5,000 and growing

New York

US President Donald Trump declared the fast-spreading coronavirus a national emergency on Friday, opening up access to a $50 billion fund to help fight the disease. The number of people killed in the coronavirus pandemic crossed 5,000 after Iran and Spain reported dozens of new deaths.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared a state of emergency after the number of cases rose by 50 per cent in 24 hours on Friday, reported a 50 per cent increase in fatalities in 24 hours, taking the total to almost 2,000.

Measures to combat the spread of the virus were being stepped up around the world with more countries in Europe and the Middle East ordering with school and border closures. The sporting calendar has been ravaged, with the English Premier League becoming the latest football league to suspend fixtures.

The annual Indian Premier League T20 cricket tournament has been delayed and the Bahrain and Vietnam Grands Prix have been postponed. The total number of cases worldwide sits at about 135,000 with 5,000 deaths and almost 69,000 recoveries.

In China’s Hubei province, the origin of the outbreak, only five new cases were reported. US President Donald Trump said Friday he was considering adding Britain to a ban on travellers from mainland Europe as London warned the coronavirus outbreak may have infected up to 10,000 people there.

“We are looking at it based on the new numbers that are coming out and we may have to include them in the list of countries that we will, you could say ban, or whatever it is, during this period of time,” Mr Trump told reporters.

Poland will ban foreigners from entering the country from Sunday and impose a 14-day quarantine on its citizens returning home in a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Friday.“The state will not abandon (its citizens). However, in the current situation we cannot allow ourselves to keep borders open to foreigners,” Mr Morawiecki told a news conference.