BARCELONA,
Spain (AP) — A new round of restrictions and border closures was
announced in Europe and beyond on Sunday as public life and travel
increasingly ground to a halt and even worship was disrupted amid
efforts to keep people apart and slow the spread of the new coronavirus.
Spain
awoke to the first day of a nationwide quarantine. Austria’s
chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, said his government was limiting people’s
movement nationwide, shortly after the country’s Tyrol province followed
Italy and Spain in barring people from leaving their homes except for
essential errands and work. Europe is currently the main front line of
the fight against COVID-19.
Other
than essential errands, people should go out “only alone or with the
people with whom (they) live in their apartment,” Kurz, whose country
has confirmed 800 infections, told the Austria Press Agency. Neighboring
Slovenia said it would shut down all public transport starting Monday
and planned to shut all but food shops and pharmacies.
Estonia
and Latvia said they would close their borders to foreign nationals,
except residents, from Tuesday. Turkey put aside quarantine beds for
more than 10,000 people returning from pilgrimage to Islam’s holy sites
in Saudi Arabia.
Italy,
the worst-hit European country with more than 21,000 infections and
1,400 deaths, ratcheted its nearly week-old lockdown still tighter. The
transport ministry banned passengers from taking ferries to the island
of Sardinia, and also banned overnight train trips — which many in the
worst-affected north had been taking to reach homes and families in the
south.
Spain joined Italy on lockdown after the government declared a two-week state of emergency.
In
Barcelona, people who ventured out on quiet streets to buy bread at one
bakery formed long lines with a meter (about three feet) between each
person as recommended by authorities to reduce the risk of contagion.
Police patrolled parks and told people who were not taking their dog on a
quick walk to go home.
A
police patrol car cruised Barcelona’s streets slowly a with loudspeaker
blasting a recorded message that people should respect the restrictions
on movement.
The
state of emergency “is necessary to unify our efforts so we can all go
in the same direction,” Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau said on Sunday. “If we
show solidarity and think about one another we can get through this.
Other countries have, and it is in our hands to give our best answer to
this huge challenge.”
Spain’s
government said late Saturday that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s wife
had tested positive for the coronavirus. Begoña Gómez and the prime
minister are in good health, the government said.
There
were tough steps in Southeast Asia too: soldiers and police sealed the
densely populated Philippine capital, Manila, from most domestic
travellers in one of the region’s most drastic containment measures. In
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, President Joko
Widodo asked all people to work, study and worship from home.
Travellers scrambling to return to the U.S. after the Trump administration imposed a wide-ranging ban on people entering from Europe faced hours-long waits for required medical screenings.
Videos
and photos posted on social media showed packed, winding lines of
returning travelers. On Twitter, airports like Dallas/Fort Worth and
Chicago O’Hare acknowledged the delays and asked for patience.
In
China, where the virus was first detected in December, those arriving
on overseas flights were routed to a converted exhibition center for
initial checks before being shuttled off to their homes or other
quarantine locations.
It
was clear, however, that the center of gravity in the crisis had
shifted toward Europe and North America. The virus has infected more
than 156,000 people worldwide and killed over 5,800. China, Italy, Iran,
South Korea and Spain are the countries with the most cases.
For
most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms,
such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people
with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness,
including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover in a matter of
weeks.
Even as
social life largely halted — the German capital, Berlin, closed bars,
cinemas and other facilities on Saturday evening, for example — some
attempts at keeping up public life persisted.
France, which has reported 4,500 cases and 91 deaths. went ahead Sunday with nationwide elections
to choose mayors and other local leaders despite a crackdown on public
gatherings. The government ordered unprecedented sanitary measures at
polling stations.
Organizers
were under orders to allow a one-meter (about three-foot) gap between
people in lines, and to provide soap or hydro-alcoholic gel and
disinfectant wipes for voting machines. Voters were told to bring their
own pens to sign the voting register.
The
state of Bavaria in neighboring Germany, which had reported nearly
3,800 cases and eight deaths nationwide as of Saturday, also went ahead
with municipal elections. Local officials said more people filed postal
ballots than five yeaars earlier, while election workers used
precautions such as protective gloves.
The
increasing restrictions weighed on Sunday worship in Spain, where
orders stipulated that a one-meter gap be kept between parishioners.
At
least one church in Madrid streamed midday Mass online. The faithful
were allowed in the main chapel to pray but given instructions to keep
apart. Holy water bowls had been emptied, and a room for confession was
prepared because ordinary confessionals would have put the priest and
the faithful too close.
At
the Vatican, Pope Francis for the second Sunday delivered his noon
remarks and spoken blessing from inside the Apostolic Library instead of
from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square. He praised people who
might risk contagion to help the poor and homeless even as fears of the
virus prompt ever more countries to restrict everyday life.
With
Easter less than a month away, the Vatican said Holy Week religious
ceremonies — usually a string of massive public occasions that draws
huge numbers of tourists and pilgrims to Rome — will go ahead, but just
how hasn’t yet been decided.
Britain,
which has taken a different approach and hasn’t yet restricted everyday
activities, said it plans to set out emergency powers this week,
including requiring elderly to self-isolate and banning mass gatherings.
“We
will do the right thing at the right time,” Health Secretary Matt
Hancock told the BBC. “We will publish the bill this week coming, we
will change the law so that we take the power to be able to close mass
gatherings if we need to.”
Other measures include potentially requiring people over 70 to self-isolate for up to four months, he said.
In
the Middle East, Muslim authorities announced that Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa
mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site, would be closed indefinitely due to
concerns about the outbreak, with prayers continuing to be held on the
sprawling esplanade outside.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial on serious corruption charges, which was supposed to begin this week, was postponed for two months because of restrictions on public gatherings.
The
U.S. has seen 60 deaths and more than 2,100 cases. In hard-hit
Washington state, officials said the disease is straining the supply of
protective gear available to medical providers despite shipments from
the federal government.
President Donald Trump tested negative for the new coronavirus, the president’s personal physician said Saturday.
___
Geir
Moulson reported from Berlin. Frances D’Emilio in Rome, Iain Sullivan
in Madrid, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Yanan Wang in Beijing, Andrew Taylor
in Washington, and Jim Gomez in Manila contributed to this report.
___
The
Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from
the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education.
The AP is solely responsible for all content.
___
Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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