According to the global index data at the time of writing this report, the total Coronavirus cases worldwide has surged to 491,120 with 22,165 people succumbing to the infection. As the incidence of reported positive coronavirus cases continues to increase, countries across the globe are imposing stay-at-home orders in attempts to curb the disease’s spread.
India joins nearly a dozen countries facing extended national lockdowns. Hoping to counter the virus’ spread, Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Colombia, Bolivia, Jordan and Tunisia have already implemented countrywide quarantine policies.
India:
In a live video address on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced India would become the latest impose a three-week “complete lockdown,” to tackle the scourge of the epidemic. The government’s tedious attempt to keep 1.3 billion citizens indoors began at midnight on March 24 and will continue for 21 days. Before that, most states in India had announced individual lockdowns of one week, but now the entire country has entered nationwide lockdown of three weeks.
Italy:
After a surge in COVID-19 cases in Italy, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte put the entire country on lockdown on March 10, restricting travel, leisure, work, churchgoing, and other aspects of life for its 60 million citizens. Italy has so far reported 74,386 positive cases with 7503 deaths so far.
Spain:
Spain’s streets have turned eerily empty since the government declared the state of emergency and imposed a nationwide lockdown for two weeks on March 14- aiming to stop the spread of the coronavirus in the country.
“We will eventually return to the routine of our jobs and again visit our friends and loved ones,” prime minister Pedro Sanchez said in a nationally-televised conference.
“Until that time comes, let’s not waste energies that are essential now. Let’s not lose our way,” he added, urging all to stay home.
Those disobeying the conditions of the state of alert could face fines starting from €100 or imprisonment should they “resist or seriously disobey the authorities or officers when they are carrying out their functions”.
Spain until now has recorded 56,188 confirmed cases with 4089 people succumbing to the deadly virus.
United Kingdom:
The UK is banned people from leaving their homes apart from for a few “very limited” reasons, Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a broadcast announced on March 21 (Monday), as he imposed the most stringent restrictions seen in Britain since the end of World War II.
Shops, gyms, and places of worship were all closed, and social events including weddings but not funerals were postponed.
The United Kingdom has thus far recorded 9,529 cases and a total of 465 deaths.
Australia:
Prime Minister Scott Morrison imposed a lockdown on Monday (March 23). He said that he wanted to keep Australian schools open, but parents could keep children at home if they wanted. “We are not putting in place lockdowns that put people in and confine them to their homes: Morrison said. “That is not a measure that has been contemplated at this point.”
On March 24 evening PM Scott Morrison outlined a further set of restrictions on businesses and individual behaviours to combat the coronavirus outbreak. Some of these were revised again on March 26 morning.
Australia has recorded 2799 cases so far and confirmed that 13 people have died so far because of the deadly coronavirus.
South Africa:
South Africa is eying at a 21-day lockdown from March 26. “While this measure will have a considerable impact on people’s livelihoods, on the life of our society and on our economy, the human cost of delaying this action would be far, far greater,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
In an address to the nation, Ramaphosa said the army would be deployed to assist the police during the lockdown.
South Africans will still be able to leave their homes to buy food, seek medical care and collect social grants.
The total number of cases in South Africa has reached 709 and thankfully it has not recorded a single death due to the infection as of now.
Last week Jordan had started one of the strictest lockdowns in the world to stop the spread of the coronavirus, forcing most people to stay indoors and temporarily shutting down even grocery stores and pharmacies. The country had completely banned people going outdoors, even banning going for walks and walking pets. On Tuesday, the country relaxed the lockdown a bit, allowing some grocery stores to open.
Yesterday New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared a state of emergency from Thursday over the coronavirus outbreak, announcing a four-week lockdown. During this period, only essential services – including banks, supermarkets and pharmacies – will open. People have been warned to stay at home as much as possible, and although they are allowed to go out for essential reasons, they must maintain a distance of two metres from another person.
A coronavirus is a virus that is found in animals and, rarely, can be transmitted from animals to humans and then spread person to person. The Novel Coronavirus originated from a seafood and meat market in Wuhan, China, in December and since then spread to over 70 locations internationally.
