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- Spain's number of coronavirus cases has risen to 8,744, while 297 people have now died, according to Fernando Simon, the head of the country's health emergency centre.The previous tally was 7,753 cases on Sunday, with 288 fatalities.
- Protesters wearing face masks and protective suits have been pictured outside Downing Street in London this morning.The group, called Pause the System, says it wants the UK government to step up its measures against coronavirus.Spokeswoman Kelly Waters told LBC Radio the UK should follow some other countries in closing schools, shutting non-essential businesses, and encouraging people not to go to work."Why should the UK be a guinea pig for the rest of the world," she said.Our science correspondent Pallab Ghosh has taken a closer look at why the UK's plan is different to other countries here.
- French far-right politician Marine Le Pen is self-isolating after meeting people who showed symptoms of coronavirus, BFM TV reports.Last Thursday she also sat next to someone who recently tested positive.She doesn’t have symptoms at the moment.
- Transport for London says passenger numbers were down on the tube last week by 19% and by 10% on buses.TfL says it will need financial support from the government and that its best case scenario is that the coronavirus outbreak will cost it £500m.
- For the first time in its modern history the whole of Bavaria has been declared a disaster zone, to deal with the coronavirus crisis.It is Germany’s second-richest state and has a population of 13 million people. Such special measures previously only applied to stricken areas of Bavaria, for example during floods.All schools and kindergartens are now shut in the state.There has been a sharp rise in the numbers testing positive for Covid-19 in Bavaria: 886 cases by midday Sunday, which was 205 more cases in 24 hours. Four elderly people have died, DPA news agency reports.People are still able to move around freely in the streets – unlike in some other parts of Europe.But these measures are now being introduced:
- From Tuesday, bars, cinemas and swimming pools are to close, along with non-essential businesses
- Longer opening times for providers of food and essential goods, such as supermarkets, pharmacies, petrol stations, banks. They can stay open until 22:00 on weekdays, and 18:00 on Sundays.
- Restaurants and cafes restricted to 06:00 to 15:00 openings, with customers kept well apart.
- Interactions between firefighters and the public should temporarily be "drastically scaled back", the UK's Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has said.Non-emergency work such as fire safety visits and inspections, school visits, and public meetings, should be temporarily suspended, it said.“While the FBU fully supports public engagement and preventative work as essential to improve fire safety, these are exceptional circumstances," FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said in a statement.“As a core emergency service, firefighters and control staff need to be protected from infection as far as possible. When an emergency does happen, we need to ensure that firefighters are healthy and available in good number to respond," he added.
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A man in Australia has been charged after a fight broke out at a supermarket checkout in Sydney.Like many countries, Australia has seen a rush on shops as people try to stock up ahead of what they believe will be shortages.Coles, a major chain, has started limiting customers to one pack of toilet roll and two of things like pasta, flour and rice.Both Coles and Woolworths have said they will start opening an hour early only for elderly people or those with disabilities, to help them shop more comfortably.- Yesterday 172 people tested positive for the coronavirus in Belgium, taking the total number to 1,058.There are currently 252 people hospitalised in Belgium, 53 of whom are in intensive care. Five people have now died, the latest being an 88-year-old.
- Shares in Primark owner Associated British Foods have been suspended, amid falling sales during the pandemic.It comes after the discount clothing retailer said it had been forced to temporarily close stores which make up a third of its sales due to coronavirus,The FTSE 100 - an index of leading companies listed in London - opened the week 9% down despite action by central banks.
- Bahrain has reported its first death from the new coronavirus disease.The 65-year-old female Bahraini citizen, who had underlying health conditions, was also the first person to die as a result of Covid-19 in the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC).The woman had been placed in isolation since returning from Iran via a third country last month, the health ministry said in a statement.Bahrain has reported 214 cases of Covid-19. Many of them are linked to travel from Iran, where more than 13,900 people have been infected and 724 have died.Bahrain and the other GCC states have taken measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus.Saudi Arabia closed public spaces and suspended most government operations on Sunday, while Kuwait largely went into lockdown over the weekend, closing all shopping malls except for those related to food and halted all commercial flights to and from the country.
- The UK is one of a number of coronavirus-hit countries not to issue a nationwide closure of schools in response to the pandemic.Many more - including France, Spain and the Republic of Ireland - have taken the measure.But, while #Covid19Walkout trends on Twitter, one British mother, who has a weakened immune system, has been telling BBC Radio 5Live about why she has decided to take matters into her own hands.
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'We're trying to feel our way into this new normal'
Lizi has a weakened immune system and has made the decision to take her children out of school to protect her health during the coronavirus pandemic.
Read more: bbc.co.uk/news/uk-519018…#5LiveBreakfast | #HighRiskCovid1922 people are talking about this - Ikea's headquarters in Almhult, southern Sweden, is being closed for two days for a deep clean in order to prevent the coronavirus spreading within the company.Several of the furniture giant’s 2,300 staff have reported flu-like symptoms and one has tested positive for the coronavirus after a holiday abroad, although they did not return to the office after the vacation.Ikea stores remain open across Sweden.Like the UK, the Nordic country has chosen not to shut shops, restaurants, bars or schools. But numerous major Swedish companies including Spotify, Ericsson and gaming giant King are asking employees to work from home as much as possible.On Sunday, Scandinavian Airlines announced it would temporarily lay off up to 10,000 staff.A third person died from the coronavirus in Sweden on Sunday. More than 990 cases of the virus have been confirmed in the country of around 10 million.
- From today, people can get regular coronavirus updates from the BBC on their Amazon Alexa enabled devices.These will be updated throughout the day, with all the latest news and information. All you need to do is say "ask the BBC for coronavirus update” or “coronavirus update from the BBC”.
- A UK cabinet minister has been speaking more about possible measures related the over 70s.On Sunday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock suggested that those older than 70 will be told "within the coming weeks" to stay at home for an extended periodTransport Secretary Grant Shapps told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that those asked to stay home would still be able to go for a walk outside."It's about being sensible but not mixing in crowds," he said.
- Vittorio Gregotti, an architect who helped renovate the 1992 Barcelona Olympic stadium, has died at the age of 92 after catching coronavirus.He died in a Milan hospital on Sunday. According to local media, he died of pneumonia after having contracted Covid-19.Gregotti also designed a housing estate in Shanghai, China and the Merassi stadium in Genoa for the 1990s World Cup in Italy.Fellow Italian architect Stefano Boeri described him as a "master of international architecture" who "created the story of our culture".Gregotti's wife Mariana Mazza remains in hospital in Milan.
- The state-run Global Times has reported about a petition on the White House website urging the US government to release more information on the suspension of an infectious disease research lab under the Pentagon.The Global Times noted that Chinese internet users and experts are calling for more information on whether The Fort Detrick laboratory was linked to the novel coronavirus, citing coincidental events between the lab’s closure and the outbreak of Covid-19.It noted many English-language news reports about the closure of Fort Detrick were deleted recently, raising “suspicions over the lab's ‘relationship’ with the novel coronavirus”.This is the latest in a series of remarks by Chinese diplomats and the state media fuelling a theory that the virus did not originate in China, but was only found there.Last week, the official Xinhua news agency claimed that the epidemic was first reported in China but “that does not mean it necessarily originated in China”.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian has even tweeted that “it might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan”.
- A second British MP has revealed that they have been diagnosed with Covid-19.Kate Osborne, Labour MP for Jarrow, in north-east England, said she would "continue to self isolate until I have fought off the illness".
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I have been diagnosed with Coronavirus (#covidー19uk) following a period of self isolation and subsequent testing.818 people are talking about thisIt comes after health minister Nadine Dorries confirmed she had tested positive for the disease last week.Several other MPs have entered self-isolation after coming into contact with the MP for Mid Bedfordshire.Parliament remains open but visitor access is being limited from this week. - The government in Delhi has invoked a 123-year-old law to prevent large gatherings in the city, which is expected to affect an ongoing protest against a controversial citizenship law.All social, political and religious gatherings have been halted under the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said.The move will impact the protests at Shaheen Bagh, where thousands of people,mostly led by Muslim women, have been protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).The CAA offers fast track citizenship to non-Muslim illegal migrants from six nearby Muslim majority countries.Critics argue that it is discriminatory and can be used to persecute India's 200 million strong Muslim population.India now has 110 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and two deaths.
- After videos of Italians singing in solidarity with each other went viral, Iranians are doing the same.Iran is the third most affected country by the coronavirus after China and Italy.A total of 13,938 people have been infected with the virus and 724 have died in the country, health officials say.
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After Italy, people in #Iran's capital city of Tehran are turning to group singing as most people stay home to contain the #coronavirus outbreak.#music #corona207 people are talking about this - More people have now been infected with the coronavirus globally than in China.Over 87,000 people have been infected outside of China, according to Johns Hopkins University's worldwide coronavirus tracker.Chinese health authorities say there are 80,860 cases in the country.Deaths outside China have risen to 3,241, while there have been 3,208 deaths in China.
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