Countries affected by the novel coronavirus entered another week of strict quarantine and several nations introduced new economic stimulus to aid citizens and companies hit by the pandemic.
• More than 738,500 people have been infected across the world and about 35,000 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
A man jogs at an empty Navona square as Italy tightens measures to try and contain the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Rome, Italy, on 28th March. PICTURE: Reuters/Alberto Lingria
EUROPE
• Italy’s government said it would extend its nationwide lockdown measures against a coronavirus outbreak at least until the Easter season in April.
• The British Prime Minister’s senior adviser, Dominic Cummings, is self-isolating with symptoms just days after the British leader himself tested positive.
• France recorded its worst daily coronavirus death toll on Monday, exceeding 3,000 for the first time, and army helicopters transported critical patients from the east to hospitals overseas.
• More than a dozen Russian regions including the city of St Petersburg introduced a partial lockdown.
• Finland will extend most of its measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak by one month until 13th May from 13th April.
• Denmark may gradually lift a lockdown after Easter if the numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths remain stable.
• Spain overtook China in the number of those infected with coronavirus.
• Germany hopes to launch a Singapore-style smartphone app within weeks to help trace infections.
• Hungary’s Prime Minister has secured open-ended emergency powers to fight the outbreak.
AMERICAS
• People cheered the US Navy hospital ship Comfort as it sailed into New York, a beacon of the national effort to stanch the coronavirus outbreak at its US epicenter as the number of cases soared.
• The US Government has cut deals with Johnson & Johnson and Moderna Inc and said it is in talks with at least two other firms to expand manufacturing capacity within the United States for coronavirus vaccines.
• Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro stepped up his stand-off with state governments by suggesting that democracy could be at risk if the coronavirus crisis leads to social chaos.
• Colombia’s ELN guerrillas declared a unilateral cease-fire for one month from 1st April in an effort to help stem the spread.
ASIA PACIFIC
• China will step up prevention and control of asymptomatic coronavirus cases, state media reported.
• Police in India fired tear gas to disperse a stone-pelting crowd of migrant workers defying a three-week lockdown against the coronavirus that has left hundreds of thousands of poor without jobs and hungry.
• Tokyo’s governor called on residents to avoid outings, but said it was up to Prime Minister to declare a state of emergency.
• The World Health Organization has not shared with member states information Taiwan provided including details on its cases and prevention methods, its foreign ministry said.
• Vietnam suspended public transport services.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
• Iran had 117 new coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours, prompting the Middle East’s worst hit country to consider tougher curbs.
• Saudi Arabia will finance treatment for anyone infected with the coronavirus in the country, the health minister said, while the agriculture ministry took steps to boost wheat and livestock supplies.
• An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tested positive but initial findings indicate she had not posed an infection risk to the 70-year-old leader.
• Zimbabwe began a 21-day nationwide lockdown, following neighbour South Africa in implementing some of the world’s toughest anti-coronavirus measures likely to hurt an economy already suffering hyperinflation and food shortages.
ECONOMIC FALLOUT
• Global stocks rose on Monday despite a drop in oil prices to their lowest levels since 2002, as central banks and the United States tried to contain damage from the coronavirus that has upended the world economy.
• Trade ministers from the Group of 20 major economies agreed on Monday to keep their markets open and ensure the continued flow of vital medical supplies, equipment and other essential goods.
• The International Monetary Fund said relaxing the euro zone’s fiscal rules and support from the European Central Bank and European Stability Mechanism is critical to a strong regional response.
• Banks across the euro zone are ditching dividends to shore up reserves as the outbreak threatens to tip the world into a deep recession.
• Israel will spend 80 billion shekels ($US22 billion) to help the economy weather the coronavirus crisis.
• Switzerland may have to expand its emergency fund for companies after banks loaned out $US6.89 billion in the first four days of the scheme.
• Peru is readying a stimulus package worth around 12 per cent of its gross domestic product.
• The outbreak will push Germany into recession in the first half of this year and could result in its output contracting by up to 5.4 per cent this year.
• Collapsing oil prices are costing some OPEC members not only lost revenue when they most need it to tackle the coronavirus crisis, but also market share they may never recoup.
• South Korea will make emergency cash payments to all but the richest families and draw up a second supplementary budget next month.
• Nigeria’s currency eased to 415 naira per dollar on the black market on Monday after its president ordered a lockdown of two of the country’s biggest cities.
• Singapore’s central bank aggressively eased its monetary policy, with the city-state’s economy bracing for a deep recession.
