Italy is recruiting retired doctors in a bid to battle the spread of deadly coronavirus as the World Health Organisation warned all countries to make containment their ‘highest priority’.
Italy has seen the biggest coronavirus outbreak in Europe with 197 deaths and more than 4,600 cases.
The decision to bring in 20,000 additional staff to fight the escalating epidemic was one of several measures adopted by the government during an all-night cabinet meeting after the country reported 49 more deaths in one day.
It comes as the WHO told all countries to make containment ‘their highest priority’ as the global death toll reaches 3,000 with more than 100,000 confirmed cases.
Italy is recruiting retired doctors in a bid to battle the spread of deadly coronavirus as the World Health Organisation warned all countries to make containment their ‘highest priority’. Pictured: A woman wearing a mask poses for photos at the bottom of the Spanish Steps in Rome
Italy has seen the biggest coronavirus outbreak in Europe with 197 deaths and more than 4,600 cases. Pictured: A tourist wearing a face mask takes pictures inside the Duomo cathedral in Milan
Three health workers in protective suits wait to check a motorist at a drive-through testing centre for coronavirus in Seoul
The WHO called the spread of the coronavirus ‘deeply concerning’.
The Italian government said its medical recruitment drive should help double the staff of hospitals’ respiratory and infectious disease departments.
It should also increase the number of intensive care beds from 5,000 to 7,500 in the coming days.
Similar methods are being adopted in China where veteran Dr Dong Jie – who helped combat the SARS outbreak in 2003 – has been drafted back in to help deal with coronavirus.
More than 60 people are believed to have caught coronavirus after attending a funeral in northern Spain.
Today, another passenger on the Diamond Princess cruise ship has died, bringing ship’s death toll to seven.
The passenger, a non-Japanese male, died on Friday.
A man wears a protective mask as he shops in a supermarket in Hanoi, Vietnam, after a 26-year-old Vietnamese woman recently back from Europe tested positive for coronavirus
Indian security personnel wear facemasks as preventive measures against the spread of coronavirus in Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata
Health chiefs have confirmed they are looking at ‘one isolated event’ as the source of the outbreak that has potentially infected about 60 people from Álava and La Rioja, according to the results of tests carried out at the National Centre for Microbiology.
It comes as Vietnam reported its first new coronavirus case in three weeks as a woman who had returned from a trip to Europe during which she visited London, Milan and Paris.
Nguyen Hong Nhung, 26, was admitted to a hospital in the Vietnamese capital on Thursday suffering from a fever.
In Greece, a row has erupted between doctors and the influential Church of Greece over whether to restrict Holy Communion amid a rising number of coronavirus cases.
The Vatican is also unrolling unprecedented health precautions designed to keep the tiny city state’s 450 mostly elderly residents safe. Pictured: A man wearing a mask in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican
In Greece, a row has erupted between doctors and the influential Church of Greece over whether to restrict Holy Communion amid a rising number of coronavirus cases. Pictured: A man wearing a mask in Thessaloniki, Greece
The federation of hospital doctors this week stressed that no exception ‘for religious, sacramental or metaphysical reasons’ should be made to state health warnings to please the Church.
Greece has so far confirmed 45 coronavirus cases, most of them among a group of pilgrims that travelled to Israel and Egypt last month.
But in the run-up to Orthodox Easter in April that traditionally sees a high turnout, the church is holding its ground.
‘It’s not possible to shut down churches, or to not give out Holy Communion,’ bishop Chrysostomos of Patras, one of the areas with the most virus cases, said this week.
‘Whoever believes that holy communion is life has nothing to fear, it’s a matter of faith.
‘Across the centuries, there is no case of sickness spreading through Holy Communion,’ he told Open TV.
Greece has so far confirmed 45 coronavirus cases, most of them among a group of pilgrims that travelled to Israel and Egypt last month. Pictured: A woman wears a protective face mask as she walks in front of the Patras University Hospital in Greece, where three patients infected with coronavirus
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Managing Director of the European Stability Mechanism Klaus Regling bump fists instead of shake hands in Athens, Greece
In Romania, the Orthodox Church has allowed worshippers to bring their own spoon to communion and to kiss icons in their own homes.
The accelerating spread of coronavirus emptied Italian train stations and airports while turning parts of Rome into a ghost town.
Many of the city’s outdoor restaurants and cafes were either closed on Friday night or had free tables.
The expansive street that runs from Rome’s Colosseum along the Forum was deserted and the magnificent ruins weren’t swarmed by tourists.
The sharp drop in visitor numbers is wreaking havoc with the Italian tourism industry and contributing to fears that the anaemic economy is about to tip back into recession.
In Egypt, a cruise ship on the Nile River – with over 150 tourists and local crew – is in quarantine after 12 people tested positive for the new coronavirus
But the government’s most immediate concern is that coronavirus infections that had been largely contained to pockets of the richer north will start spreading into the poorer and less medically equipped south.
The World Health Organization concluded a mission to Italy on Friday by recommending the government keep ‘a strong focus on containment measures’.
The Vatican is also unrolling unprecedented health precautions designed to keep the tiny city state’s 450 mostly elderly residents safe.
A first coronavirus infection was recorded at one of its clinics on Thursday.
The Vatican is expected to announce Saturday whether Pope Francis will still deliver his Angelus Prayer from a window facing Saint Peter’s Square on Sunday afternoon.
Workers disinfect the ground around the Kaaba, the cubic building at the Grand Mosque, in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia
There has been media speculation that the pope might deliver the prayer by video link for the very first time.
The Vatican said on Thursday is was considering changes to the pope’s schedule ‘to avoid the dissemination’ of the new disease.
With the elderly among the most at-risk groups, French President Emmanuel Macron urged people to limit visits to the old and infirm as much as possible to avoid further spread.
‘The nation is behind our old… (but) during this epidemic and we need to limit our visits as much as we can,’ Macron said.
There have been nine recorded virus deaths in France.
Meanwhile in Switzerland, the authorities urged the over-65s to avoid travelling at peak hours and banned meetings of more than 150 people.
A Taiwanese-American tourist who had previously been on the same ship tested positive when she returned to Taiwan
In Washington, the coronavirus is getting a new name from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo – the ‘Wuhan virus’ – to the anger of China where the virus was first detected.
The Netherlands reported its first virus death on Friday, while Malta, Serbia, Slovakia, Peru, Togo, Colombia and Cameroon announced their first cases .
The 100,000 figure of global infections dwarfs other major outbreaks in recent decades, such as Sars, Mers and Ebola.
China reported 99 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, its first daily increase of less than 100 since January 20.
The government reported 28 deaths in the 24 hours through to midnight on Friday.
Overall, China now has 22,177 patients in treatment, while 55,404 have been released.
South Korea, the hardest-hit country outside China, has reported 448 new cases to bring its total to 7,041.
In Iran, newly-elected politician Fatemeh Rahabar, 55, died from the virus as the number of infections there rose by more than 1,000 overnight, with 145 deaths.
Many governments have imposed restrictions on visitors from China, South Korea, Italy and Iran.
Serbia said it might deploy the army to keep the virus at bay, while in Switzerland the military is being readied to provide support services at hospitals after 210 new cases were reported on Friday.
In Iran, newly-elected politician Fatemeh Rahabar, 55, died from the virus as the number of infections there rose by more than 1,000 overnight, with 145 deaths. Pictured: A man in a protective suit walks in Beit Jala, West Bank
French health minister Olivier Veran said children will be banned from visiting patients in hospitals and other health facilities across the country, and patients will be limited to one adult visit at a time.
Spanish officials have announced a month-long closure of 200 centres in and around Madrid where the elderly go for daytime care and activities.
The global economy, meanwhile, faces mounting damage due to anti-virus controls that shut down much of China’s economy and are disrupting travel and trade worldwide.
In Egypt, a cruise ship on the Nile River – with over 150 tourists and local crew – is in quarantine after 12 people tested positive for the new coronavirus.
A Taiwanese-American tourist who had previously been on the same ship tested positive when she returned to Taiwan.
The World Health Organization informed Egyptian authorities, who tested everyone currently on the ship.
Health authorities in Egypt released a statement Friday saying they’d found a dozen Egyptian crew members on the ship had contracted the fast-spreading virus, but did not show symptoms.
The statement said the 12 will be transferred to isolation in a hospital on Egypt’s north coast. The passengers – who include Americans, French and other nationalities – and crew will remain quarantined on the ship awaiting further test results.
A man in a protective suit walks outside Angel Hotel where, according to a Palestinian government official, a group of American visitors have been quarantined as part of precautions against the coronavirus in Israeli-occupied West Bank
The new virus cluster brought the total number of cases in Egypt to 15.
It came just days after three people were diagnosed with coronavirus in the U.S. state of Texas.
Officials in the city of Houston said Thursday that they believe the three were exposed to the virus while on a trip to Egypt in late February.
It was not immediately clear if the Texan tourists were on the same boat where the cluster occurred, how long the passengers on the ship had been quarantined, nor where exactly the initial Taiwanese tourist had contracted the virus.
The United Arab Emirates reported 15 additional coronavirus cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 45.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, announced there would be no spectators for sports competitions and games starting Saturday in order to combat the spread of the virus.
The kingdom has five confirmed cases, but has taken unprecedented measures against the virus’ spread, including halting all pilgrimage in Mecca, Islam’s holiest site.