Leo Varadkar meeting key worker Daiva Coghlan on 1 April at a Dublin hotel that is being used to allow people to self-isolate. Photograph: Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland/PA
Queen urges Britons to stay strong in televised address
In only the fifth special televised broadcast, other than Christmas messages, the Queen has said: “While we have faced challenges before, this one is different. This time we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavour, using the great advances of science and our instinctive compassion to heal.”
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The Queen's coronavirus address to the nation – watch liveShe thanked NHS staff and other key workers, and urged people to stay “united and resolute”.
Greek authorities have placed Mykonos and Santorini – two of the country’s most popular isles - under night curfew, announcing that residents will be unable to leave their homes between 8 PM and 8AM. Further restrictions on movement were also unveiled Sunday after a second case of coronavirus was confirmed by health workers on Mykonos.
With the exception of funerals, residents will be prohibited from attending all other public events for the next 14 days. The ban will extend to attending the elderly or sick – henceforth to be undertaken by municipal authorities – and leaving homes for exercise. As of Monday morning residents will only be able to walk outside with dogs and only for 15 minutes at most. The stringent rules will also be applied on Santorini where construction activities have also been ordered to come to a standstill.
The Cycladic isles are heavily populated, so much so that local clinics could easily be overwhelmed in the event of a surge of Covid-19. The precautionary measures, to be reviewed in two weeks’ time, were announced as Greek authorities confirmed that coronavirus cases, nationwide, had risen to 1735 with the death toll now standing at 73. The vast majority of fatalities - 52 - are men.
On Saturday, with 1,673 identified coronavirus cases, Greece ranked 43rd globally while holding 17th place in the European Union.
France’s daily death toll from the coronavirus fell in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Sunday.
The health ministry data showed that 357 people died from Covid-19 in hospitals, compared with 441 in the previous 24 hours, taking the total toll in hospitals to 5,889. The ministry added that 2,189 people had died in nursing homes since March 1, taking France’s total death toll to 8,078.
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Norway will send a team of medical and logistical staff to Italy’s Lombardy region to help fight the coronavirus pandemic, the Oslo government has announced.
The deployment is planned to last four weeks and will probably be based in the badly-affected city of Bergamo, according to the New York Times. The effort is in response to a request for international help issued by Lombardy’s health authorities on March 31.
The team is made up of 20-25 doctors, nurses and logistical staff, many of whom have experience working in outbreaks including Ebola and measles.
“Solidarity in Europe is not a theoretical exercise and now is the time to show it in practice,” Norwegian Health Secretary Bent Hoeie said. “We must help each other when crisis hits.”
Ireland’s premier Leo Varadkar has re-registered as a medical practitioner and will work one shift a week during the coronavirus crisis, Reuters reports.
Varadkar worked as a doctor for seven years before becoming a politician.
According to the Irish Times, the Taoiseach re-registered in March as the outbreak spread and will work in Ireland’s Health Service Executive.
Varadkar is reportedly helping out with phone assessments, as anybody who may have been exposed to the virus is initially assessed over the phone.
In the UK, a nurse at Liverpool’s Aintree University Hospital died on Friday after testing positive for coronavirus, PA news agency reports.
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust chief nurse Dianne Brown said: “It is with great sadness that I can confirm that Liz Glanister, a long-serving staff nurse at Aintree University Hospital, sadly passed away at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital on Friday after being tested positive for Covid-19.
“All our thoughts are with Liz’s family at this time and we offer them our sincere condolences. Liz will be sadly missed by all those who knew and worked with her.”
The first serving NHS midwife in England to die with coronavirus was confirmed on Sunday when Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, announced the death of Lynsay Coventry, 54.
Lance McCarthy, chief executive of the Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust, said Ms Coventry, would be remembered for her “professionalism and commitment”. Her family said in a statement that she had “followed her dream and trained as a midwife later in life”.
One other nurse, five doctors and two healthcare assistants have also contracted coronavirus and died since the start of the outbreak.
Turkey’s death toll from the coronavirus rose by 73 on Saturday to a total of 574. New confirmed cases rose by 3,135 to 27,069, health minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.
He added that 20,065 tests for the virus had been carried out in Turkey over the last 24 hours.
Dr. Fahrettin Koca(@drfahrettinkoca)
Test sayısında 20.000’i aştık. İyileşen toplam hasta sayımız 1.000’i geçti. Virüs, gücünü temas ortamından alıyor. Virüse bu fırsatı tanımayalım. Evde kalalım. Yeni uygulamada davranışlarıyla herkese örnek olan gençlere teşekkür ediyorum.https://t.co/RVlhe7786Opic.twitter.com/Anu01vZPU8
In the UK, oxygen supplies at a hospital just northwest of London became so precarious last week that officials considered how to decide who should receive the gas and who should miss out and likely die, the Guardian understands.
The oxygen system at Watford general hospital came close to breaking point on Saturday, when a critical incident was declared and staff had to tell the public not to come to the hospital. Some patients were moved out to prevent the vital system failing.
Last week, health planners in Hertfordshire, where more than 800 cases of coronavirus have been recorded, became so concerned about oxygen supplies they alerted the military that they might need help.
A senior clinician said: “They were [consulting] the hospital ethics committee every day and considering who they were not going to oxygenate and ventilate if they needed it, and making decisions about who would be triaged to not have oxygen and die.”
Here are the key developments of the last few hours:
Italy has reported its lowest increase in deaths in two weeks, with 525 new coronavirus deathson Sunday. For the first time, the total number of people hospitalised fell – down 61, from 29,010 to 28,949 – in a day.
Ethiopia and Barbados have reported their first coronavirus deaths. The Ethiopian victim was a 60-year-old Ethiopian woman who had spent six days in intensive care, while in Barbados the victim was an 81-year-old man with an underlying condition.
Scotland’s chief medical officer has withdrawn from daily media briefings after it was revealed she had twice visited her family’s second home. Catherine Calderwood will remain in the post and continue advising the Scottish government.
Pakistan has quarantined 20,000 worshippers and is looking for tens of thousands of others who attended a religious event in Lahore in March. Authorities want to test or quarantine 100,000 people who were at the event held by the Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic missionary movement.
Lebanon has started repatriating nationals in its first flights in weeks since it closed its international airport in response to the pandemic. Authorities said more than 20,000 people had signed up to be repatriated.
Pope Francis has celebrated Palm Sunday mass without the public due to the pandemic, which he said should focus people’s attention on what’s most important.
Austria’s number of new cases had risen by 270 since Saturday morning, while the number of recoveries increased by 491. Authorities said that the daily rate of new infections has fallen significantly in recent days.
Sweden’s government is drawing up legislation to allow it to take “extraordinary steps” to tackle Covid-19. On Sunday, Sweden reported a total of 401 deaths – an 8% increase from Saturday.
Belgium’s coronavirus outbreak appears to be reaching its peak according to reports after the number of intensive care hospitalisations rose from 1,245 to 1,261.
Singapore reported 120 new cases of the virus on Sunday, compared to 75 on Saturday. It marks the most infections confirmed in a day for the city-state, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1,309.
The country’s health minister has announced that Barbados has recorded its first death from the coronavirus.
The victim is said to be an 81-year-old male who had an underlying medical condition and had travelled to the UK.
Italy reports lowest increase in deaths in two weeks
Angela Giuffrida
Italy registered 525 new coronavirus deaths on Sunday, the lowest daily rate within the last two weeks and down from the record high of 969 on 27 March.
For the first time, the total number of people hospitalised across Italy fell by 61 ( from 29,010 to 28,949 in a day). This comes alongside a second day-to-day decrease in the number of intensive care unit beds in use.
The number of new confirmed cases increased by 2,972, a 3.3% rise compared to Saturday, but almost half the number of new cases recorded on 20 March.
Italy’s civil protection authority said on Sunday that 21,815 people had so far recovered from the virus, 819 more than on Saturday.
This has just come in from my colleague Dom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro:
A strategic study on Covid-19 by the Brazilian army has contradicted far-right president Jair Bolsonaro by recommending social isolation, following WHO and scientific studies, and “national cohesion”.
Bolsonaro, a former army captain who has stuffed his cabinet with military officers, has said Brazilians will be immune to the virus because they can jump in sewage, threatened to sack his health minister, attacked state governors for decreeing lockdowns and ignored WHO guidelines by mingling with crowds of people.
Published on April 2 and revealed on Sunday by Brazilian journalist Rubens Valente on the UOL site, the report from the Brazilian army’s Centre for Strategic Studies, entitled ‘Covid-19 crisis: Strategies for the Transition to Normality’, said that for now, “horizontal isolation” should be maintained.
Bolsonaro has called for Brazilians to get back to work and advocated the “vertical isolation” of those at risk, such as old people.
“There is a worldwide consensus between health specialists that social isolation, especially horizontal, is the best way of preventing contagion for the whole population. Selective, or vertical isolation, for determined risk groups is defended by some specialists and being adopted by some countries. However it is premature to draw conclusions from its results,” it said.
It said that selective isolation has been successful, when combined with widespread testing - currently not an option in Brazil. It said the “transition to normality” demanded, among other measures, following “recommendations of the World Health Organisation and scientific evidence.”
And it called for unity from “political leaders”, unlike Bolsonaro who has accused state governors and mayors who ordered lockdown of committing “crimes” and “busting the country”.
“In front of the size of the challenge… the need for national cohesion seems clear,” the report said.
Ethiopia has announced the first death of a patient suffering from the coronavirus, AFP reports.
“It is my deepest regret to announce the first death of a patient from COVID19 in Ethiopia,” health minister Lia Tadesse wrote on Twitter.
The victim was a 60-year-old Ethiopian woman who had spent six days in intensive care, a health ministry statement said.
Lia Tadesse
✔@lia_tadesse
It is my deepest regret to announce the first death of a patient from #COVID19 in Ethiopia. The patient who was in critical condition after being admitted to Eka Kotebe hospital was in ICU care and strict medical follow up. My sincere condolences to the family and loved ones.
Pakistan has quarantined 20,000 worshippers and is looking for tens of thousands of others who attended a religious event in Lahore in March despite the pandemic, according to AFP.
Authorities said they want to test or quarantine those who were at the event held by the Tablighi Jamaat - an Islamic missionary movement - between March 10-12.
Over 100,000 people attended the meeting despite government requests for it to be cancelled as the virus hit the country.
Leo Varadkar meeting key worker Daiva Coghlan on 1 April at a Dublin hotel that is being used to allow people to self-isolate. Photograph: Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland/PA
