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14:51 / 15-3-2020
Spain
reports deaths have more than doubled in a day to 288
The number
of deaths in Spain from the coronavirus have more than doubled in a day to 288,
with the number of infections near 8,000, Associated Press reports.
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Further
travel restrictions come into force as shops, cafes and cinemas shut down
Michael
Safi and Philip Oltermann
Sun 15 Mar 2020 12.25 GMTLast modified on Sun 15 Mar 2020 12.52 GMT
More than
100 millions Europeans are on lockdown after Spain joined Italy in imposing a
national quarantine to combat coronavirus, with a wave of further restrictions
on travel and movement elsewhere in the world set to come into effect over the
next 48 hours.
The number
of people infected with coronavirus has grown to more than 155,000, according
to the World Health Organization, with at least 5,800 deaths, including more
than 400 over the past day.
Spain, the
worst-affected European country after Italy, announced on Saturday that
citizens would be confined to their homes for 15 days unless they had to buy
food or medicine or go to work or seek medical treatment. The country has 6,251
cases of the virus and 193 deaths. Italy, with more than 1,400 deaths so far,
implemented similar measures last week.
In France,
where 91 people have died, cafes, restaurants, cinemas and most shops are shut.
Plane, train and coach services between cities will be reduced from Sunday but
Paris Métro services would continue for the time being, the government said.
With
infections exponentially increasing in many countries, leaders of the G7 were
preparing to hold an extraordinary summit via video link on Monday to try to
coordinate a financial and medical response to the pandemic.
International
travel and internal movement in many countries will be severely curtailed by
restrictions set to come into effect over the next days.
Austria
said that from Tuesday the freedom to move would be “massively limited”, with
non-essential shops closed along with restaurants, bars, playgrounds and sports
venues. Pharmacies would remain open for now, the chancellor, Sebastian Kurz,
announced, warning the next weeks would be “challenging, difficult and
painful”.
More than
800 people have been infected in the alpine state of 8.8 million and one person
has died. Vienna has banned anyone entering from the UK, the Netherlands,
Ukraine and Russia.
In China,
where the vast majority of fresh cases were being recorded among people
arriving from abroad, rather than through domestic transmission, the government
announced that anyone landing in Beijing from Monday would be quarantined for
14 days in a government facility.
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Anyone
arriving in Australia will be ordered to self-isolate for two weeks and could
face steep fines for not doing so, the government said on Sunday, as two more
people there were confirmed to have died from the virus. Nearly 250 people have
tested positive, according to the country’s health department.
The US on
Saturday added Great Britain and Ireland to a list of European countries from
which entrants would be temporarily banned.
Pictures
from several American airports showed huge crowds of people scrambling to
return to the US, raising concerns that the government’s response might itself
help to spark new cases.
The UK
Foreign Office on Sunday advised against “all but essential travel” to the US.
The US president, Donald Trump, said on Saturday he had been tested for the
virus and found negative.
The
Vatican’s Easter services will be held next month without attendees, the Holy
See has said, in a move believed to be unprecedented in modern times.
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Iran, whose
caseload and number of deaths are the highest in the world after China and
Italy, announced 113 deaths over the past 24 hours, its highest single-day toll
so far. More than 14,000 people have been infected and 724 have died, according
to official statistics, the accuracy of which has been challenged by the WHO.
Those dying
in the Iranian outbreak are significantly younger than elsewhere, with 15% of
them younger than 40, according to health ministry statistics. The official
leading the response was quoted on Sunday warning that the country’s
sanctions-hit health system threatened to be overwhelmed by the virus.
“If the
trend continues, there will not be enough capacity,” Ali Reza Zali was quoted
as saying earlier by the state-run IRNA news agency.
Idosos com mais
de 70 anos poderão ser isolados vários meses no Reino Unido
Auto-isolamento
será “muito longo”, a imprensa fala em quatro meses. A medida implica que os
idosos fiquem em casa, sem visitas, com medicamentos e bens essenciais deixados
à porta de casa.
Karla Pequenino
15 de Março de 2020, 14:27
O Reino Unido
prepara-se para avançar com medidas de isolamento para todos as pessoas com
mais de 70 anos durante um período “muito longo”, confirmou o ministro da Saúde
britânico Matt Hancock, este domingo.
Para ajudar a
combater o novo coronavírus, os idosos deverão ficar em casa, em
auto-isolamento, sem receber visitas. Os bens essenciais (produtos de higiene,
alimentos, medicamentos) serão distribuídos à porta de casa.
Em declarações à
Sky News, na manhã de domingo, Hancock disse que a medida iria entrar em vigor
“nas próximas semanas”. O ministro da Saúde admitiu que “se está a pedir um
esforço grande aos idosos e vulneráveis, mas é para a sua própria protecção”.
Até agora, todas as mortes por covid-19 no país (21, no total) têm sido com
pessoas com mais de 60 anos ou com outras condições de saúde preexistentes.
Questionado sobre
a duração do isolamento – na imprensa britânica circulam informações de que
poderá ir até aos quatro meses –, o ministro da Saúde britânico disse que os
detalhes seriam anunciados “na hora certa de o fazer”. O motivo apontado para a
demora é que o período de auto-isolamento será “muito longo”.
“[O isolamento]
não é uma coisa fácil para as pessoas, não é uma coisa fácil para as pessoas
aguentarem”, disse Matt Hancock, notando que é “crítico que estejam prontos”.
Com o número de
mortes por covid-10 no Reino Unido a subir para 21 no sábado, e o número total
de casos confirmados a atingir os 1140, o governo de Boris Johnson tem sido
alvo de críticas severas por estar a fazer pouco para combater a epidemia.
Contrariamente à
maioria dos países no mundo, o plano do Reino Unido é evitar que o pico de
contágio esmague o Serviço Nacional de Saúde britânico (NHS) e que o
auto-isolamento tenha efeitos negativos na saúde mental das pessoas, devido à
solidão. O Governo considera que o isolamento será necessário, mas de forma
mais espaçada. Até lá, espera que se consiga criar imunidade de grupo.
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