Modi apologises to Indian citizens over lockdown

NEW DELHI/RIYADH/DUBAI/TEHRAN/ TORONTO/LONDON: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologised to citizens for the sweeping 21-day lockdown that has brought the country of 1.3 billion people to a halt, leaving many migrant workers jobless and penniless.

"I believe that you will forgive me. I had to take some decisions which have inconvenienced you in various ways, especially my poor brothers and sisters," he said Sunday in a weekly radio address, arguing there was "no other way" to fight the virus.

Meanwhile Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to rural migrants not to go home after a massive exodus began from cities, with many workers making the long journeys on foot. "Stay where you are. Because there is a risk of corona spreading in such a big crowd," he tweeted.

The government ordered all of India’s states and territories to seal their borders to reduce the movement of people, and said funds were available within each state to arrange food and shelter for migrants at their places of work.

Meanwhile gatherings will be restricted to just two people in Australia from Monday -- down from the current limit of 10 -- and playgrounds, outdoor gyms and skateparkswill be closed across the country.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said all over-70s as well as indigenous people over 50, who are more susceptible to diseases, are now being strongly advised to self-isolate at home. This came as hundreds of cruise ship passengers were due to board flights for Germany after spending days stranded at sea off the Western Australian coast in a stand-off with authorities.

Meanwhile New Zealand reported its first novel coronavirus death. Australia announced a nearly $100 million boost in funding to tackle domestic violence after support services reported a spike in coronavirus-related family abuse. Associations around the world that help victims of domestic violence have sounded the alarm over fears of an increase in cases, as the stress caused by social isolation exacerbates tensions.

Meanwhile, China reported 45 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, all but one of them imported from abroad. That compares with 54 cases the previous day, all imported.

Meanwhile, Saudi authorities have seized more than five million medical masks that were illegally stockpiled amid the coronavirus outbreak, state media reported Sunday, as the death toll in the kingdom doubled.

The commerce ministry seized 1.17 million masks from a private store in Hail, northwest of the capital, after authorities Wednesday confiscated more than four million masks stored in a facility in the western city of Jeddah in violation of commercial regulations, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

The ministry said people behind such activities would be prosecuted, and that the confiscated masks would be redistributed to the open market.

Pharmacies in the oil-rich kingdom have reported shortages of masks amid panic buying, as authorities warned against hoarding and price hikes.

The kingdom´s health ministry on Sunday said the death toll from the COVID-19 disease had doubled to eight as cumulative infections rose from 1,203 to 1,299 -- the highest in the Gulf region.

Riyadh has imposed a nationwide partial curfew, barred entry and exit from the capital as well as Islam´s two holiest cities Makkah and Medina and prohibited movement between all provinces.

King Salman warned last week of a "more difficult" fight ahead against the virus, as the kingdom faces the economic double blow of virus-led shutdowns and crashing oil prices.

Meanwhile, the Saudi Ministry of Interior said the curfew will be extended to start at 3 pm local time from Sunday, March 29, state news agency SPA reported.

Movement from and into Jeddah will also be suspended. These movement restrictions do not include groups previously exempt from the curfew. For more information about excluded groups, people can call 999, while residents of Makkah region can call 911. The measures are part of the Kingdom’s continued efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates has launched a drive-through coronavirus testing facility as part of the Gulf state´s efforts to fight the disease, the Abu Dhabi government´s media office announced.

The facility, inaugurated by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, will provide safe screenings within five minutes, using state-of-the-art equipment and a highly-qualified medical team, it said. "A new drive-through testing facility for COVID-19 has launched to offer safe testing procedures," the office said on Twitter Saturday.

According to official state news agency WAM, the facility can serve 600 people a day, with priority given to senior citizens, pregnant women and those with chronic illnesses. The government media office said people should book an appointment in advance. Tests "for the wider community for reassurance only" would cost 370 dirhams ($100), according to government advice on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Iranian security forces are searching for 54 escaped inmates following a prison break over which four guards were arrested, Iran´s state news agency reported on Sunday.

"Some prison guards were summoned and four of them were arrested and others released on bail," Mojtaba Shirouzbozorgi, a judicial official in Kurdistan province, told IRNA. According to the agency, 74 inmates escaped from Saqqez city´s prison on Friday, 20 of whom have so far either turned themselves in or been captured. On March 19, 23 prisoners escaped from another jail in the western city of Khorramabad, the capital of Lorestan province, hours before the start of Iran´s New Year celebrations, IRNA said. They reportedly escaped during the night while guards were making preparations for a New Year amnesty.

The escapees had been serving a maximum of one-year sentences, the agency said, denying that dangerous criminals were at large.

There were also prison riots in Hamedan and Tabriz provinces, and Aligoudarz city in Lorestan as authorities prevented escapes. Hamedan´s prosecutor told IRNA that the unrest there was "over the excuse of the coronavirus outbreak."

One inmate died and another was injured at the riot in Aligoudarz prison. Around 10,000 prisoners are expected to be released in the New Year amnesty, according to Iran´s judiciary.

Meanwhile, a group of incarcerated Thais set fires and attempted to escape their prison complex after panic spread among them about coronavirus circulating through the compound, according to local media. The riot began after around 100 prisoners, housed in a facility in Buriram, reportedly became spooked by the possibility of catching the contagious respiratory illness. They began setting fires and causing chaos in the facility, which houses around 20,000 inmates.

Photographs show the trashed interior of the prison, with tables and chairs knocked over and broken. A video posted to social media shows plumes of smoke rising from behind the facility’s security walls as firefighters battle the blaze.

According to local media reports, numerous prisoners attempted to escape the facility. A police spokesman said in a statement that five inmates managed to flee and that one has already been recaptured.

Thailand’s Health Ministry said Sunday that confirmed COVID-19 cases had risen by 143 to 1,388, and these latest deaths had brought the nationwide death toll to seven. The government imposed a partial lockdown on Thursday, and implemented measures specifically designed to prevent an outbreak in prisons, including suspending visits from relatives and putting new inmates in two-week quarantine.

Meanwhile, Canada's First Lady Sophie Trudeau announced on Sunday that she recovered from the novel coronavirus. Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, wife of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter that she felt much better. Her doctor and the Ottawa Public Health Authority also confirmed that she beat the virus.

Due to suspicions of COVID-19, the first lady and prime minister announced that they would self-quarantine, in a statement by Canada's Prime Ministry on March 11. The next day, it was announced that Sophie Trudeau tested positive for COVID-19. The statement said that her health was improving and that all precautions were being taken. "Prime Minister Trudeau is good in health, and there are no traces of the illness. He will stay in quarantine for 14 days. Since he does not show any symptoms, he will not be tested," it said.

In Canada, 5,655 people have tested positive for COVID-19, 466 recovered and 61 people died. While, Britain has placed an order for 10,000 ventilators to be made by a consortium of companies including Ford, Airbus and Rolls-Royce as part of efforts to fight the coronavirus, an industry source said.

Governments around the world are trying to boost the number of ventilators - mechanical breathing devices that can blow air and oxygen into the lungs - available to their health services.

The equipment is crucial for the care of people who suffer lung failure, which can be one of the complications suffered by patients with severe COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. But they do not necessarily save people. An announcement is due on Monday, the source said.

Meanwhile in Japan, Tokyo continues to see a spike in the number of coronavirus infections, with 63 new cases confirmed Saturday, the largest record for a single day, the metropolitan government said. The number of daily infections in the Japanese capital more than doubled on Wednesday from the previous day to 41, and continued to stay at a level of 40 or more for the third day in a row on Friday, bringing the total number of cases to 299, the highest among Japan's 47 prefectures. With the newly confirmed cases on Saturday, the number of COVID-19 infections in Tokyo reached 362.