The latest Covid-19 news from the Global South and around the world on Friday March 13, 2020
Cuban and Chinese doctors arriving in Italy to help the health authorities: The first country has Interferon Alpha 2B, a powerful method used in the treatment of coronavirus; the second carries the experience of having overcome the peak of infections in its territory.
Iván Duque orders closure of border crossings to Venezuela due to coronavirus: The President of Colombia, Iván Duque, announced this Friday the closure of the border with Venezuela from Saturday, the reinforcement of controls with Ecuador and the restriction of entry to the country to foreigners who have visited Europe or Asia in the last 14 days, to contain the advance of the coronavirus.
Update 7:30 PM:
A newborn baby in the UK has coronavirus making it the youngest victim yet: The child’s mother had been previously rushed to hospital under suspicion of pneumonia.
Mauritania detects its first case of coronavirus: Mauritania detected on Friday its first case infected by the coronavirus in a citizen from Europe, as announced by the Mauritanian Ministry of Health.
The ministry did not offer details on the nationality of the patient and limited itself to informing, through a statement that this person arrived in Mauritania on March 9.
Costa Rica Registers Slight Increase in COVID-19 Cases and Strengthens Prevention: The Ministry of Health of Costa Rica registers 26 confirmed cases of the coronavirus COVID-19, three more than on Thursday, and announced a strengthening of preventive measures to prevent an exponential growth of patients.
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“We have not had a significant increase in cases, which in no way means that the situation is going to stabilize. There are going to continue to be cases and that there is not going to be a sudden increase in cases, much depends on that action of the citizens to take the forecasts”, declared the Health Minister Daniel Salas, in a press conference
Royal Caribbean and Norwegian halt sailings due to the coronavirus: The Royal Caribbean Cruises company announced this Friday that it is suspending all its cruises in the United States for 30 days from this Saturday due to the coronavirus, a measure similar to that taken by Norwegian Cruise Lines, which suspended yours until April 11.
Royal Caribbean, which has the Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara and Silversea Cruises brands, and is number one in revenue for all cruise companies, said in a statement that “it understands the seriousness of the health crisis” created for this pandemic, which in the US It has caused 41 deaths so far, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control.
Update 5:30 PM:
Cyprus bans entry of all non-Cypriots over coronavirus: All foreign nationals are barred from entering Cyprus as of March 15 and for a period of 15 days
Measures announced by the President of the Republic of #Cyprus @AnastasiadesCY for tackling #COVID19 👉🏻 https://t.co/PKzWg6j9jQ pic.twitter.com/ZQi9jj5yMR
— Press and Information Office Cyprus (@CyprusPIO) March 13, 2020
All mass events in Sao Paulo are suspended indefinitely: The Municipality of Sao Paulo, the most populous city in Brazil with about 12 million inhabitants, suspended all public events with a high concentration of people indefinitely this Friday to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
“The mayor in office, Eduardo Tuma, at the request of the mayor Bruno Covas, this afternoon determined the cancellation of all events promoted by the Public Power that generate crowds of people,” the City Council said in an official statement.
St. Lucia, Suriname, and Antigua and Barbuda register first cases of COVID-19: Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda and Suriname, which ordered the closure of their airspace starting at midnight, became this Friday the fifth, sixth and seventh countries of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), respectively, to declare their first cases confirmed by COVID-19.
Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Granada, Haiti, Montserrat and Saint Kitts and Nevis are the Caricom nations that still remain without declared cases.
On the other hand, Curacao also made its first case official and ordered a ban on flights from Europe.
Update 4:00 PM:
U.S. President Donald Trump declared Friday a national emergency over the fast-spreading coronavirus, opening the door to providing more federal aid to fight the disease under the Stafford Act at a news conference scheduled for 3 p.m. local time.
A PBS journalist confronted him with the fact that he fired the entire Pandemic Response Team in 2018 without replacing any staff because of budget cuts.
“You said you don’t take responsibility for the slow response to coronavirus, but your administration disbanded the White House office on pandemics?” she asked.
“That’s a nasty question…,” replied Trump. “When you say me, I didn’t do it. We have a group of people [in the administration].”
Pressure has been mounting for Trump to declare an infectious disease emergency under the 1988 law that would allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide disaster funds to state and local governments and to deploy support teams.
Featured image: Cuban and Chinese doctors arriving in Italy to help the health authorities| Photo: Telesur
