Coronavirus factbox: The latest news from around the world

Published Mar 29, 2020

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DEATHS, INFECTIONS 

* More than 662,700 people have been infected by the novel

coronavirus across the world and 30,751 have died, according to

a Reuters tally.

EUROPE 

* The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy

barrelled past 10,000 on Saturday, a figure that made an

extension of a national lockdown almost certain. 

* Spain's death toll rose by 838 overnight to 6,528, the health

ministry said on Sunday, marking the highest daily rise in

fatalities. The total number of those infected rose to 78,797

from 72,248. 

* Prime Minister Boris Johnson is warning Britons in a letter to

30 million households that things will get worse before they get

better, as he himself self-isolates in Downing Street to recover

from the coronavirus.

* Britain has reported 17,089 confirmed cases of the disease and

1,019 deaths and the peak of the epidemic in the country is

expected to come in a few weeks. 

* Germany's health system could face strains similar to those in

Italy if the outbreak in the country worsens, the head of the

Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the federal agency responsible for

disease control, told a newspaper. 

* RKI data on Sunday showed the number of confirmed cases in

Germany had risen to 52,547, with 389 deaths. 

AMERICAS 

* President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he would issue a

travel warning for the hard-hit New York area to limit the

spread of the coronavirus, backing off from an earlier

suggestion that he might try to cut off the region entirely. 

* The U.S. death count crossed 2,100, more than double the level

from two days ago. The United States has now recorded more than

122,000 cases of the respiratory virus, the most of any country

in the world. 

* The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday approved a $2.2

trillion aid package and Trump quickly signed it into

law. 

* Mexico's deputy health minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell called on

Saturday on all residents in Mexico to stay at home for a month,

saying it was the only way to reduce the transmission rate.

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC 

* Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the nation's poor

for forgiveness as the economic and human toll from his 21-day

nationwide lockdown deepens and criticism mounts about a lack of

adequate planning ahead of the decision. 

* The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Japanese

organisers are in final stages of talks to set the opening date

for the Tokyo Games in July next year, Japanese media

said. 

* Doctors, politicians and human rights commissioners are

calling on Indonesia's government to enact tighter movement

restrictions as the death toll from coronavirus rose in the

world's fourth most populous country. 

* The growing number of imported coronavirus cases in China

risks fanning a second wave of infections at a time when

"domestic transmission has basically been stopped", a spokesman

for the National Health Commission said on Sunday. 

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA 

* The United Arab Emirates on Saturday extended to April 5 a

nightly curfew to sterilise public places to combat the spread

of coronavirus as neighbouring Qatar reported its first death

from the disease. 

* Turkey halted all intercity trains and limited domestic

flights on Saturday. The number of cases jumped to 7,402, with

108 dead. 

* Iran's death toll from the coronavirus has climbed to 2,640

and the number of infected people has reached 38,309, a health

ministry official tweeted on Sunday. 

ECONOMIC FALLOUT 

* Stocks across the globe fell on Friday after a historic

three-day run-up, as skittish investors kept indices on track

for their worst monthly and quarterly performances since 2008,

while the dollar fell by the most in any week since 2009. 

* Qatar Airways will have to seek government support eventually,

Chief Executive Akbar al-Baker told Reuters on Sunday, warning

that the Middle East carrier could soon run out of the cash

needed to continue flying. 

* Egypt's central bank said it has instructed banks to put

temporary limits on daily withdrawals and deposits amid concerns

over the spread of the coronavirus. 

* South Africa may approach the International Monetary Fund and

World Bank for funding, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said in

the Sunday Times newspaper. 

* Investors rushed into cash and out of bonds at a record pace

over the past week, BofA's weekly fund flow data showed on

Friday.

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