GLOBAL LOCKDOWN TO FIGHT THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday said, "The

pandemic is accelerating," Tedros said. "It took 67 days from the first

reported case to reach the first 100,000 cases, 11 days for the second

100,000 cases and just four days for the third 100,000 cases."

More than 6,000 Italians have now died from COVID-19, nearly double the

confirmed number of deaths in China where the virus first emerged late last

year.

Some 1.7 billion people have been asked to stay home in over 50 countries

and territories around the world as governments battle the COVID-19 pandemic

sweeping the globe.

Some countries have imposed mandatory lockdown measures, while others have

issued stay-at-home recommendations to stem the spread of the virus.

At least four countries with a collective population of more than 228

million people, including Iran, Germany and Britain, have urged their

populations to stay indoors and limit contact with other people as much as

possible.

At least 10 countries and territories with a total population of 117 million

people have issued curfews and barred overnight travel. These measures are

in place in Burkina Faso, Chile, the Philippines's capital Manila, Serbia

and Mauritania, while in Saudi Arabia a curfew was imposed from Monday

evening. Elsewhere, some countries have imposed isolation measures in main

cities, with measures barring people from entering or exiting.

At least 34 more countries and territories have also established mandatory

lockdown measures ordering people to stay in their homes, accounting for

some 659 million people. France, Italy, Argentina, the U.S. State of

California, Iraq, Zimbabwe and Rwanda have also rolled out enforced

lockdowns. Greece is the most recent country to impose mandatory confinement

measures, which came into effect on Monday morning. Colombia will enforce an

obligatory lockdown on Tuesday and New Zealand will follow suit on

Wednesday.

TRUMP SAYS CORONAVIRUS NOT ASIAN AMERICANS' FAULT

US President Donald Trump - under fire for labelling Covid-19 the "Chinese

virus" - has said Asian Americans should not be blamed for the outbreak.

He said it is "very important that we totally protect" Asian Americans, whom

he praised as "amazing people".

Mr Trump spoke out amid rising reports of verbal and physical attacks on the

community amid the pandemic.

Coronavirus is still spreading in the US, which currently has over 43,000

confirmed cases and 533 deaths.

At a White House coronavirus task force news conference on Monday, Mr Trump

said: "It is very important that we totally protect our Asian American

community in the United States and all around the world.

"They're amazing people and the spreading of the virus is not their fault in

any way, shape or form.

"They're working closely with us to get rid of it - we will prevail

together."

TOKYO 2020: OLYMPICS TO BE POSTPONED UNTIL 2021, SAYS IOC MEMBER

The 2020 Olympic Games will be postponed by one year because of coronavirus,

says International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound.

It comes after the chairman of the British Olympic Association said Great

Britain would be unlikely to send a team to Tokyo this summer.

Australia and Canada have already said they will not compete in Japan.

"On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been

decided," Pound told USA today.

"The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are

not going to start on 24 July, that much I know."

The International Olympic Committee has given itself four weeks to decide on

the future of this summer's Games, but veteran IOC member Pound says a

decision will be announced soon.

"It will come in stages," he said.

"We will postpone this and begin to deal with all the ramifications of

moving this, which are immense."

COVID-19 PANDEMIC 'ACCELERATING': WHO CHIEF

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the coronavirus disease

pandemic is "accelerating", with more than 300,000 cases now confirmed.

It took 67 days from the first reported of Covid-19 to reach 100,000 cases,

11 days for the second 100,000, and just four days for the third 100,000.

But WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was still

possible to "change the trajectory".

He urged countries to adopt rigorous testing and contact-tracing strategies.

"What matters most is what we do. You can't win a football game by

defending. You have to attack as well," he told a joint news conference with

Fifa president Gianni Infantino to launch a "kick out coronavirus" campaign

featuring footballers.

Dr Tedros said asking people to stay at home and other physical-distancing

measures were an important way of slowing down the spread of the virus, but

described them as "defensive measures that will not help us to win".

"To win, we need to attack the virus with aggressive and targeted tactics -

testing every suspected case, isolating and caring for every confirmed case,

and chasing and quarantining every close contact."

Dr Tedros expressed alarm at reports from around the world of large numbers

of infections among health workers, which appeared to be the result of a

shortage of adequate personal protective equipment.

But he noted: "Measures put in place to slow the spread of the virus may

have unintended consequences of exacerbating shortages of essential

protective gear and the materials needed to make them."

The WHO chief called for "political commitment and political co-ordination

at the global level" and said he would ask leaders of the G20 group of

nations this week to work together to boost production of protective

equipment, avoid export bans and ensure equity of distribution on the basis

of need.

POMPEO IN KABUL TO BREAK DEADLOCK

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in the Afghan capital on Monday

to help break a poisonous political deadlock that has further riven the

country just as the Taliban is increasing attacks and a rise in COVID-19

cases threatens an already-floundering peace process.

Afghanistan has been enmeshed in a political crisis since elections last

year left the country in disarray due to numerous fraud claims that

ultimately saw two men claiming the presidency and holding separate

inaugurations. Mr. Pompeo was to hold both separate and joint meetings with

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani - the election's official winner - along with

his arch-rival Abdullah Abdullah, who also claims the presidency.

"We have tried... for the last several weeks to try to find the formula and

encourage them to come to an agreement," a senior State Department official

said, according to a pool report.

Mr. Pompeo has come "to help push, to encourage and to point out what our

expectations are and what that assessment is if they don't do the right

thing".

The spat between Mr. Abdullah and Mr. Ghani, along with the world's

preoccupation with COVID-19, has sparked fears the window for a peace deal

is closing fast.

CORONAVIRUS: SPANISH ARMY FINDS CARE HOME RESIDENTS 'DEAD AND ABANDONED'

Spanish soldiers helping to fight the coronavirus pandemic have found

elderly patients in retirement homes abandoned and, in some cases, dead in

their beds, the defence ministry has said.

Spanish prosecutors said an investigation had been launched.

The military has been brought in to help disinfect care homes in Spain, one

of Europe's worst hit countries.

Meanwhile, an ice rink in Madrid is to be used as a temporary mortuary for

Covid-19 victims, officials said.

On Monday Spain recorded its highest daily death toll - 462 - bringing the

total to 2,182.

Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles told the private TV channel

Telecinco that the government was "going to be strict and inflexible when

dealing with the way older people are treated" in retirement homes.

The defence ministry said that staff at some care homes had left after the

coronavirus was detected.