Coronavirus worldwide: Pentagon restricts access; France closes Eiffel Tower; Italy sees 20% surge in cases

Pentagon officials have laid out new restrictions for access to the building, saying people who have been overseas should stay away for two weeks and others should expect more screening questions from officers posted at the entrances.

Senior defense officials said in a conference call with reporters that personnel who must access classified information as part of their job will still go to work in the building. But beginning Monday, there will be minimal staffing at the Pentagon and workers who can telework will be encouraged, although not required, to do so.

They said people coming into the building will not have their temperature taken at this point.

As of Saturday, 21 Defense Department personnel worldwide had tested positive for the virus, including 10 service members. Two of the 21 are hospitalized. Also, two of the 21 are in the Washington, D.C., region.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that the nation’s restaurants and places of entertainment will be closed to stop the spread of the coronavirus. He also encouraged people not to go to their workplaces unless absolutely necessary.

“Whoever doesn’t need to go work or doesn’t need to be in a certain place, don’t go,” Netanyahu said in a televised address Saturday.

But he stopped short of declaring a widespread shutdown seen in some other hard-hit countries.

Netanyahu told the public that they should prepare for a new routine but that the government would ensure that essential services continue. After panicked scenes in supermarkets over the weekend, he also said the country has no shortages of food or essential items and encouraged public calm.

Shai Babad, the director of the Israeli Finance Ministry, said the closures would include restaurants, malls, movies, gyms and daycare centers. Schools and universities already have been closed, and entry to the country has been tightly restricted.

Israel has detected some 193 cases of the virus.

Netanyahu also renewed a call for an emergency unity government with his political opponents after Israel’s third consecutive inconclusive election this month.

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French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced that France is shutting down all restaurants, cafes, cinemas and non-essential retail shops, starting Sunday, to combat the accelerated spread of the virus in the country.

He said grocery stores, pharmacies, banks and other public services including transport will be allowed to remain open.

French authorities had already shut down all schools, banned gatherings of more than 100 people and advised people to limit their social life. Philippe said these measures were “not well implemented.”

“We must show all together more discipline,” he added.

Philippe confirmed that nationwide municipal elections will go ahead as planned on Sunday but with special measures to keep people at a safe distance and clean shared material.

Health authorities said more than 4,500 cases have been confirmed in France on Saturday, including 91 deaths.

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The Canadian government says any Canadian who’s abroad should get back to Canada while it’s still possible. That’s a step up from previous advice, which urged travelers outside the country to think about doing so because of the pandemic.

Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne tweeted the new recommendation, warning that commercial travel options might not remain available.

Some countries have already taken measures such as stopping or sharply limiting air traffic. Canada is asking those who return to self-isolate for 14 days.

In Quebec, the government is asking everyone 70 years of age and older to stay home until further notice.

Premier Francois Legault says seniors are far more at risk for covid-19 and that’s why he’s asking them to stay inside. He also says that no visitors will be allowed at hospitals, seniors’ residences and long-term care facilities.

Legault says the Canadian French-speaking province has adopted a decree to declare a state of health emergency for at least 10 days.

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U.S. soldiers returning from Afghanistan have been quarantined amid the covid-19 outbreak.

On Saturday, 300 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division returned to Fort Bragg in North Carolina after a nine-month deployment. This is one of the first large groups of military personnel to return home since the start of the pandemic.

The Army says the 14-day quarantine is out of an abundance of caution. As of Saturday, no one in the unit or on Fort Bragg has tested positive for the virus.

The Defense Department says that as of Saturday, 10 service members have tested positive for the virus.

At Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California, a second Marine has tested positive for covid-19 and is being isolated at the base while receiving medical care. The air station says it is trying to determine who may have had contact with the Marine and to notify them of the situation.

At Naval Base San Diego, a sailor has tested “presumptive positive,” the first positive case for a sailor in California. The base says the sailor is quarantined at home.

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The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum, the Versailles Palace and other iconic monuments in and around Paris have been closed “until further notice” as part of the French government’s response to the covid-19 pandemic.

France has banned all gatherings of more than 100 people, reducing the threshold from a previous level of 1,000 people, as the virus has infected at least 3,600 people in the country and is spreading fast.

France is going ahead with nationwide municipal elections on Sunday but has ordered special measures to keep people at a safe distance and clean shared material. French President Emmanuel Macron ordered all schools to be closed starting on Monday and asked companies to allow workers to stay home.

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Italy has reported its biggest day-to-day jump in number of infected cases of covid-19. National health authorities told reporters on Saturday that health officials recorded 3,497 new cases in 24 hours. That’s roughly a 20% increase in cases from the day before. A little more than half of those new cases occurred in Lombardy, the populous northern region which has been hardest hit in Europe’s worst outbreak. Italy’s total cases now tally 21,157.

The death toll rose by 175. A day earlier, the same authorities had predicted glumly that Italy would still see a jump in cases despite a national lockdown that began on March 9, barely two days after severe restrictions on personal movement in the north. They cited irresponsible behavior by many citizens, who despite the earlier warnings not to gather in large numbers, headed to beaches or ski resorts, and hung out together in town squares, especially after the closure of schools.

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Italian doctors in at least two hospitals treating covid-19 cases have started using a drug normally prescribed for people with chronic inflammatory auto-immune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

Dr. Paolo Ascierto, director of the immunology clinic at the Pascale Institute in Naples, told Italian state TV on Saturday that of the first six ICU patients treated with the drug, three showed significant improvement of their lung inflammation judging by CT scans. One of the six died shortly after the drug was administered.

Ascierto stressed that the drug fights the lung inflammation from pneumonia in coronavirus patients but doesn’t act on the virus itself. Italy’s government pharmaceutical regulator, AIFA, is allowing the drug to be used for compassionate purposes, since it is only officially approved in the country for use in auto-immune diseases.

At Spallanzani Hospital in Rome, which is treating covid-19 infections in that city, and neighboring towns, Dr. Francesco Vaia said on Sunday said six patients who are seriously ill with the coronavirus are also being treated there with the drug.

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Indonesian Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi is the latest senior politician to test positive for the new coronavirus.

State Secretary Minister Pratikno said Sumadi is being treated at the Gatot Subroto Army Central Hospital. He is listed as the Patient 76 of the 96 patients with covid-19 in Indonesia.

Pratikno said he had permission from Sumadi’s family to announce the name of the patient.

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The Netherlands’ world famous Keukenhof flower garden has fallen prey to the new coronavirus.

The attraction in the middle of one of the country’s main tulip-growing regions draws more than a million visitors each year as bulbs burst into bloom.

It had been due to open March 21, but the opening was scrapped Saturday, two days after the Dutch government banned gatherings of more than 100 people through March 31 in a bid to rein in the spread of the covid-19 virus.

The Keukenhof said in a statement it is closely monitoring the situation and is “ready to open April 1, the day after the emergency regulation expires.”

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British budget airline Jet2 apparently turned back in midair all its planes bound for Spain as it announced the cancellation of all its flights to the country.

The company said it decided to cancel the flights as Spanish authorities moved to introduce tighter restrictions. “We know these local measures will have a significant impact on our customers’ holidays which is why we have taken this decision.”

Air traffic monitor Flightradar 24 said at least seven Jet2 flights with a destination in Spain turned around and came back to the U.K on Saturday.