Vietnam implements social distancing from April 1, 2020
On the morning of March 31, the Prime Minister issued Directive No. 16 on implementing social distancing nationwide for 15 days, starting April 1, 2020.
Specifically, citizens will practice social isolation from 0:00 on April 1, 2020 according to the principle of family isolation from family, village isolation from village, commune isolation from commune, district isolation from district, province isolation from province, workshops and factories must ensure safe distance, wear masks, disinfect and sterilize according to regulations.
Ho Chi Minh City on the morning of April 1 - Photo: Zing.vn
All people are required to stay at home, only going out in cases of real necessity such as buying food, medicine, emergencies, working at factories, production facilities, service businesses, essential goods that are not closed, suspended operations and other emergencies; strictly follow the minimum distance of 2 meters when communicating; do not gather more than 2 people outside of offices, schools, hospitals and in public places.
Two more Covid-19 cases have recovered
On the morning of April 1, at Ninh Thuan General Hospital, two Covid-19 patients were announced to be cured after treatment, testing negative for SARS-CoV-2 virus three times in a row.
Specifically, two patients were discharged from the hospital, including patient number 61 (male, 42 years old) admitted on March 15; patient number 67 (male, 36 years old) admitted on March 17.
Indonesia declares national emergency
On March 31, Indonesian President Joko Widodo declared a national emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, along with measures to support low-income people. The measures include increasing social welfare, food assistance, reducing electricity prices and reducing taxes.
Singapore suspends companies that do not allow employees to work from home
Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said that if the authorities assess that a company has not made sufficient efforts to allow its employees to work from home, it will be forced to suspend its operations. Mr Teo also said that if the nature of the work can be done from home, companies must make every effort to do so.
The number of coronavirus infections in Singapore has now increased to 926 cases.
In Thailand, as companies let employees work from home and students study remotely, mobile data will be waived to facilitate the above measures.
South Korea continues to close schools
South Korea has postponed the return to school (next week as previously scheduled) and continued online learning, while also postponing the annual university entrance exam.
The number of new coronavirus infections in South Korea has fallen below 100 a day, but outbreaks at churches, hospitals, nursing homes, as well as imported cases, are still increasing.
China closes tourist attractions again
Tourist attractions that just opened in Marchhave been asked to close partially or completely, to prevent the spread of nCoV.
In Shanghai, from March 30, local authorities closed the Huangpu Underground, a popular tourist attraction that had reopened on March 13. This move is to prevent and control the spread of nCoV, according to a statement from the destination management unit.
Indoor tourist attractions such as the Shanghai Farm Culture Museum and the ceramic art gallery will also be closed on March 30. Other attractions to be closed include Guangfulin Cultural Relics Park, Haichang Ocean Park, Oriental Pearl TV Tower, and Shanghai Tower.
Outdoor areas such as parks will remain open but with limited capacity. On average, they will allow fewer than 5,000 people a day, half the normal daily capacity. In addition, 37 outdoor tourist attractions with indoor play areas have been asked to close.
Sierra Leone records first case of coronavirus
The West African nation of Sierra Leone has reported its first case of Covid-19, a 37-year-old male tourist who arrived from France on March 16 and has been in quarantine since. President Julius Maada Bio announced the news on national television, but did not announce any measures to deal with the pandemic.
Sierra Leone is a country located in West Africa.
The number of COVID-19 deaths in the US exceeds China
There have been 3,393 deaths in the US due to Covid-19, higher than China's 3,305 and the 4th highest in the world, after Italy (11,591 cases), Spain (8,189) and France (3,523), according to Reuters.
Health officials are urging Americans to comply with stay-at-home orders and other measures to stop the spread of the virus.
The US is currently the world's largest epidemic area with more than 188,000 infections and more than 3,800 deaths, surpassing China in both the number of infections and deaths.
New York uses refrigerated trucks as makeshift morgues
The US has deployed 85 refrigerated trucks to New York City to temporarily store bodies as the number of deaths from the coronavirus continues to rise rapidly.
The US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) deployed trucks to New York City, the area hardest hit by Covid-19, on March 30. The additional trucks could double the city's morgue storage capacity from 3,500 to 7,000 bodies.
The number of coronavirus infections in New York has increased sharply, with more than 9,000 cases in just 24 hours. Specifically, it increased from 66,497 cases on March 30 to 75,795 cases on March 31. The number of deaths in New York also increased from 1,218 cases to 1,550 cases.
California will release 3,500 prisoners to limit COVID-19 infection
The California state government is granting permission to quickly release 3,500 prisoners to reduce crowds in the context of the Covid-19 epidemic raging in the US and starting to spread in the state's prison system.
The Los Angeles Times reports that non-violent inmates will begin to be released in the coming weeks. The process of releasing all 3,500 inmates will take about 60 days, and the state has a lot of work to do to release such a large number of inmates.
According to the Los Angeles Times, California has recorded COVID-19 cases in 10 state prisons, affecting 22 staff and 4 inmates. California began testing prisoners for the coronavirus on March 7.
The epidemic in Italy is peaking
On March 31, President of the Italian Higher Institute of Health Silvio Brusaferro said that based on the Covid-19 epidemic curve, the epidemic in this country has reached its peak. However, Mr. Brusaferro affirmed that this is not the end point and that caution is needed because the epidemic could flare up again if Italy stops the containment and isolation measures in place.
On the same day, the Italian Civil Protection Agency announced that the country recorded 4,023 more cases positive for SARS-CoV-2, bringing the total number of cases to 105,792, including 12,428 deaths (an increase of 837 cases). The number of patients successfully treated increased by 1,109 cases to 15,729 cases.
France records record number of deaths in one day
On the evening of March 31, French health officials announced that the number of Covid-19 deaths in the country reached 499 in the past 24 hours, the highest ever, bringing the total number of deaths in hospitals to 3,523 since the outbreak. Thus, France surpassed the US and China to become the third country in the world in terms of Covid-19 deaths, after Italy and Spain.
The number of confirmed cases of the virus is 52,128. Of the 22,757 people currently hospitalized, 5,565 are in severe condition and need intensive care. 34% of the severe cases are under 60 years old and 62% are between 60 and 80 years old. 9,444 people have been cured and discharged from hospital.
Russian government given power to impose state of emergency
In an extraordinary session on March 31, the Russian Senate passed a bill allowing the Russian government to impose a state of emergency and high alert nationwide or in individual regions.
With the new bill, the government can set mandatory rules when imposing a state of emergency or high alert. The government can also coordinate the work of the unified state system to prevent and eliminate emergencies.
Tunisia releases 1,420 prisoners due to COVID-19
Tunisian President Kais Saied on March 31 ordered the release of 1,420 prisoners to limit the spread of the coronavirus. The country has also declared a lockdown to slow the spread. So far, Tunisia has had 574 cases and 10 deaths.
Source: Government Information
