March 20 Coronavirus Latest Updates: Worldwide Deaths Jump Over 10,000

As the worldwide death toll from the coronavirus pandemic on Friday jumped over the 10,000 mark, Greece, which has recorded nine deaths, strengthened its measures against the spread by announcing that all hotels which operate on a 12-month basis will be forced to shut down until April 30.
Many countries have tightened their lockdowns. On Thursday, the governor of California has ordered all citizens to stay at home as he escalated the attempts of America’s most populous state to combat Covid-19.
Technology giants Microsoft and Bing have created an interactive map, on which you can select areas and see active, recovered and fatal cases of coronavirus infections. You can also see results by country, along with useful information on the disease. View it here.
March 20 Updates
21:10: France records a total of 450 deaths and 12,612 confirmed cases.
20:40: Greece records its tenth death from the coronavirus pandemic. The tenth victim was a 93-year old from Patras. Full story. 
20:38: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the Commission triggered the ”General Escape Clause” meaning that member states can throw as much money as they need to their national economies. This is an unprecedented measure.

We promised we'll do everything to support Europeans & 🇪🇺companies through the crisis. We deliver. Yesterday we put in place the most flexible ever #StateAid rules to help people+companies. Today we trigger the clause to relax budget rules, enabling govs to pump💶into the economy pic.twitter.com/a7IuuOSQWz

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) March 20, 2020

19:48: Schools in Greece will remain closed in Greece until April 10. Full story.
19:29: Italy announced 627 new deaths on Friday. Full story.
19:10: UK’s PM Boris Johnson told all bars, clubs, restaurants and cafes in the country to shut down tonight.
18:55: EasyJet, one of Europe’s largest low-cost carriers, will ground most of its aircraft fleet from March 24.
18:50: A third individual has died on Friday in Greece, raising the total number of deaths to nine. Full story. 
18:04: More than 7,200 tests have been conducted in the country so far. 90 individuals are hospitalized, 20 of whom are in serious condition. The average age of those in serious condition is 71.
18:02: Greece records 31 new cases. The total number is now 495. The total number of deaths is nine.
17:25: 400 Greek nationals will arrive in Athens from London on Friday. Staff from EODY will take their temperature upon arrival and they will then have to self-isolate for 14 days.
16:57: Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis uploaded a video on Twitter, urging people to respect the restrictions.

Σπάμε την αλυσίδα μετάδοσης του κορονοϊού. Επιδεικνύουμε ατομική ευθύνη και ακολουθούμε αυστηρά τις οδηγίες. Δεν συνωστιζόμαστε. Δεν μετακινούμαστε. Κρατάμε αποστάσεις. Μένουμε στο σπίτι! pic.twitter.com/nvzn2uFNmq

— Prime Minister GR (@PrimeministerGR) March 20, 2020

16:25: Greece records its 8th death from the coronavirus pandemic. He was an 80-year old man, who had underlying health issues.
16:20: Archbishop Ieronymos of Greece urged people to turn their homes into small churches and stay positive.
15:30: Greece will repatriate Greek citizens from Italy, Spain and Latin America, it was made public on Friday. Full story. 
14:50: Greece has toughened its response to people who have ignored warnings to stay at home, announcing that only islanders will be allowed to board ferries starting at 06:00 a.m. on Saturday. Full story.
14:47: According to Reuters, Youtube will follow Netflix and reduce its video quality in Europe to cope with the unprecedented demand, as millions of Europeans stay at home.
14:45: The European Union says it is open to an extension of the transition period for the United Kingdom beyond December 31, 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Brussels and London are in negotiations for their future relationship, and a no-deal scenario would cause significant disruption between the two sides.
14:37: Spain’s death toll has reached 1,002, with 19,980 cases being diagnosed.
13:50: An online platform for the monitoring, analysis and mapping of the geographical distribution and evolution of the coronavirus pandemic (Web-GIS) has been created by the GeoCHOROS research team of the National Geographic and Space Research Laboratory of the National Technical University of Athens. You may view the new map here.
“Unlike other platforms, it is the only one that gives a true picture of the size and magnitude of the problem, in each country and worldwide, and makes it easier for the visitor to make comparisons, even estimates of evolution,” the research group says.
13:15: Belgium has recorded its biggest daily rise in deaths since the beginning of the epidemic, a spokesman for the Belgian Health Ministry said on Friday. Authorities recorded 16 new deaths on Thursday due to the coronavirus, for a total of 37 in the country.
12:45: Italy has seen 3,405 deaths so far, the largest number recorded officially since the pandemic began in Wuhan, China. Leaders in the worst-hit region of Lombardy have appealed for the army to be brought in and for almost everything to be shut down, including local public transport, to halt the spread.
12:15: Greece’s central bank has slashed growth projections for the Greek economy to 0% from a previously estimated 2.4 percent this year due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, it said on Friday.
12:05: An elderly man from a village near Kozani, northern Greece, is the seventh fatality of coronavirus in the country, health authorities just announced. Full story here.
11:45: Germany’s Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer says the armed forces have been mobilized to take part in the fight, which she called a “marathon.” Hundreds of reservist medics have been contacted, the Minister says, to help protect infrastructure and hand out medicines and equipment.
Germany has had 31 deaths, an increase of 11 in the last 24 hours. The total number of cases there has risen to 13,957, an increase of 2,958.
11:15: A significant fall in air pollution has been observed in Athens since the government took precautionary measures to counter the spread of coronavirus, scientists said on Friday. Full story here.
10:55: After-midnight services of the Athens metro and the tram will be suspended as of Friday while the number of bus routes will be reduced, according to a statement issued by the Athens Urban Transport Organization (OASA) on Thursday.
10:40:  YouTube said on Friday it will reduce its streaming quality in the European Union and the United Kingdom to avert internet gridlock as thousands of people work from home. The Google-owned video platform’s measure will stay in effect in the EU and UK for 30 days.
10:30: The Olympic flame arrived in Japan on Friday, marking the beginning of official Olympic celebrations. The International Olympic Committee has stated that cancellation of the 2020 Games is “not on the agenda” but the next few weeks could prove decisive in whether it will go ahead this summer.
10:25: The mayor of Ecuador’s capital city blocked the runway of the country’s international airport to prevent a flight from the Spanish carrier Iberia from landing there.

Alarming incident at Ecuador's International Airport in Guayaquil today as an @Iberia flight from Spain is denied landing by the mayor @CynthiaViteri6 who ordered the blocking of the runway, utilizing municipal and police vehicles.

Helicopter view of the blocked runway: pic.twitter.com/OZpgqsO5Y9

— Camila (@camilateleSUR) March 19, 2020

10:15: Greek police at Patras called on people to disperse from a park on Thursday evening. All Greek citizens have been asked to stay indoors to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Car and motorcycle patrols with loudspeakers inform citizens that public gatherings of more than ten people are banned.

10:00: President Trump on Thursday touted two drugs, the antiviral drug Remsdesivir and chloroquine, that could treat the coronavirus during his daily White House briefing. However, the first has never been approved by the FDA for any disease but is now undergoing trials. The second has only been approved to treat malaria and some forms of arthritis. Full story here.
09:30: The geography of the coronavirus outbreak in Greece: Attica has recorded 119 cases and one death, Ilia 41 cases and three deaths. The third largest cluster of cases is shared by the regions of Kozani and Achaia with nine cases, followed by Thessaloniki with six. Full story here.
09:10:  A nurse at the health center of Karpathos became the first person on the remote Aegean island and in the Dodecanese to test positive for the highly contagious new coronavirus.
09:00: Some 190 migrants stranded on the Greek island of Kea were quarantined in an abandoned hotel on Thursday, due to suspicion some had contracted the coronavirus.
8:40: Some Greeks are getting really creative with the Coronavirus protecting gear situation… as seen on Thursday at an upscale market in the suburb of Kifissia outside Athens.

08:20: Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced late on Thursday a support package totalling 10 billion euros and the extension of the 800-euro supplement to more people affected by the economic impact of the coronavirus. Full story here.
08:00: The governor of California has ordered all citizens to stay at home as he escalated the attempts of America’s most populous state to combat Covid-19. Gavin Newsom earlier wrote to Donald Trump to warn that 25.5 million people in the state could contract the virus – roughly 56% of the population. Another eight people have died in the worst-affected US state, Washington.
07:50: The number of deaths in Italy has passed the total in China to make it the worst-affected country in the world with 3,405 fatalities. Southern and central Italy are braced for a “tsunami” of cases.
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