From Italy to India to the United States, governments rolled out tougher measures to halt the rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic as global cases surged past 340,000 on Monday and death toll surged to 14,611 with 1,604 new deaths, while Asia braced for a possible second wave of infections.
Italy´s world-topping toll from the coronavirus pandemic approached 5,500 on Sunday after the Mediterranean country reported another 651 deaths.
The latest daily toll was smaller than Saturday´s record 793 fatalities but still the second-highest registered during Italy´s month-long crisis. The number of new infections rose by 10.4 percent to 59,138. Italy´s death toll now stands at 5,476. "The figures announced today are lower than those for yesterday," Italian civil protection service chief Angelo Borrelli told reporters. "I hope and we all hope that these figures can be borne out in the coming days. But do not let your guard down." Nearly one billion people are already confined to their homes around the world as countries race to contain the ballooning outbreak by imposing unprecedented lockdown measures, shutting shops and businesses and sealing borders.New cases of the novel coronavirus that emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late December are being reported daily around the world.
Seven prison guards were also injured late on Saturday and two are in critical condition, the minister said.Iran has announced 129 new deaths caused by the novel coronavirus, raising to 1,685 the official death toll in one of the worst-hit countries along with Italy and China.
"There were 1,028 new confirmed infected cases in the past 24 hours ... and 7,913 people have recovered," said health ministry spokesperson Kianush Jahanpur.
The Andean nation will enter a nationwide lockdown from Tuesday night. So far, 231 people have been confirmed infected with the disease in the country and two have died.Nearly a billion Indians stayed indoors on Sunday, heeding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to citizens to self-isolate as authorities battle to contain the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic.
At least 324 people so far have contracted the disease while four have died in India, according to official data.The Canadian death toll from the coronavirus outbreak jumped almost 50 percent to 19 in less than a day, official figures released by the federal government showed.
Ottawa said late on Saturday that 13 people had died but by 9am Eastern Time (13:00 GMT) on Sunday that number had grown to 19, a 46 percent increase. The number of confirmed cases rose to 1,302 from 1,099.
The mayor of New York City, which has more than one-third of the nation's coronavirus cases, described the outbreak as the biggest domestic crisis since the Great Depression and called for the US military to mobilise to help keep the healthcare system from becoming overwhelmed.
"If we don't get more ventilators in the next 10 days people will die who don't have to die," said Mayor Bill de Blasio, as the nation's most populous city saw cases top 8,000 and deaths hit 60. Nationwide cases are more than 25,000 with at least 340 dead.
"This is going to be the greatest crisis domestically since the Great Depression," he told CNN, referring to the economic crisis of the 1930s. "This is why we need a full-scale mobilisation of the American military."
"April is going to be a lot worse than March and I fear May could be worse than April," de Blasio said.Afghanistan's health ministry has reported the country's first confirmed death from coronavirus.
A 40-year-old man died in the northern Balkh province, Ministry of Public Health spokesman Wahidullah Mayar said.
Afghanistan has 34 confirmed cases of the virus and there are fears its vulnerable health system, devastated by years of war, would be overwhelmed by an outbreak.
Singapore reported 23 new cases of coronavirus, mainly imported, taking the city state's tally of the infection to 455, according to a health ministry statement.
Authorities said they will not allow any short-term visitors to transit or enter Singapore, a move aimed at trying to contain the spread of the virus and conserve resources for citizens who are returning from other countries.
Iraq has imposed a nationwide lockdown until March 28 to fight the novel coronavirus as the number of cases rose and the death toll climbed to 20.
Most of Iraq's 18 provinces had so far imposed their own local curfews but the new measures would include the entire country, according to a new decision by the government's crisis cell.
Schools, universities and other gathering places would remain closed, as would the country's multiple international airports, it said in a statement.
Spain's death toll from the coronavirus epidemic soared to 1,720 on Sunday from 1,326 the day before, according to multiple media outlets citing the latest health data.
The number of registered cases in the country rose to 28,572 on Sunday from 24,926 in the previous tally announced on Saturday, the reports added.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has ordered the closure of pubs, casinos, gyms and other public venues starting midday on Monday to combat the coronavirus after many people appeared to disregard health warnings.
"I am deeply regretful that those workers and those business owners who will be impacted by this decision will suffer the economic hardship that undoubtedly they will now have to face," Morrison said in a national address.
After an initial relatively slow spread, the number of infections in Australia has quickly risen, climbing to 1,098 confirmed cases and seven deaths.
Authorities in the sultanate of Oman, which has reported 55 cases of the virus, also asked the private sector to facilitate remote working and urged commercial businesses and individuals to limit cash transactions, state television reported.
Malaysia has confirmed 123 new coronavirus cases, taking the total to 1,306 cases, with 10 deaths.
The health ministry said 34 of the new cases were linked to a religious gathering held late last month. Malaysia has the highest number of cases in Southeast Asia.
Indonesia confirmed 64 new coronavirus cases and 10 new deaths, a health ministry official told reporters on Sunday, bringing the total number to 514 and 48, respectively.
Nine coronavirus patients have recovered, the health ministry spokesman, Achmad Yurianto said, bringing the total number of recoveries to 29.
The number of coronavirus cases in the Czech Republic has risen to 1,047, according to the latest health ministry tally.
The country of 10.7 million people had 158 new cases on Saturday, the ministry said.
Six people have recovered, and there have been no deaths. Health workers had tested 15,584 people as of Saturday.
A 48-year-old doctor has died from coronavirus in Malaysia, becoming the first medical worker to die from the disease.
The man, who was being treated in the northern state of Perlis, had a history of travel to Turkey, the health ministry said. He had not been involved in treating people with COVID-19.
The country on Sunday deployed the army to assist the police in getting people to follow a restricted movement order that is in force until March 31.
Afghanistan - 34 cases, 1 death
Albania - 76 cases, 2 deaths
Algeria - 139 cases, 15 deaths
Andorra - 88 cases
Angola - 2 cases
Antigua and Barbuda - 1 case
Argentina - 158 cases, 4 deaths
Armenia - 190 cases
Australia - 1,071 cases, 7 deaths
Austria - 3,021 cases, 8 deaths
Azerbaijan - 53 cases, 1 death
Bahamas - 4 cases
Bahrain - 310 cases, 1 death
Bangladesh - 25 cases, 2 deaths
Barbados - 14 cases
Belarus - 76 cases
Belgium - 2,815 cases, 67 deaths
Benin - 2 cases
Bhutan - 2 cases
Bolivia - 19 cases
Bosnia and Herzegovina - 93 cases, 1 death
Brazil - 1,178 cases, 18 deaths
Brunei - 83 cases
Bulgaria - 163 cases, 3 deaths
Burkina Faso - 64 cases, 3 deaths
Cambodia - 53 cases
Cameroon - 40 cases
Canada - 1,388 cases, 19 deaths
Cape Verde - 3 cases
Central African Republic - 3 cases
Chad - 1 case
Chile - 537 cases, 1 death
China - 81,394 cases, 3,265 deaths
The region of Macau had confirmed 19 cases, while Hong Kong reported 273 confirmed cases, including four deaths, according to China's National Health Commission.
