Italy records its deadliest day of coronavirus outbreak with 475 deaths
More than 250m people now in lockdown in EU as Germany and Belgium adopt measures
Italy has suffered its deadliest day yet in the coronavirus outbreak and is poised to overtake China as the world's worst affected country, as Europe tightened a lockdown affecting about 250 million people.
In all, 475 people died in Italy during the previous 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 2,978, with almost 36,000 cases reported by Wednesday evening.
Symptoms are defined as either:
Related: Coronavirus: travellers race home amid worldwide border closures and flight warnings
The pandemic is likely to take about two years to run its course and the virus will eventually infect 60-70% of the global population, according to Lothar Wieler, the head of Germany's public health agency.
The US and Canada are temporarily closing the world's longest border to non-essential traffic.
The president of Portugal declared a state of emergency.
Russian media have deployed a "significant disinformation campaign" against the west to worsen the impact of the coronavirus, according to an EU document.
Iran reported 147 more deaths from the coronavirus, its single biggest one-day jump, bringing the death toll to 1,135 people nationwide.
Imported coronavirus cases in China outnumbered cases of domestic transmission for the fifth straight day, with 12 of the country's 13 new confirmed cases involving travellers from abroad.
Japan's deputy prime minister, Taro Aso, said holding the Tokyo Olympics "would not make sense" if countries could not send their athletes.
Continue reading...