Graffiti on a wall in Munich, Germany. Photograph: Peter Kneffel/AP
Helena Smith
Here is the latest from Greece, from my colleague Helena Smith.
Greece has announced it is halting all remaining flights to Italy following a mini-cabinet meeting chaired by prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
It was also decided to further bolster Greece’s health system by hiring hundreds of more doctors and nurses to cope with demands posed by coronavirus.
Hospitals nationwide were at the sharp end of budget cuts ordered by international creditors in return for rescue loans during the country’s long-running debt crisis.
Greek authorities have confirmed 190 Covid-19 cases so far but the number is likely to rise when new figures are released later today. The death toll rose to three this morning.
The government spokesman, Stelios Petsas, announced he was going into self-imposed isolation and would be working from home after his wife was diagnosed with the virus.
Almost all of downtown Athens now resembles a ghost town. Streets in the ancient Plaka district beneath the Acropolis were eerily empty with cafes and tavernas boarded up and closed.
Athens’ Roman agora is closed. Photograph: Helena Smith
Archaeological sites were also shut “until March 30.” The Olympic flame, which was lit in ancient Olympia on Thursday for the Tokyo 2020 games – and in more normal times would now be on a cross-country relay – arrived at Athens’ Kallimarmaro stadio this afternoon, five days ahead of schedule after the race was cancelled because of public health fears.
It will remain in the stadium until it is handed over to the Organising Committee Tokyo 2020 on March 19th.
Like other archaeological sites, the stadium is closed.
Taverna in Plaka, beneath the Acropolis, is also closed. Photograph: Helena Smith
Hundreds of members of the scientific community have sent two open letters to the British government, voicing their concerns about the response to the coronavirus outbreak.
One comes from 198 academics in the field of maths and science, calling for urgent measures of social distancing across the UK.
It says: “Going for ‘herd immunity’ at this point does not seem a viable option, as this will put NHS at an even stronger level of stress, risking many more lives than necessary.”
Another letter has been signed by 164 behavioural scientists. It raises concerns about the idea of “behavioural fatigue” – the idea that if the public are instructed to take preventative measures too early, they’ll eventually revert back to prior behaviour.
The letter suggests that this has been a cornerstone of British government policy on coronavirus and sheds doubt on the evidence behind this.
“While we fully support an evidence-based approach to policy that draws on behavioural science, we are not convinced that enough is known about ‘behavioural fatigue’ or to what extent these insights apply to the current exceptional circumstances,” it says.
“If ‘behavioural fatigue’ truly represents a key factor in the government’s decision to delay high-visibility interventions, we urge the government to share an adequate evidence base in support of that decision. If one is lacking, we urge the government to reconsider these decisions,” it ends.
Syria has shut schools, cancelled most public events, and reduced public sector hours to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The Health Ministry said the steps were “preventative” and “precautionary” and intended to raise the health sector’s readiness to control the virus should it emerge, and says there have been no cases in the country.
There’s a very sweet video on Twitter showing a young boy in Milan, Italy, shouting from the balcony of his home to the Red Cross, who are are bringing food to doctors.
Northern Ireland schools will be closed for “at least 16 weeks” but they will they will not be shutting immediately, the region’s first minister, Arlene Foster, has said after a summit with the Ireland’s taoiseach, Leo Varadkar.
The disclosure gives a glimpse of the scale of coronavirus crisis to come and will lead to questions as to whether a four-month schools closure is being planned for the rest of the UK.
Foster confirmed that schools in Northern Ireland will close at some point in an effort to stem the spread of the virus but it was a matter of timing.
The Middle Eastern kingdom Jordan says it will suspend all passenger flights in and out of the country from Tuesday, according to a government statement just issued.
Schools and universities will be closed and so will tourist sites including Petra as part of a number of proposals to limit public gatherings in the country.
The measures may seem onerous, given Jordan has a single confirmed case of the virus – a citizen who returned from Italy and was identified as being infected on 2 March.
But earlier today the Canadian government announced that one of its citizens who recently returned from Jordan had tested positive, raising the possibility there are undetected cases here.
The tour guide who showed the woman around has been quarantined but there’s no idea yet how the Canadian contracted the disease.
Jordan will would stop all incoming and outgoing passenger flights into the country from Tuesday, the prime minister, Omar Razzaz, has confirmed.
He also said that universities and schools would be closed for two weeks, with all tourist sites, sports and cinemas also set to close.
Jordan had one confirmed Covid-19 case, but this was successfully treated and the patient left hospital on Friday. It had already closed its borders with Egypt, Iraq, Syria and the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel.
The first minister of Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster, has said that when schools in Northern Ireland are closed, they will remain shut for a minimum of 16 weeks.
lisa o’carroll (@lisaocarroll)
Arlene Foster: Schools will not be closed immediately but schools and parent should prepare because when they do they will close “for at least 16 weeks”
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