GERMANY - 134 new cases in the past 24 hours for a total of 578
"A leading virologist who has so far been very vocal about the virus, and the government’s handling of it, has called the German health minister, Jens Spahn, too relaxed in his approach to the outbreak, insisting that authorities should consider closing down schools, kindergartens and universities, and banning large gatherings.
Prof Alexander Kekulé, the director of the Institute for Medical Microbiology at the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg, said Spahn was “acting as if Germans were immune to the coronavirus”.
Germany, he has insisted, should follow the example of Italy and Japan and order a “14 day corona holiday, for schools, other education institutions and large events”.
He has insisted previously that “by interrupting the infection chain we could still manage to break the epidemic in its early stage”.
Kekulé said such measures could considerably reduce the number of future infections and deaths. Individual schools and kindergartens with a direct connection to the illness have been closed, but authorities have so far said it is too early to consider a blanket closure.
Lufthansa, Germany’s biggest airline, has just announced that it is to cut its flight capacity by 50 per cent in the following weeks in order to cope with a slump in demand caused by the Corona virus. Its managers said cutting the flights would help ‘’even out” the financial downturn due to a low rate of bookings and mounting cancellations." (Guardian)
16 people have recovered.
SPAIN - 104 new cases totaling 386. 2 new deaths totaling 5.
All the victims so far in the country have been people in high-risk categories, elderly or suffering from a pre-existing condition.
Madrid and the surrounding area has the highest concentration of cases, at 137, after health officials found clusters at two elderly care centres. Both have since been closed.
SWITZERLAND - 94 new cases totaling 214.
RUSSIA - 6 new cases totaling 13.
SLOVAKIA 1st case.