Biodun.BBC: Rochelle van Amber and Biodun Iginla

Monday, March 23, 2020

BREAKING: 'Enough is enough': Unhappy Trudeau tells Canadians to go home and stay home

March 23, 2020 19H:08 GMT/ZULU

by Rochelle van Amber and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters, Ottawa

OTTAWA - A clearly unhappy Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday said people defying advice to isolate themselves to fight a coronavirus outbreak should “go home and stay home” or face sanctions.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends a news conference as efforts continue to help slow the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Blair Gable

Trudeau also said the federal government would offer an additional C$5 billion ($3.4 billion) line of credit for farmers and agricultural producers to help them through a crisis that is battering the economy.

The number of people in Canada diagnosed with the coronavirus rose to 1,474 on Monday from 1,430 on Sunday, and the death toll stayed at 20, medical officials said.

Although Ottawa and the 10 provinces have urged Canadians to stay at home, and in some cases put limits on gatherings, Trudeau said too many people were still disregarding the advice.

“We’ve all seen the pictures online of people who seem to think they are invincible. Well, you’re not,” Trudeau said.

“Enough is enough. Go home and stay home ... we’re going to make sure this happens, whether by educating people more on the risks or by enforcing the rules if that’s needed,” he told a daily news conference outside his residence, where he has been confined since his wife was diagnosed with the virus.

Federal and provincial officials said on Sunday that people ignoring advice to self-isolate or avoid large groups could be fined or even arrested.

Trudeau is due to speak to the provincial premiers later on Monday to coordinate the messaging on self-isolation. All the provinces have imposed some sort of state of emergency.

He also said he would discuss with them what the federal government could do under the 1988 Emergencies Act, which allows Ottawa to impose strict limits on the movement of people.

Officials said last week that using the act would be a last resort. Trudeau reiterated that “we haven’t taken anything off the table”.

Legislators are due to return to Ottawa on Tuesday to pass a package of stimulus measures and tax relief worth a total of C$82 billion.

Trudeau, who says more steps to help the economy are coming, also said Ottawa would defer C$173 million in federal loans to farmers and invest C$192 million into vaccine research and production.

Friday, March 20, 2020

ANALYSIS: California governor orders entire state to stay home, says 56% could get coronavirus

Issued on: 20/03/2020 - 03:09Modified: 20/03/2020 - 10:24 GMT/ZULU

California's Governor Gavin Newsom speaks to the media after casting his vote at a voting center at The California Museum for the presidential primaries on Super Tuesday in Sacramento, CA U.S., March 3, 2020. © Gabriela Bhaskar, Reuters

by Rochelle van Amber and Biodun Iginla, France24 News Analysts, San Francisco/Sacramento

California's governor on Thursday issued an unprecedented statewide "stay at home order" directing the state's 40 million residents to hunker down in their homes for the foreseeable future in the face of the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic.

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Governor Gavin Newsom's directive, effective immediately, marks the largest and most sweeping government clampdown yet in the worsening public health crisis brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak, which he predicted could infect more than half the state within eight weeks.

"We are confident the people of California will abide by it, they will meet this moment," Newsom, a Democrat in his first term as governor of the nation's most populous state, told a late-afternoon news briefing from the state capital in Sacramento.

Gavin Newsom

✔@GavinNewsom

CA is issuing a statewide, mandatory STAY AT HOME order.

Those that work in critical sectors should go to work. Grocery stores, pharmacies, banks and more will stay open.

We need to meet this moment and flatten the curve together.

Go to http://covid19.ca.gov to learn more.

California Coronavirus COVID-19 Response

We’re all in this together. We are working rapidly to keep our state healthy.
covid19.ca.gov

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"They'll step up as they have over the last number of weeks to protect themselves, to protect their families and to protect the broader community in this great state and the world we reside in," he said.

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Newsom called the order essential in light of modeling by experts that showed roughly 56 percent of the state's residents, or 25 million people, would contract the respiratory illness in the next eight weeks. Such numbers would require nearly 20,000 more hospital beds than the state could provide.

Already more than 1,000 Californians have been confirmed as infected and 18 have died, the third largest death toll in the United States behind only Washington state and New York.

Newsom said exceptions to the stay-at-home rule would be granted for residents to make trips to grocery stores, pharmacies, doctors and laundromats, and workers in "critical infrastructure sectors."

The governor did not give an end date for the order but suggested it would last for at least eight weeks.

'Social pressure'

Newsom was also vague about enforcement, saying he expected Californians would bend to "social pressure" on their own.

The announcement caught many in the state by surprise and drew swift criticism from U.S. House of Representatives Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who told Fox News Channel he was unhappy the governor did not consult with lawmakers in Washington.

"We do think there was an ability to do this without shutting down the entire state. I hope he consulted with a lot of experts before he just made this decision," McCarthy told Fox.

Newsom said during the news conference he had discussed the matter with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from Northern California.

Earlier on Thursday the governor asked President Donald Trump to send a U.S. Navy hospital ship to the port of Los Angeles "immediately" as the state braces for the expected surge in the number of coronavirus cases.

Trump has said he would deploy two Navy hospital ships, one to each coast, but defense officials have said the vessels were not yet ready to take on patients.