BANGKOK, TEHRAN, LONDON: People around the world girded for months of disruptions from the new virus on Thursday as its unrelenting spread brought ballooning infections, economic fallout and sweeping containment measures.
“Countries should be preparing for sustained community transmission,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, leader of the World Health Organization (WHO), said of the 2-month-old virus outbreak.
In places around the globe, a split was developing. China has been issuing daily reports of new infections that are drastically down from their highs, factories there are gradually reopening and there is a growing sense that normalcy might not be that far off.
Meanwhile, countries elsewhere are seeing escalating caseloads and a litany of cancelations, closures, travel bans and supply shortages. There are about 17 times as many new infections outside China as in it, WHO said, with widening outbreaks in South Korea, Italy and Iran responsible for a majority.
Almost 300 million students worldwide faced weeks at home on Thursday as authorities closed schools in more than a dozen countries in an attempt to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, UNESCO said.
China took draconian measures to keep the virus from spreading, but around the world, governments took drastic steps. In the US, where 11 have died from the virus, hundreds of people were placed in self-quarantines due to cases in a New York suburb.
Desperate to keep a crisis from expanding within their borders, countries have been further tightening travel restrictions. Australia said on Thursday it is banning travel from South Korea by those who are not Australian citizens or permanent residents, following similar bans for China and Iran. Indonesia announced restrictions on travelers from specific parts of Iran, Italy and South Korea after previously banning travel from China. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said visitors from China and South Korea would need to complete a two-week quarantine at a government facility and be barred from public transit. Sri Lankans arriving from Italy, South Korea and Iran will be quarantined at a hospital for leprosy patients, health authorities announced.
Iran
Iran on Thursday reported 15 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, raising the national toll to 107, and said it would keep schools and universities closed until early April. As the total number of cases rose to 3,513, checkpoints were to be set up to limit travel between major cities.
Palestine
The Palestinians announced a two-week ban on tourists visiting cities and sites in the occupied West Bank Thursday, after the first suspected cases of coronavirus in the territory. The church of the nativity, built on the Bethlehem location revered as the birthplace of Jesus, is among the sites expected to be closed off until March 20.
UK
Britain is moving into the second of four phases in its battle plan against coronavirus, England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said on Thursday, after confirmed cases jumped across the country. Britain has so far registered 90 cases of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, which started in China, but has held off from introducing measures to restrict movement or to cancel events for fear of hurting the economy.
UAE
The UAE is urging its citizens and other residents to avoid traveling abroad because of concerns over the coronavirus outbreak, state news agency WAM said on Thursday. Authorities in the Gulf state may order medical checks on travelers when they return and ask them to stay in isolation at home for 14 days, WAM said.
Italy
Italy closed all schools and universities and forbade fans from attending sporting events. Bishops on Thursday ordered that Masses not be held during the week in churches in areas of the north of the country affected by the coronavirus outbreak, a step believed to be unprecedented. It was believed to be the first time such a draconian step had been taken in Italy, the European country worst hit so far by the coronavirus outbreak. Masses were not even canceled when the plague struck Milan in the 17th century.
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