COUNTRIES CLOSING BORDERS
Europe becomes epicentre of Covid19 pandemic, Trump declares emergency
PRESIDENT Donald Trump declared a national state of emergency as the World Health Organisation named Europe the new epicentre of the coronavirus, with countries sealing borders, shutting schools and cancelling events in a frenzied attempt to slow the ballooning pandemic.
Saudi Arabia said it would suspend international flights while Russia announced plans to close its land borders with Poland and Norway to foreigners as Covid-19 spreads relentlessly worldwide.
“To unleash the full power of the federal government, I’m officially declaring a national emergency,” Trump said, announcing US$50 billion in federal funds to battle the contagion.
The measure came as infections and deaths soared in Europe, with WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying the continent now had “more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined, apart from China”.
He described it as a “tragic milestone”, and warned it was impossible to say when the virus would peak globally.
The overall death toll jumped to more than 5,000, including nearly 1,500 in Europe, with infections topping 140,000 internationally, according to an AFP tally based on official sources.
Italy, Spain as well as Iran — which have emerged as virus hotspots — all clocked a dramatic rise in cases and fatalities in the past 24 hours, while infections were reported in Kenya and Ethiopia, the first in east Africa.
Trump said the US would buy large quantities of crude oil for strategic reserves and waived student loan interest during the crisis, stressing that the “next eight weeks were critical”.
The US House of Representatives yesterday overwhelmingly passed a virus relief package for Americans hit by the outbreak. Leaders of the G7, the richest economies, will hold an extraordinary summit via videoconference tomorrow.
Covid-19 has spread even as cases in Asia have levelled out in recent days.
South Korea, once grappling with the largest outbreak outside China, saw newly recovered patients exceed fresh infections for the first time and the lowest number of cases for three weeks.
China this week claimed “the peak” of the pandemic had passed its shores although it still has the biggest overall number of deaths and infections.
Beijing reported just 11 infections yesterday and, for first time since the start of the outbreak, the majority of them were imported cases from overseas.
Italy, the hardest-hit country in Europe, recorded its highest oneday toll with 250 deaths over the past 24 hours, while Spain declared a state of alert after its infections raced past 3,000.
A raft of European countries shut their borders to foreigners, closed businesses and museums, and banned public gatherings.
France, the most visited country, closed the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre over what President Emmanuel Macron called “the worst health crisis in a century”.