Coronavirus: Trump suspends 'all travel from Europe' to US for 30 days

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump announced on Monday the United States would ban all travel from Europe for 30 days to stop the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.

Trump, in an address to the nation, said: "To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days. The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight." 

The US President  further said that Europe saw more cases because governments failed to stop travel from China, where the COVID-19 epidemic began.

Trump´s unexpected move in a primetime TV address from the Oval Office pummelled stock markets, as traders fretted about the economic impact of the outbreak that is on a seemingly relentless march across the planet.

The World Health Organisation also sounded another global alarm bell on Wednesday, officially classifying as a pandemic the virus that has infected more than 124,000 people with 4,500 deaths, according to an AFP tally.

"This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history," Trump said, after the president had been criticised for his response so far.

Trump´s ban affects travellers from Europe -- but not Britain -- as the continent grapples with a burgeoning crisis.

Hardest-hit country Italy on Wednesday clocked more than 2,300 new cases over the previous 24 hours and infections in Spain jumped by a quarter to more than 2,100.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel quoted experts saying that "60-70 percent of the population will be infected if the situation" continues without a vaccine in sight.

Italy is in the grip of a lockdown never before seen in peacetime, shutting all stores except pharmacies and food shops in a move that has emptied world-famous tourist sites in Rome, Venice and Florence.

"I can´t even recognise Rome now," 30-year-old Muscovite Yekaterina said while posing alone for a photo by the usually bustling Trevi Fountain in the heart of Rome.

People in Italy have been told to keep at least a metre (three feet) from each other and handshakes are frowned upon. Italians have found themselves starting to talk to each other a few steps apart -- while often laughing about the regulations along the way.

"As soon as the emergency has passed, we will organise a free carbonara day for doctors, nurses and healthcare workers," said a closing note by a restaurant in Rome´s popular Trastevere neighbourhood.

 Olympic cancellation ´unthinkable´ 

Demonstrating that the illness can affect people from all walks of life, Hollywood superstar Tom Hanks announced Thursday that he and his wife had tested positive.

"To play things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for the coronavirus, and were found to be positive," said the 63-year-old actor, who is in Australia for a film.

Hanks and his wife went into isolation at an Australian hospital.

The pandemic also continued to disrupt cultural and sporting events around the world as authorities tried to prevent large gatherings.

New York´s annual St Patrick´s Day parade was scrapped for the first time in more than 250 years.

England´s top-flight football league saw its first cancellation while E3 -- the world´s premier video game trade show, due to be held in June in Los Angeles -- was called off.

In the US, the NBA said it was suspending play starting Thursday after a Utah Jazz player tested positive.

The impacts on sporting events fuelled concerns about the fate of the 2020 Olympics in Japan that are due to start in July, but Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said it was "unthinkable" that the Games would be cancelled.