- Italy considers closing schools across the country.
- Singapore reaches 112 cases of novel coronavirus.
- Italy’s top soccer league is “very likely” to play matches behind closed doors for one month
- Putin says fake coronavirus news is being planted in Russia
Italy is considering a country wide closure of all schools and universities in an effort to stop a further spread of coronavirus.
Some international schools have already issued letters informing parents and guardians they will be closed as a preventative measure as of Thursday, with remote online teaching beginning Friday.
The Italian cabinet is currently meeting to discuss the proposition to close schools and an official announcement is expected afterwards.
“No decision on the closure of schools has been made, we asked the technical-scientific committee for further information. the decision will come in the next few hours,” the Minister of Education Lucia Azzolina said in a statement to CNN sent from the Prime Minister’s office.
Singapore reported two new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus taking the total tally to 112, the nation’s Ministry of Health (MOH) announced today.
One of the case involves a 43 year-old male Permanent Resident of Singapore who had been in Malaysia from February 18-21.
He’s not known to have traveled to any of the other affected countries and regions recently, the MOH said.
The other confirmed case is of a 62 year-old female Singapore citizen.
She too has no travel recent travel history to any of the affected countries and regions but is linked to a previously confirmed case involving a 64 year-old female Singapore citizen.
Of the total 112 confirmed cases, 7 are in critical state, 26 are stable and 79 have fully recovered and have been discharged, the MOH said.
Italy’s top soccer league is “very likely” to play matches behind closed doors for one month
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Mourad Balti Touati/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (10571448c)
General view of the Giuseppe Meazza stadium closed due to the Coronavirus emergency in Milan, Italy, 01 March 2020. The Italian Serie A soccer match AC Milan vs Genoa CFC has been postponed to 13 May.
Giuseppe Meazza stadium closed due to the Coronavirus emergency in Milan, Italy – 01 Mar 2020
Italy’s government is “very likely’ to order all top-flight Serie A football matches to be played behind closed doors for one month in efforts to curb the coronavirus outbreak in the country, a spokesperson for the Italian Sports Minister confirmed to CNN.
The government last month banned sporting events in the worst-affected northern regions of the country – Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna.
So far, 10 Serie A matches have been postponed as well as two in the Coppa Italia.
Representatives from the 20 Serie A clubs are meeting today at the Italian Olympic Committee’s Headquarters at the Foro Italico in Rome to discuss the repercussions of the coronavirus outbreak and scheduling changes to the Italian football calendar.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that fake stories about coronavirus in Russia are being planted from abroad and there is nothing “critical” happening in the country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin pictured at a meeting in Moscow on February 26. Credit: Alexey Druzhinin/Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images
“Regarding these provocations, the FSB (Federal Security Service) reports that most of these planted news come from abroad and this unfortunately always follows us around,” Putin said during a meeting with the government.
“Thank God, there is nothing critical happening here but people must be informed of the real situation so I ask that this process is properly organized,” he added.
During the session, deputy prime minister Tatyana Golikova said that social media reports claiming the Russian government was covering up the real number of coronavirus cases in the country were not true.
In late February, an explosive claim by the US State Department that thousands of Russian-linked accounts on Facebook and Twitter were spreading disinformation about the virus made the headlines.
Social media companies, however, said they had not seen supporting evidence. Russia’s Foreign Ministry has denied the allegations of being behind the alleged coronavirus disinformation campaign.
Reporting by Julia Hollingsworth, Adam Renton, Steve George and Meg Wagner, CNN