as of 0900 GMT there had been 12 new positive tests in Britain, bringing the total to 35.
The Louvre in Paris, the world’s most visited museum, closed to visitors on Sunday after staff refused to work due to Coronavirus fears, unions and management said.
Around 300 staff met in the morning and voted “almost unanimously” not to open, Christian Galani of the CGT labour union told AFP, leaving many would-be visitors disappointed.
The Louvre, near the banks of the Seine river in central Paris, received 9.6 million visitors last year, most of them foreigners including Americans, Chinese and Europeans.
Louvre management later confirmed the museum was closed for the entire day, and said it would refund ticket-holders.
The French community church in Rome, St. Louis of the French, closed its doors to the public on Sunday after a priest was infected with a new virus.
The church in the historic center of Rome is famous for three paintings by the Baroque master Caravaggio, making it a destination for tourists and the faithful alike.
Italy will introduce this week measures worth 3.6 billion euros ($3.5 billion) to help the economy withstand the largest outbreak of Coronavirus in Europe, Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri said on Sunday.
Italy has registered more than 1,100 confirmed cases of Coronavirus since the contagion came to light in wealthy northern regions on Feb. 20 and at least 29 people have died.
The number of confirmed Coronavirus cases in Germany has jumped to 117 from 66, the Robert Koch Institute for disease control said on Sunday.
A German government crisis committee has widened cross-border travel guidelines and cancelled major international events, and the health minister has advised people with cold symptoms to stay away from mass events.
More than half of the cases are in North Rhine-westphalia, Germany’s most populous state where several schools and daycare centres will be closed on Monday to try to prevent the spread of the virus after staff members tested positive.
The Czech Republic has confirmed its first three cases of Coronavirus, with all the patients having travelled from northern Italy, Health Minister Adam Vojtech said on Sunday.
Health officials said the patients - two Czechs and an American student who studied in Milan - showed mild symptoms. Two were in Prague and the third in the city of Usti nad Labem, 90 km north of the capital.
Vojtech warned against unnecessary travel to regions in northern Italy that have seen the highest number of cases in Europe.
Two high school classes and their teachers have been quarantined in Switzerland after a student tested positive for the deadly new Coronavirus, regional authorities said Sunday.
The move at the Bienne technical high school marks the first measures against COVID-19 that affect a school in Switzerland, where over 20 people have tested positive since a first case emerged less than a week ago.