Jeddah sealed off, curfew extended in new moves to curb virus spread
KSA deaths double to 8 Pope calls for global cease-fire US fatalities ‘could reach 200,000’
Saudi authorities banned entry to and exit from Jeddah on Sunday and extended the daily curfew in the city by four hours in the latest measures to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.
Jeddah residents must now be at home and off the streets from 3 p.m. every day, in line with restrictions already in place in Riyadh, Makkah and Madinah.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Kingdom rose by 96 on Sunday to 1,299. The death toll doubled from four to eight, with two new fatalities in Jeddah and two in Madinah. A further 29 patients have made full recoveries, taking the total to 66. The capacity of the Saudi health care system was under constant review and emergency plans were ready to be implemented if necessary, said Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Mohammed AlAbd Al-Aly.
As the number of infections worldwide reached more than 700,000 and the death toll exceeded 33,500, Pope Francis called on Sunday for a global cease-fire so the world can focus on fighting the pandemic.
Speaking at his weekly blessing, delivered from the official papal library instead of St. Peter’s Square because of the lockdown in Italy, the pope appealed to everyone to “stop every form of bellicose hostility and favor the creation of corridors for humanitarian help, diplomatic efforts and attention to those who find themselves in situations of great vulnerability.” Francis also appealed to authorities to be sensitive to the particular problem coronavirus poses in prisons around the world, many of them overcrowded. He said the prison situation “could become a tragedy.” Prisoners have rioted in a number of countries, including Italy.
About a third of the world’s coronavirus deaths have been in Italy, where the toll approached 11,000 on Sunday, making an extension of a national lockdown almost certain.
Confirmed cases in Italy stood at 97,689, the second-highest number of cases in the world behind the US.
The US coronavirus death toll topped 2,300 on Sunday, after deaths on Saturday more than doubled from two days before. The US has now recorded more than 130,000 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. Coronavirus deaths in the US could reach 200,000 with millions of cases, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the country’s top immunologist. New York, New Orleans and other major cities pleaded for more medical supplies.
New York state reported nearly 60,000 cases and a total of 965 deaths on Sunday, up 237 in the past 24 hours with one person dying in the state every six minutes. President Donald Trump backtracked on earlier suggestions that he could place the entire state in quarantine.
In China, where the coronavirus outbreak began in December, a growing number of new imported cases risked fanning a second wave of infections.
China had an accumulated total of 693 cases entering from overseas, nearly a quarter of arriving in Beijing.”The capital still bears the brunt of the risks,” government spokesman Xu Hejian said. “There’s no reason to lie back and relax yet. It’s not a time when we can say everything is going well.”
INSIDE
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exploit virus fears •Business
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to step up controls •Iran
death toll hits 2,640 •Breathing
space for Hashd •Wealth
funds shed stocks •Egypt
banking curbs •Ronaldo,
Juventus gesture