EU seeks emergency coronavirus talks The EU leaders will hold a teleconference to discuss their next moves

Add captionTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, center, arrives for a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Turkish Representation in Brussels on Monday (AP photo)

Reuters, 10.03.20, Rome: European Union leaders decided to seek a coordinated response to the coronavirus after global markets plunged on Monday and Italy sealed off much of its industrial north, where six prisoners were killed in a riot over curbs on visits.

The EU leaders will hold a teleconference to discuss their next moves, European Council president Charles Michel said, with one official saying the call was likely to take place on Tuesday.

“We need to cooperate in order to protect the health of our citizens,” Michel, who chairs EU summits, tweeted.

In little more than two weeks, the number of recorded coronavirus cases in Italy has surged to 7,375, with 366 deaths, the second-highest death toll after China’s, putting its health system under huge strain.

More than 110,000 people have been infected in 105 countries and territories, and 3,800 have died, the vast majority in mainland China, according to a Reuters tally.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the strict European Union borrowing limits should be loosened and the flexibility envisaged by EU budget rules should be used “in full”.

“Europe cannot think of confronting an extraordinary situation with ordinary measures,” he said.

Italy’s prison administration said six inmates had died in a jail riot in the northern town of Modena over new restrictions on visits.

“There have been a series of rebellions across the country,” said Francesco Basentini, head of the authority.

Video aired on Italian television showed police and fire trucks outside the prison as black smoke swirled into the sky.

With Italy’s economy already on the brink of recession, bars and restaurants in Lombardy were ordered to close or to restrict entry and maintain a distance of at least a metre between people on their premises.

At the weekend, people had queued outside supermarkets to buy food and there was widespread confusion about what exceptions might apply to rules that said people could travel only for proven work reasons or emergencies.

The rules do not stop people going to and from work or prevent goods deliveries.

The virus emerged in China in December but has since spread around the world. Flights have been cancelled, communities and cruise liners isolated, and concerts, trade fairs and sporting events postponed. Even the Tokyo Summer Olympics are in doubt.

Major sporting events in Italy, including top-flight Serie A football, will be played without spectators for a month.

In Spain, schools were closed in the town of Labastida near Vitoria in the Basque country after nearly 150 cases of coronavirus were identified in the region.

Spain has reported 999 cases in all, most of them in two areas around Madrid and around Vitoria in the north.

China and South Korea, Asia’s second-worst-hit country, both reported a slowdown in new infections.

Mainland China, outside Hubei province, the centre of the outbreak, reported no new locally transmitted coronavirus cases for the second day on Monday, but a top Communist Party official warned people against dropping their guard.

South Korea reported 165 new coronavirus cases, bringing the national tally to 7,478, while the death toll rose by one to 51.

The rate of increase in new infections fell to its lowest level in 11 days, prompting President Moon Jae-in to say South Korea could enter the “phase of stability” soon.

Saudi Arabia will impose a fine of up to 500,000 riyals ($133,000) on people who do not disclose health information and travel details at entry points, it said on Monday, as the Gulf state works to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The kingdom on Sunday imposed a temporary lockdown on its eastern oil-producing province of Qatif, where the majority of the 15 individuals diagnosed with the disease live.

Authorities in Saudi Arabia on Monday asked imams to deliver Friday prayer sermons in less than 15 minutes. The Islamic affairs ministry banned food and beverages at mosques. Saudi Arabia suspended travel with 14 countries and said legal action would be taken against any citizen going to Iran, which has reported 237 deaths from the virus.