Coronavirus: latest global developments

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PARIS, March 24, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Here are the latest developments in
the coronavirus crisis:

– Tokyo Olympics postponed to 2021 –

The International Olympic Committee announces the 2020 Tokyo Games will
be postponed to no later than the summer of 2021 because of the coronavirus
pandemic sweeping the globe. It is the first postponement of an Olympics in
peacetime.

– China epicentre opens up –

Hubei, where the novel coronavirus emerged late last year, will allow
healthy residents to leave the province from midnight. Officials say rules
will be relaxed in the hardest-hit city of Wuhan on April 8.

– Italy remains on alert –

Italy sees the second successive daily drop in deaths and infections but
warns against premature hope of victory against the virus and calls on the
population to continue to respect the confinement measures.

– Global confinement –

An estimated 1.9 billion people are now confined to their homes,
according to an AFP tally at midday on Tuesday.

The majority are hemmed in by obligatory government lockdown orders
while others are under curfew, in quarantine or heeding advice not to leave
their homes.

France tightens its rules, strictly limiting physical exercise and
closing most open-air markets. It warns the lockdown could still last
“several more weeks”.

Britain urges people to respect the countrywide lockdown announced
Monday evening. The population is instructed to stay inside except to buy
essentials and take daily exercise.

South Africa announces a three-week lockdown to begin Thursday.

Algeria orders people to confine themselves to their homes between 7 pm
and 7 am in the capital Algiers and other cities.

Egypt imposes a night-time curfew for two weeks from Wednesday.

Cuba will quarantine foreign tourists from Tuesday when it seals its
borders.

– More than 380,000 cases –

At least 16,961 deaths have been recorded since the virus first emerged
in December, according to an AFP tally compiled at 1100 GMT on Tuesday based
on official sources.

More than 386,353 declared cases have been registered in 175 countries
and territories.

Italy has most deaths with 6,077, out of 63,927 declared infections.

Mainland China has 3,270 deaths out of 81,171 cases.

The worst-hit countries after Italy and China are Spain with 2,696
fatalities and 39,673 cases, followed by Iran with 1,934 fatalities and
24,811 cases, France with 860 deaths and 19,856 cases, and the United States
with 499 deaths and 46,440 cases.

– Global stock markets rebound –

World stock markets rally strongly after the US Federal Reserve launches
an unprecedented bond-buying plan.

– Jazz star dies –

Veteran Afro-jazz legend Manu Dibango dies in a hospital in France after
contracting the virus, one of the first worldwide stars to succumb to the
disease.