Moscow begins lockdown during tougher push to curb virus

MOSCOW — Moscow, with its more than 12 million people, went into lockdown on Monday while other parts of Russia moved to introduce similar steps to curb the coronavirus outbreak.

The enforcement of the strict new rules, which Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin suddenly announced late Sunday, coincided with the beginning of a "non-working" week declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The situation is certainly serious and everyone should take this very seriously," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Moscow, which has become the epicentre of the contagion in Russia, announced the new measures after many Muscovites failed to heed recommendations to self-isolate and instead went to parks for barbecues at the weekend.

On Monday, Red Square in the heart of Moscow was eerily empty, while the streets of Europe's most populous city were quiet even though traffic could still be seen on the roads.

Anna, a 36-year-old web designer living in south Moscow, said the lockdown would be hard for her and her five-year-old daughter.

"But I don't want Arina to get sick," she told AFP while on her way to buy some bread. "So of course we will observe the quarantine."

But some were in no hurry to take the new rules to heart. Three teenagers flouted social distancing rules, walking and laughing together.

"Staying home with our parents will kill us quicker than the coronavirus," said one teen as the others nodded.

Regions eye lockdowns

Muscovites are now only allowed to leave their homes in cases of a medical emergency, to travel to jobs judged essential, and to go to local grocery stores and pharmacies which need to enforce social distancing.

People are also allowed to take out the trash and walk their dogs.

Over the past 24 hours Russia has recorded 302 new cases -- the biggest daily increase so far -- taking the national tally to 1,835 cases of coronavirus and nine deaths.

But the real number of infected people is believed to be higher and critics have rounded on authorities for not proposing tougher measures sooner.

At least eight regions including the Western exclave region of Kaliningrad have already imposed or were preparing to impose strict quarantines.

Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov was the first regional leader to announce a lockdown last week, banning non-residents from entering the once restive region.

Masked men in black uniforms were policing streets in Chechnya armed with white clubs, according to a video published by independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

In a rare televised address last Wednesday, Putin announced that Russians would not be required to go to work this week, but would still get paid.

He also postponed an upcoming public vote on constitutional reforms that would allow him to stay in power until 2036.

'Pray at home'

The powerful Russian Orthodox Church, which had initially said authorities had no right to close churches, finally fell into line on Sunday, with Patriarch Kirill calling on the faithful to pray at home.

"You can be saved without going to church," he told believers in an address.

The new isolation rules, which will be policed by a vast system of facial-recognition cameras in Moscow, came into force as Russia also closed its borders.

Agence France-Presse

Fauci says coronavirus could claim up to 200,000 US lives

A senior US scientist issued a cautious prediction Sunday that the novel coronavirus could claim as many as 200,000 lives in the United States, as state and local officials described increasingly desperate shortages in hard-pressed hospitals.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who leads research into infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told CNN that models predicting a million or more US deaths were "not impossible, but very, very unlikely."

He offered a rough estimate of 100,000 to 200,000 deaths and "millions of cases."

But Fauci, a leading member of President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force and for many Americans a comforting voice of authority, quickly added, "I don't want to be held to that ... It's such a moving target that you can so easily be wrong and mislead people."

By way of comparison, a US flu epidemic in 2018-19 killed 34,000 people.

COVID-19 has hit the US with explosive force in recent days and weeks, following a path seen earlier in parts of Asia and Europe.

It took a month for the US to move from its first confirmed death, on February 29, to its 1,000th. But in two days this week that number doubled, to nearly 2,200 on Sunday. The case total of 124,763 -- as tallied by Johns Hopkins University -- is the world's highest.

"This is the way pandemics work, and that's why we all are deeply concerned and why we have been raising the alert," Dr. Deborah Birx, the response coordinator for the White House task force, said Sunday on NBC.

"No state, no metro area will be spared."

- 'A sharp escalation ahead' -

In the US, the epicenter has been New York City, with 672 deaths so far. Hospital staff have issued desperate pleas for more protective equipment.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday that his city's hospitals have enough protective equipment -- but not enough of the life-saving ventilators -- for only another week.

He said he had made a direct request to President Donald Trump and the US military "to find us immediately more military medical personnel and get them here by next Sunday."

De Blasio credited federal officials with being "very responsive," but added, "we're talking about a sharp escalation ahead."

From Washington state, where the disease first struck with force, Governor Jay Inslee described "a desperate need for all kinds of equipment." He said the nation needed to be put on an essentially wartime footing.

Inslee pushed back against the notion, advocated earlier by Trump, that the country could begin returning to work by Easter.

"There are some hard realities we have to understand," he said on CNN. "Unless we continue a very vigorous social distancing program in my state, this will continue to spread like wildfire."

- 'Worse by the minute' -

Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan also described a deteriorating picture, especially in her state's largest city, Detroit.

"We had a thousand new cases yesterday," she said. "We know that number will be even higher today... The dire situation in Detroit is getting worse by the minute."

Whitmer bemoaned a system that has states competing against one another for desperately needed supplies.

"We're bidding against one another, and in some cases the federal government is taking priority," she said.

"It's really, I think, creating a lot more problems for all of us."

House speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Trump's "continued delay in getting equipment to where it's needed is deadly."

Asked on CNN whether she believed that Trump, by initially downplaying the severity of coronavirus, had cost American lives, she replied bluntly, "Yes, I'm saying that."

Dr. Birx declined to say what her recommendation would be to the president about an eventual easing of work and travel restrictions, but she offered this advice:

"Every metro area should assume that they could have an outbreak equivalent to New York, and do everything right now to prevent it."

Agence France-Presse

Pope holds dramatic solitary service for relief vs COVID

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis stood alone in vast Saint Peter’s Square Friday to bless Catholics around the world suffering under the coronavirus pandemic, urging people to ease their fears through faith.

“Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities; it has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void that stops everything as it passes by,” he said.

In a historic first, the Argentine performed the rarely recited “Urbi et Orbi” blessing from the steps of the basilica to an empty square, addressing those in lockdown across the globe via television, radio and social media.


“We find ourselves afraid and lost,” he said in a homily ahead of the blessing, as he stood under a canopy protecting him from a downpour.

He described the coronavirus “tempest” which he said had put everybody “in the same boat.”

The hour had come to “reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support and meaning to these hours when

everything seems to be floundering,” he said.

‘Did not listen’

The blessing – which translates as “To the City (Rome) and the World” – is usually given on just three occasions: when a pope is elected, and each year

at Christmas and Easter.

The pontiff traditionally speaks out against armed conflicts around the globe before delivering the Urbi et Orbi blessing.

But on Friday, the COVID-19 pandemic which has already killed more than 23,000 people was in his sights – and humanity’s errors and lack of faith

leading up to the crisis.

“We have gone ahead at breakneck speed, feeling powerful and able to do anything. Greedy for profit, we let ourselves get caught up in things, and

lured away by haste,” said Francis in his homily.

“We were not shaken awake by wars or injustice across the world, nor did we listen to the cry of the poor or of our ailing planet. We carried on regardless, thinking we would stay healthy in a world that was sick.”

Today was not “the time of your judgement,” the Pope clarified, but rather a time for people to focus on the important, “a time to separate what is necessary from what is not.”

‘Forgotten people’  

The pontiff saluted “ordinary people – often forgotten people“ who are showing courage and selflessness in the current crisis, citing doctors and nurses, supermarket employees, police forces, volunteers, priests and nuns.

And at the end of the service, Francis granted Catholics the chance to have a rare remission for the punishment of sins.

Earlier this month, when the Italian capital was already in lockdown, Francis made a solitary pilgrimage to two of the city’s churches.

At one, he borrowed a crucifix believed to have saved Rome from plague in the 16th century. On Friday, that crucifix was placed in front of Saint Peter’s.

“During the plague in the Middle Ages, the Church was the only visible presence in public, through the processions of priests who were supposed to produce miracles,“ Vatican expert Marco Politi told AFP.

“The pope wants to recapture a part of that scene and of the collective imagination,“ he said.

The head of the world‘s 1.3 billion Catholics is a high-risk subject for

the virus himself. Since coming down with a cold late last month, the 83-year-old has remained largely secluded within the Vatican.

Italian media reported that the pope had tested negative for coronavirus after a prelate who lived at his residence – a guest house in the Vatican was hospitalized on Wednesday with the virus.

“The anti-contagion cordon has been tight around the pope for weeks,“ La Stampa daily wrote.

The Vatican has only officially reported four positive cases of the coronavirus within the tiny city state, without confirming the alleged case in the guest house.

Agence France-Presse

Dasma residents tell Pacquiao: Stay home

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Manny Pacquiao and his family have been told to stay home by his neighbors in an exclusive village in Makati City after a video showing him partying with another lawmaker infected by the coronavirus went viral on social media.

In a letter to the senator, Barangay Dasmariñas homeowners said Pacquiao is effectively a “person under monitoring” after a video of Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III partying at Pacquiao’s house circulated on the internet.

Pimentel, who announced this week he contracted the disease, received public condemnation for breaching quarantine protocol when he accompanied his pregnant wife to a hospital and exposed health workers to the virus. He also went shopping at an S&R store.

Pacquiao earlier said members of PDP-Laban, including their president Pimentel, had a meeting at Pacquiao’s residence in Makati last March 4.

Pimentel said he received his test results on the evening of March 24. He took a swab test last March 20 after having experienced body pains.

“Many of your colleagues in Senate have been identified to be COVID-positive. Therefore, you have to be quarantined at your own house,” Barangay Dasmariñas residents told Pacquiao.

“For your own family and household’s safety, please have yourself self-quarantined, stay home. No one, including any of your household, can come out,” they added. “If you need something, please call the barangay... We can procure things for you and send it to your doorstep.” – philstar.com

S&R workers now also under quarantine because of Pimentel

MANILA, Philippines  — Corroborating social media reports, S&R Membership Shopping confirmed Sen. Koko Pimentel was at its Taguig branch days after he started experiencing symptoms linked to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

The senator has been on the receiving end of much criticism after he repeatedly breached his self-quarantine despite knowing he could be a carrier of the virus.

This comes as the latest in a row between the senator and Makati Medical Center after Pimentel accompanied his wife to the hospital on Tuesday night despite the results of a COVID-19 test still pending.

According to a statement issued on S&R Membership Shopping's Facebook page Thursday afternoon, CCTV footage placed the senator at the membership shopping center's Bonifacio Global City branch on Monday, March 16, at exactly 1:59 p.m.

This was exactly two days after, in his own recounting, Pimentel began experiencing "flu-like symptoms," at which point he supposedly isolated himself from his family.

"As a result, S&R employees who were in contact with the senator were already placed in quarantine [while] S&R BGC also took extra disinfection steps," the statement read.

It is not clear how many workers of the shopping center were affected.

Supermarket staff and other workers in industries related to food are exempted from quarantine restrictions are allowed to report to work.

Unlike the many that they serve, essential workers—which includes medical frontliners and staff—have to also contend with the suspension of mass transportation because of the quarantine.

Makati Medical Center: Pimentel exposed health care workers to possible infection
In a separate statement issued earlier, Makati Medical Center slammed what it said was Pimentel’s “irresponsible and reckless action.”

“By being in MMC, Sen. Pimentel violated his home quarantine protocol, entered the premises of the MMC-DR, thus, unduly exposed health care workers to possible infection,” they said.

Meanwhile, the shopping center, in their statement, assured customers that their stores and equipment were disinfected daily while employees were "constantly reminded" of the precautions and safety measures to take amid the outbreak.

As of this writing, the national count of COVID-19 patients has eclipsed 600 after the Department of Health recorded 84 more patients on Wednesday.

This, as the country is still under a nationwide state of calamity after President Rodrigo Duterte said that the number of cases is still steadily rising despite government intervention.

The rising number of cases is expected is more patients get tested for COVID-19 — Franco Luna

philstar.com

Asia steps up virus efforts as second wave of infections strikes

HONG KONG, China — From Australia's Bondi Beach to the streets of New Delhi, authorities across Asia have ramped up efforts to stem the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus amid fears of a second wave of infections in places where outbreaks had appeared under control.

Tighter travel restrictions were imposed in several countries as the number of cases in the region soared past 95,000 — a third of the world's infections, an AFP tally shows.

Outside China — where the virus was first detected in December and infected more than 80,000 people — South Korea is the hardest-hit country in Asia with more than 8,500 cases.

While the number of infections in China has been falling for weeks, other countries are seeing the toll gather pace from spread of the highly contagious virus.

Cases rose by roughly a third in Thailand overnight to nearly 600, fueling scepticism about claims in neighbouring Myanmar and Laos of zero infections.

Three doctors treating virus patients in Indonesia died, taking the country's death toll to 48 with 514 confirmed infections.

Most cases are in Jakarta, where businesses have been ordered closed for two weeks.

After shutting its borders to foreigners and non-residents, Australia told citizens to also cancel domestic travel plans, with the number of cases topping 1,300.

Bondi Beach and several other popular swimming spots were closed after crowds of sunbathers defied a ban on large outdoor gatherings.

Pubs, casinos, cinemas and places of worship will be shuttered for up to six months starting Monday.

India curfew

Pakistan suspended international flights in a bid to prevent the virus spreading.

Officials in Sindh — the country's second-most populous province — ordered a  lockdown effective midnight.

Pakistan has reported 5,650 suspected cases, 646 confirmed infections, and three deaths from the virus.

In nearby Bangladesh, however, only 27 cases have been reported, with two deaths.

Millions of people in India were in lockdown Sunday as the government tested the country's ability to fight the pandemic.

Officials said every private sector worker in New Delhi must work from home this week unless they are providing an essential service. Most public transport will also be halted.

Billionaire Anand Mahindra, whose vast Mahindra Group business empire includes cars and real estate, said his manufacturing facilities would try to repurpose to make ventilators.

Testing has expanded in the country of 1.3 billion people amid concerns that the 360 reported cases, including seven deaths, vastly understates the true scale of the crisis.

People took to their balconies in major cities after Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Indians to thank medical workers and emergency personnel by clapping or banging pots and pans for five minutes at 5:00 pm Sunday.

The World Health Organization has called for "aggressive" action in Southeast Asia, fearing that a major outbreak could cripple the region's often decrepit health care systems.

Second wave

Authorities are now dealing with a second wave of infections in places where outbreaks appeared to have been brought under control as people return from abroad.

Singapore is banning all short-term visitors to the densely populated city-state after a surge of imported cases took its total to 445 — including its first two deaths on Saturday.

In Hong Kong, where the worst had appeared to be over, the number of cases nearly doubled in the past week as more people fly back to the financial hub.

Infections in Malaysia hit 1,306 — more than half linked to an international Islamic gathering held last month, with attendees later returning to Singapore and Indonesia with the virus.

In Sri Lanka, where 82 cases were reported, guards fired on inmates in a northern prison when they tried to break out, angry over a ban on family visits to prevent the spread of the virus.

Two convicts were killed and six others wounded.

Authorities also put restrictions on the sale of two malaria treatments amid fears of a run on the drugs after US President Donald Trump said that they might be effective to prevent a COVID-19 virus infection — though scientists agree that only more trials would determine if chloroquine really works and is safe.

Papua New Guinea, which has one confirmed infection, declared a 30-day state of emergency and halted domestic flights and public transport for two weeks.

Guam, which has 15 cases, confirmed a 68-year-old woman had died of COVID-19 — the first virus-related death in the Pacific.

Agence France-Presse

Wuhan recovery gives rest of world hope: WHO

GENEVA, Switzerland — The World Health Organization said Friday that the original epicenter in China of the coronavirus outbreak at last reporting no new cases gave hope to the rest of the world battling the pandemic.

The city of Wuhan registered no new cases of COVID-19 in 24 hours—for the first time since reporting its first case in December in an outbreak that has gone on to infect more than 250,000 people around the world and kill more than 11,000 people.

"Yesterday, Wuhan reported no new cases for the first time since the outbreak started," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news conference in Geneva.

"Wuhan provides hope for the rest of the world that even the most severe situation can be turned around.

"Of course, we must exercise caution; the situation can reverse. But the experience of cities and countries that have pushed back this coronavirus gives hope and courage to the rest of the world."


China as a whole is now reporting only a handful of new infections each day—all of them apparently from overseas visitors—as the crisis has shifted from Asia to Europe, which has now reported more deaths than China.

Tedros said the WHO's greatest worry was the impact that the virus could have if it took hold in countries with weaker health systems or more vulnerable populations.

"That concern has now become very real and urgent," he said, but added that significant sickness and loss of life in such countries was not inevitable.


"Unlike any pandemic in history, we have the power to change the way this goes," he said.

Young 'not invincible' 

Tedros said that although older people had been the hardest hit by the disease, younger people were not spared, saying they made up many of the sufferers needing hospital treatment.

He said solidarity between the generations was one of the keys to defeating the spread of the pandemic.

"Today I have a message for young people: you are not invincible. This virus could put you in hospital for weeks—or even kill you," Tedros warned.

"Even if you don't get sick, the choices you make about where you go could be the difference between life and death for someone else.

"I'm grateful that so many young people are spreading the word and not the virus."

WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said that two out of three people in intensive care in badly-hit Italy were aged under 70.

Physical distancing 

The WHO also said it was now using the term "physical distancing" rather than "social distancing" to describe the need to maintain space between people to avoid the virus passing.

Although people may need to go into physical isolation, they did not need to become socially isolated, he said, adding it was important to maintain good mental health during the crisis.

"We can keep connected in many ways without physically being in the same space," said Maria Van Kerkhove, who heads the WHO's emerging diseases unit.

"We want people to still remain connected."

Tedros added: "It's normal to feel stressed, confused and scared during a crisis. Talking to people you know and trust can help."

Whilst advising people to maintain their mental and physical health during the crisis, including exercising and eating a healthy diet to help the immune system, Tedros also had a message for the world's smokers.

"Don't smoke. Smoking can increase your risk of developing severe disease if you become infected with COVID-19," he said.

The WHO also said it was launching a new health alert messaging service on WhatsApp, containing news, information, details on symptoms and how to prevent against catching the virus.

To access it, WhatsApp users need to send the word "hi" to the number 0041 798 931 892.

The service is initially available in English, with other languages to be rolled out next week.

Agence France-Presse

Philippines logs 13 new COVID-19 cases; total now at 230

MANILA, Philippines  — The Philippines detected 13 additional novel coronavirus cases on Friday, raising the total to 230 since the country first confirmed an infection in late January.

A vast majority of COVID-19 infections are in Luzon, prompting President Rodrigo Duterte to place the main island under enhanced community quarantine.

The Department of Health also reported one new fatality, bringing the death toll to 18.

A 65-year-old Filipino male from Quezon City, identified as Patient 124, passed away on Tuesday. He had a travel history to Singapore, which has 345 confirmed cases.

Meanwhile, the number of recoveries in the Philippines still stands at eight.


There are additional 506 patients under investigation for possible COVID-19 infection and 6,321 persons under monitoring.

There are concerns that the number of new coronavirus cases in the Philippines may be bigger due to the country’s very limited testing program. Only 1,269 tests have been conducted since January.

Secretary Francisco Duque III on Friday designated the UP-Philippine General Hospital and the Dr. Jose M. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital as exclusive facilities for patients infected with the new coronavirus.

This, after 11 private hospitals called on the government to centralize efforts into one or two facilities as the escalating health crisis continues to overwhelm healthcare centers.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Thursday warned that millions of people could die from COVID-19 if the virus spreads unchecked as he appealed for a coordinated global response to the pandemic.

The virus has infected nearly 244,517 people across the globe and caused over 10,000 deaths. More than 86,000, meanwhile, have recovered.

philstar.com

With COVID-19 cases rising, Philippines now under state of calamity

MANILA, Philippines  — President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday evening declared a nationwide state of calamity in the Philippines as a result of the worsening spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Invoking Republic Act 10121, the newly issued Proclamation 929 declares a state of calamity for a period of six months unless lifted earlier extended "as circumstances may warrant."

The proclamation enjoins all government agencies to render full assistance in combating the spread of the new pathogen.

The declaration also directs law enforcement agencies including the Armed Forces of the Philippines "to undertake all necessary measures to ensure peace and order."

Section 16 of RA 10121 or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 reads:


Section 16. Declaration of State of Calamity. - The National Council shall recommend to the President of the Philippines the declaration of a cluster of barangays, municipalities, cities, provinces, and regions under a state of calamity, and the lifting thereof, based on the criteria set by the National Council. The President's declaration may warrant international humanitarian assistance as deemed necessary.

The declaration and lifting of the state of calamity may also be issued by the local sanggunian, upon the recommendation of the LDRRMC, based on the results of the damage assessment and needs analysis.

Mark Timbal, spokesperson of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, confirmed to Philstar.com that meetings on recommending the state of calamity began on Monday.

"This was formally recommended today," he said.

The proclamation admitted that "the number of confirmed cases continues to rise despite government intervention."

The Department of Health confirmed earlier on Tuesday that there is already a community transmission of the virus. This is declared when a person is diagnosed with the disease despite not having been to a high-risk area and not having been in contact with any other confirmed cases.

There are 187 recorded cases of the virus in the Philippines with four recoveries as of press time.

Last Thursday, the chief executive also hoisted Code Red Sub Level 2 which placed Metro Manila under community quarantine, restricting travel and movement.

philstar.com

Air pollution 'likely' to cut COVID19 survival: experts

PARIS, France — Air pollution from petrol and diesel vehicles is likely to increase mortality from the novel coronavirus in cities, public health experts told AFP Monday.

The European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) warned that dirty air in urban areas that causes hypertension, diabetes and other respiratory illness could lead to a higher overall death toll from the virus currently sweeping the world.

Emissions from petrol and diesel engines were still at "dangerous" levels that could imperil the most vulnerable during this and future pandemics, said the European Respiratory Society (EPS), which is a member of the EPHA.

"Patients with chronic lung and heart conditions caused or worsened by long-term exposure to air pollution are less able to fight off lung infections and more likely to die," EPS member Sara De Matteis said.

"This is likely also the case for COVID-19," added de Matteis, who is also an associate professor in occupational and environmental medicine at Italy's Cagliari University.

The virus has so far infected more than 168,000 people and killed over 6,500 worldwide.

Several European nations have implemented unprecedented measures to prevent the spread of the disease and allow health systems to treat patients.

While there is currently no proven link between COVID-19 mortality and air pollution, one peer-reviewed study into the 2003 SARS outbreak showed that patients in regions with moderate air pollution levels were 84 percent more likely to die than those in regions with low air pollution.

COVID-19 is similar to SARS and can cause respiratory failure in severe cases.

Mortality data for COVID-19 is incomplete, but preliminary numbers show the majority of patients who die are elderly or have pre-existing chronic conditions such as heart or lung disease.

According to the European Environment Agency, air pollution leads to around 400,000 early deaths across the continent annually, despite European Union air quality directives.

One COVID-19 hotspot, northern Italy, has particularly high levels of PM10—microscopic particles of pollution due largely to road traffic.

The number of fatalities in Italy shot up by 368 to 1,809 on Sunday—more than half of all the cases recorded outside China.

Agence France-Presse

Catholic churches across Rome shut due to virus

VATICAN CITY, Holy See — All Catholic churches across Rome have been closed to stem the spread of a coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 1,000 people across Italy.

The churches will reopen when a broader Italian government crackdown on public gatherings expires on April 3, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the papal vicar for Rome, said in a statement.

Catholic faithful have been exempted from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass.

The Vatican had spent days resisting having to take the drastic measure of shuttering places of worship in the overwhelmingly Catholic country.

It closed its museums and even the Saint Peter's Basilica — parts of its soaring dome designed by Michelangelo — to tourists as the death toll continued to mount.

All masses, weddings and funerals across the country have also been called off.

But some church buildings in the country will stay open as long as the faithful follow government regulations and remain a metre (three feet) apart while inside.

It was not immediately clear when Rome's churches were last forced to close en masse.

The Nazis and Italian Fascists kept Pope Pius XII confined to the Vatican during World War II.

Some Rome churches kept their doors open during the war.

'Domestic churches'

The closures come with the pope himself suffering from a cold and communicating with the faithful by livestream as a safety precaution.

Pope Francis complained of feeling "caged" while reading his traditional Sunday Angelus Prayer into a camera from a Vatican library instead of his usual window overlooking crowds on Saint Peter's Square.

The 83-year-old was also forced to miss his weekly Wednesday appearance on the square that he often uses to hug and shake hands with the faithful from across the world.

The new regulations cover the Italian capital and not the Vatican City statelet located entirely within Rome.

The Holy See has recorded one COVID-19 infection and is awaiting the results of another person who attended one of its functions at the start of the month.

The cardinal's statement said access to "churches of the Diocese of Rome open to the public — and more generally to religious buildings of any kind open to the public — is forbidden to all the faithful".

The statement added that monasteries would remain open to "communities that habitually use them as residents".

"This provision is for the common good," De Donatis wrote.

The Italian government on Wednesday announced a comprehensive crackdown that closed all stores except for pharmacies and groceries.

De Donatis said he was finally moved to close Rome's churches by "the even more binding restrictions placed on the ordinary movement of people".

Agence France-Presse

Italy limits travel and bans public gatherings across whole country

ROME, Italy — Italy's prime minister told people to "stay at home" as the government limited travel and banned public gatherings across the whole country to combat the threat posed by the new coronavirus.

From Tuesday, the unprecedented quarantine measures will be extended from several large areas of the north to Italy's entire population of more than 60 million, according to a new decree signed on Monday night.

Since the COVID-19 disease first emerged in China late last year, Italy has become Europe's hardest-hit country and has seen a rapid rise in cases to more than 9,000 with 463 deaths reported so far.

The strict new rules, in place until April 3, also cancel sporting events "of all levels and disciplines", stopping play in the top-flight Serie A football league.

Only competitions organised by international bodies will be allowed to go ahead, but without spectators.

Before signing the decree, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in a dramatic evening television address that it could "be summarised as follows: I stay at home".

"Travel must be avoided across the entire peninsula unless it is justified by professional reasons, by cases of need or for health reasons," he told Italians.

The measures extend a quarantine zone that Italy had imposed for its industrial northern heartland around the cities of Milan and Venice on Sunday.


An AFP count showed Italy had recorded more than half of the 862 deaths reported outside China as of Monday night.

'Moment of responsibility'

The national restrictions mean that schools and universities will all immediately close.

However, it was not immediately clear how all these measures would be enforced.

Trains and numerous flights continued to operate into and out of Milan on Monday despite the earlier set of restrictions for its Lombardy region.

The government's first set of restrictions for Italy's north sent the stock market into a tailspin that saw the Milan exchange lose more than 11 percent on the day.

But the expansion of the northern restrictions to the rest of the country just a day later suggests a government struggling to cope with the scale of the medical emergency on its hands.

Italian health officials had warned on Saturday that the northern Lombardy region was starting to run out of hospital beds for its intensive care patients.

The government also began to recall retired doctors as part of an effort to quickly bolster the health service with 20,000 staff.

But the toll has kept growing by the day.

Italy recorded a record 133 deaths on Sunday and immediately announced that it was ordering 22 million surgical masks -- even though doctors question how effective they are in halting the spread of viral infections.

The government's latest set of measures mean that people will need to fill out a standard "self-certification" form justifying their reasons for travel.

These would be submitted to the authorities at train stations and airports as well as major roads running between cities.

The government decree says its forms will work on an honours system and no proof of "need" will be required.

"Everyone must give up something to protect the health of citizens," said Conte.

"Today is our moment of responsibility. We cannot let our guard down."

Agence France-Presse

Virus fears, violence hit International Women's Day rallies

PARIS, France — Tens of thousands took to the streets across the globe to mark International Women's Day on Sunday despite many events in Asia being cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak, and attacks on women at some events in Europe and Asia.

Women were attacked at events in Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan, police fired tear gas at women marching in Turkey and some politicians condemned what they said was police violence at a women's rally in Paris.


Some women who marched in ultra-conservative Pakistan came under attack with stones and sticks, reflecting the movement's challenge in a society where females are still put to death under ancient "honour" codes.

And in Kyrgyzstan, masked men attacked one rally in the capital Bishkek, tearing up placards carried by the participants, police arrested dozens of demonstrators.

A police spokesman said they were detained for their own safety.



In Turkey, Istanbul police fired tear gas to stop hundreds of women marching on the city's central avenue after the authorities banned the march for the second year running.

'Unacceptable violence'

In France, topless Femen activists, wearing protective glasses and masks, gathered at Place de la Concorde in Paris to denounce "the patriarchal pandemic", despite the best efforts of police to control them.

"Who's doing the washing up?" they chanted. "We are making a revolution".


But rights groups and politicians denounced what they said was police violence at a women's march in Paris the night before, after scuffles broke out and police arrested nine people.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, currently seeking re-election, said she was shocked by the "unacceptable and incomprehensible" violence and expressed her solidarity with the demonstrators.

Some women tweeted pictures of marchers left battered and bruised, prompting Europe Ecology-The Greens party secretary Julien Bayou to blast what he termed "absolutely unjustifiable police violence".

In China, the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic, state broadcaster CCTV highlighted the work of female medical workers on the frontlines in the fight against the virus.

Despite growing fears over the worsening epidemic, marches went ahead in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

A women's marathon planned in India was postponed over virus concerns.

In South Korea, where more than 7,000 virus infections make it the hardest-hit country outside China, several events were cancelled.

"Although we can't be physically together, our minds for realising gender equality are stronger than ever," the country's gender equality minister Lee Jung-Ok said in a video message.

'Violence and poverty getting worse'

In Bangkok, protesters called for improved labour protections amid the epidemic that has infected dozens in Thailand, and greater rights under a military-aligned government.

Hundreds of women and men rallied in the Philippine capital Manila, burning a giant effigy of President Rodrigo Duterte -- whom they accuse of misogyny -- to mark the day.

"The violence and poverty among women are getting worse," Joms Salvador of women's group Gabriela told AFP.

Women also turned out in force in Iraq and Lebanon.

There were rallies too in Mexico, which has long battled deep-rooted violence against women. Women marched in the capital Mexico City, but also in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, the scene of a string of murders of women.

Thousands marched in the Spanish capital Madrid, and thousands more in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.

In Peru, women demonstrated in the capital Lima calling for legal abortion, better working conditions and an end to violence against women.

In Sudan, women demonstrated outside the justice ministry in the capital Khartoum on Sunday, calling for an end to discriminatory laws.

In Brazil, several women marched against the policies of the country's far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.

"The government's policies have consisted of taking away the rights of women workers," 35-year-old Marcela Azevedo, with the group Women in Combat, told AFP.

Agence France-Presse

Asia-Pacific economies face $211-billion hit from virus, says S&P

HONG KONG — The coronavirus could wipe more than $200 billion off Asia Pacific economies this year, S&P Global ratings warned Friday, sending growth to its lowest level in more than a decade, as governments struggle to combat the disease.

In a worst-case scenario, China could see growth of less than three percent, while Japan, Australia and Hong Kong could "flirt with recession", it said in a report.

Fears about the impact of the outbreak, which has spread to at least 85 countries since it began in China in late December, have hammered world markets as investors fret over its economic impact.

S&P said it expected the region to grow 4.0 percent this year as supply and demand shocks blow a $211 billion hole in the economy. That compares with a 4.8 percent estimate given in December and would be the worst performance since a contraction in 2008 caused by the global financial crisis.

"Asia-Pacific's outlook has darkened due to the global spread of the coronavirus," it said. "This will exert domestic supply-and-demand shocks in Japan and Korea. It will mean weaker external demand from the US and Europe"


The report said economies were suffering from the double-whammy of weak demand as consumers stay home for fear of catching the disease, and falling supplies as industries are rocked by shutdowns.

It saw China's economy -- which was already stuttering before the crisis struck -- expanding 4.8 percent this year, which would be the worst in three decades.

However, it added that in the worst case, which "assumes localized reinfections as people return to work and the re-imposition of some restrictions on activity" growth could crash to just 2.9 percent.

Hong Kong, which suffered its first recession last year since 2008, was tipped to shrink further.

The city, along with Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam would be the hardest hit, with tourism -- which has been battered globally -- accounting for around 10 percent of growth on average.

Still, S&P did say that economies would likely see healthy rebounds.

"A U-shaped recovery is likely to be delayed until the third quarter if signs emerge by the second quarter that the virus is globally contained," the report said.

"We assume that the coronavirus will not permanently impair the labour force, the capital stock, or productivity -- hence, the region's economies should be employing as many people and producing as much output by the end of 2021 as it would have done in the absence of the virus."

Also on Friday, the Asian Development Bank said it saw China taking a $103 billion hit, or 0.8 percentage point hit to GDP, while losses could hit $22 billion -- or 0.2 percentage points -- for other developing economies in the region.

"The magnitude of the economic losses will depend on how the outbreak evolves, which remains highly uncertain," the bank said in a statement.

Agence France-Presse

Pope 'tests negative for coronavirus': report

VATICAN CITY, Holy See — Pope Francis, who is suffering from a cold, has tested negative for the coronavirus, an Italian newspaper reported Tuesday, as Italy battles Europe's worst outbreak.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni did not respond to a request for comment on the report in the Messaggero newspaper.


Francis canceled a Lent retreat for the first time in his papacy this weekend, after axing all public meetings at the end of last week over the cold.

The new coronavirus has spread from China across much of the world, with Italy among the worst affected with over 2,000 people infected and 52 deaths.

The 83-year-old pontiff has been seen coughing and blowing his nose, but the Vatican on Sunday quickly shot down speculation that the pope himself had come down with COVID-19.


The Messaggero report did not say when Francis had been tested for the disease.

Agence France-Presse

Nike's valuation slashed by $17B due to coronavirus

MANILA, Philippines — Athletic wear giant Nike is feeling the effects of the coronavirus on its sales, Forbes reported.

Nike's valuation was slashed by $17 billion after temporarily closing approximately half of its company-owned stores in Greater China.

Additionally, there is also reportedly a significant drop in retail store traffic in the country because of the outbreak.

China, which currently has around 35,000 active cases of coronoavirus in the country, is one of the most important geographic regions for Nike.

According to Forbes, China makes more than 15% of Nike's total revenues and nearly 40% of the company's profits in the last fiscal year.


In addition, the Asian powerhouse has also been the company's fastest-growing region — accounting for more than one-third of the company's growth over the last three years.

With the coronavirus outbreak still in full swing, it is likely that Nike will continue to feel its effects.

source: philstar.com