Most of India under lockdown as prime minister set to address nation
Police enforced lockdowns across large parts of India on Tuesday, with curfews in place in some areas, as domestic air travel was set to end at midnight.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepared to address the nation on Tuesday for a second time in a week on the risks that coronavirus poses to the country of 1.3 billion people.
India has already severed international flight links and Indian states have imposed their own lockdowns, suspending train and bus services and ordering traffic off the roads. Health officials have warned that the coronavirus is spreading out of big cities where it first appeared and into smaller towns.
Egypt announces 2-week, night-time curfew
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Egypt has announced a two-week, 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for its over 100 million people to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.
Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly told a news conference on Tuesday that the 11-hour curfew would go into effect Wednesday across the country and last for two weeks. He says all kinds of transportation will be halted during the curfew.
Egypt, the Arab World most populous country, has 366 confirmed cases and 21 fatalities, including two senior military officers.
Mnuchin, Schumer optimistic on coronavirus stimulus package, say deal is close
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said late Monday that they were nearing a deal on a roughly $2 trillion stimulus package to help American workers and businesses survive the coronavirus outbreak.
“I think we’ve made a lot of progress,” Mnuchin told reporters on Capitol Hill just before midnight after emerging from negotiations. “There’s still a couple of open issues, but I think we’re very hopeful that this can be closed out (Tuesday).”
Mnuchin said that he and Schumer had consulted with both President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Monday about the progress made on the legislation. Though no deal was reached, staff was expected to continue drafting the massive package overnight.
NBC News’ Richard Engel rounds up the latest coronavirus headlines
Madrid ice rink set to become morgue
An ice skating rink in Madrid will become a makeshift morgue for coronavirus victims, a city spokesperson said Monday.
The rink will be re-purposed by Madrid’s regional government and military emergency units, which have been deployed across Spain over the past week to help deal with the coronavirus crisis.
Spain is the hardest-hit European country after Italy with 35,120 confirmed cases and 2,297 total deaths. Madrid alone has 10,575 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 1,263 deaths, according to local authorities.
The normally bustling streets of Madrid have fallen quiet since Spain enacted a partial lockdown Saturday night as the country tries to stem the outbreak. The government expects a state of emergency to be in place for at least another 15 days with people only allowed to leave their homes to go to work, the pharmacy or for medical attention.
Planes stand parked in Frankfurt as air traffic shuts down
Commuters squeeze into London Tube, despite lockdown measures
The morning after the U.K. government announced a three-week lockdown and asked the British public to limit their movements to curb the spread of coronavirus, London’s Underground was still full.
Videos shared by commuters on social media show train cars and platforms rammed with people standing in close proximity to each other.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan implored city residents to stop all non-essential use of public transport.
“Ignoring these rules means more lives lost,” Khan said in a tweet.
He also warned that a growing number of public transport staff are off work sick or self-isolating, limiting the city’s capacity to run more services.
Wuhan travel restrictions set to end on April 8
Travel restrictions in and out of Wuhan, the city in central China where the coronavirus is believed to have originated, will lift on April 8, local authorities announced Tuesday.
Life in Wuhan ground to a standstill in January after the Chinese government moved to completely shutter public transportation, highways, airports and businesses as the number of coronavirus infections rose. The city’s 11 million residents were told to stay at home and leave only in cases of emergency.
Dozens of countries, including the United States, evacuated their nationals from Wuhan after the outbreak began. In recent weeks, China has seen a steep drop in the number of new infections in Wuhan and across the country, and officials are now shifting their attention to battling cases of the virus that are coming in from abroad.
