COVID-19: Countries fighting off the coronavirus

GENEVA, Mar 16 (AA/APP): According to the reports, more than 154 countries globally are under the threat of coronavirus, which has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization.

All of the affected countries have restricted their social gatherings and called off the educational institutes and are taking all possible precautionary measures. Many have sealed their borders and ordered a lockdown, canceling the flights also. Some of the newly added countries are:

Switzerland: Has confirmed 841 new cases of coronavirus, raising the tally to 2,200, the country’s health authority said.

The Federal Office of Public Health in Switzerland said the death toll has risen to 14.

All schools were closed in the country as part of measures to curb the coronavirus outbreak.

Switzerland’s official news website Swissinfo reported that “for the first time, the Swiss army will deploy a hospital battalion to support other civilian hospitals; it can welcome 200 patients.”

France: The health Minister Oliver Veran said that a total of 29 people died of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the death toll in the country to 120.

The cases confirmed in the country have risen to 5400, Veran added.

The Netherlands: All schools and daycare centers will be closed across the country until April 6, Education Minister Arie Slobs said on Sunday.

The country’s Health Minister Bruno Bruins announced the closure of sports clubs, cafes, and restaurants.

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Maldives: The number of COVID-19 cases rose to 13 on Monday after three more people tested positive to the virus, according to Maldives’ Health Protection Authority (HPA).

Two of the individuals who tested positive were on a safari while the third was at the Anatara Dhigu Maldives Resort, local media reported.

According to the HPA, out of the 13 cases in the country, 11 are held in an isolation center in Farukolhu, and 18 are held at a resort converted into a quarantine center in Villivaru.

All of the cases are foreign citizens who are either tourists or migrant workers.

The government has restricted check-in to guesthouses in the Greater Male’ area and implemented entry restrictions on tourists arriving from Spain, Germany, France, Italy, South Korea, China, and Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, the government of the Maldives has allocated 13 billion U.S. dollars from its contingency budget to finance precautionary measures to be taken during a 30-day state of a public health emergency, local media reported Monday.

Serbia: Has declared a state of emergency Sunday to halt the spread of the new coronavirus, shutting down many public spaces, deploying soldiers to guard hospitals and closing the borders to foreigners.

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic said the new restrictions were necessary to “save our elderly” in the Balkan state of some seven million, which has detected around 50 infections of COVID-19 so far with limited testing.

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“From tomorrow, there is no more school, no nurseries, no universities, everything closes, no training, sports… we will close down to save our lives, to save our parents,” he said.

The military would be mobilised to guard “important sites” like hospitals where coronavirus patients were being treated, he added.

The decree does not go as far as draconian lock-down measures imposed in the worst-hit European countries, Italy and Spain, where hundreds have died.

“I say to foreigners: don’t come to Serbia, except for the Chinese who are called upon to come, their doctors, the people who help us,” Vucic added.

The president, who is trying to lead Serbia into the European Union but has also fostered warm ties with Beijing, said China’s help was crucial amid a lack of “European solidarity”.

The country’s Prime Minister Ana Brnabic confirmed that Serbia’s borders would be closed to all foreigners “tonight” (Sunday), apart from diplomats and full-time residents.

Serbian nationals returning from outbreak hotspots will be quarantined from between 14 to 28 days, she added.

Those who violate the terms of the quarantine could face up to three years in prison.

After emerging in Wuhan, China last December, the virus is officially known as COVID-19, has spread to at least 141 countries and territories.

The global death toll from the virus has surpassed 5,700 with more than 152,000 cases confirmed worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, which has declared the outbreak a pandemic and Europe its epicenter.