Merkel in quarantine as her GP tests positive
GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel was placed in quarantine last night after her doctor tested positive for coronavirus.
Ms Merkel, 65, was told of the threat after she invoked a nationwide ban on public meetings of more than two people outside of work.
She has not tested positive but on Friday she received a precautionary vaccine against pneumococcal infection from the infected medic and will now work from home.
It came as Spanish opera singer Placido Domingo tested positive for the virus, forcing his entire family into quarantine.
The 79-year-old – one of the fabled Three Tenors along with Jose Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti – fell ill with a fever and coughing.
Last night, he joined the calls for people to stay home, saying: “Together we can fight this virus and stop the current worldwide crisis, so we can hopefully return to our normal daily lives very soon.
Stranded
“Please follow your Government’s guidelines and regulations for staying safe and protecting not just yourselves but our entire community.”
The deadly virus has also infected backpackers partying at Australia’s famous Bondi Beach, who defied orders to isolate.
The nationalities of the tourists have not been disclosed but a spokesman for New South Wales Health said: “Several new diagnoses have been made in backpackers.
“There were two recent parties that some of the cases attended and where they may have acquired infections. People who also attended these parties should be on alert for symptoms and immediately isolate themselves if any symptoms develop.”
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office said British tourists stranded in Peru will be repatriated on rescue flights this week.
Around 400 UK nationals are stuck in the South American country after it closed its borders and stopped all flights because of the outbreak.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab secured permission for a UK flight to leave Peru this week, with officials working to arrange further flights in the coming days.
Mr Raab said: “I had a good conversation with my opposite number Gustavo Meza-Cuadra and amid all the challenges of tackling coronavirus we committed to working together to enable UK nationals in Peru and Peruvian nationals in the UK to return home.”
A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office added: “We are working around the clock to make flights available [this week] for British people who wish to leave Peru but who are currently unable to do so on commercial flights because of the travel restrictions that have been imposed.” Meanwhile, more than 8,000 Britons were evacuated from Morocco after British Ambassador Thomas Reilly negotiated an extension to the air space closure deadline.
It will give Britons more time to secure places on flights out of North Africa.
Mr Raab added: “In just three days 45 flights have taken home 8,340 passengers.
“I want to praise the fortitude of British nationals waiting in mammoth queues to buy tickets home.
“I also want to thank Moroccan
staff at the airport. Working at the Foreign Office brings a range of challenges, and the scale of this one’s certainly been unprecedented.
“We will not rest until we have got them all home.”
Elsewhere, Italy has banned travel within the country in another attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus.
Figures released yesterday showed a further 651 people died from the disease in a death toll that now stands at 5,476.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he would freeze all nonessential business activity after previous measures failed to peg back the contagion.
It emerged a month ago in the wealthy north before slowly advancing southwards.
Spain is restricting entry for most foreigners at air and sea ports for the next 30 days to help stem its coronavirus epidemic.
The ban comes days after the country imposed restrictions on land borders with neighbouring France and Portugal.
It also commissioned a 5,500 bed intensive care unit field hospital which was set up in the capital Madrid by the army yesterday.
The number of people infected in Spain has jumped to 25,400 with the death toll reaching 1,381.
UK nationals are feared to be among those stuck on board a cruise ship that has docked in Genoa, northern Italy, after the Spanish and French authorities refused to let them disembark.
Guests of the Costa Pacifica, which left Argentina on March 3 and can hold up to 3,780 guests, are “being held prisoner”, the son of one of those on board claimed.