Spain deaths, French bill, UK aged at risk: COVID-19 daily bulletin

TOP HEADLINES

• Spain warned that "the worst is yet to come" after the country's death toll topped **1,700 **and the number of confirmed cases rose to more than 28,000 .

• Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has ordered the **closure of all businesses **until 3 April with the exception of those required to maintaining the nation's supply chain.

• France's National Assembly voted for an **emergency bill **granting the government special powers to restrict freedom of movement and issue decrees for the requisition of certain goods and services over a period of two months.

• Up to 1.5 million vulnerable people in the **UK **who are at risk from COVID-19 should not step out of their homes for at least 12 weeks , the British government has announced.

Spain has the second-worst outbreak of COVID-19 in Europe. /Baldesca Samper/AFP

• **France **was considering closing its border with the **UK **on Friday if the latter had failed to take more stringent measures to contain the outbreak, French newspaper

Liberation

reported.

• Former **Real Madrid **president Lorenzo Sanz , who was taken ill with coronavirus, died on Saturday. The 76-year-old led the Spanish giants from 1995-2000 and oversaw two Champions League titles.

• Hospitals in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg have offered to treat critically ill patients from the neighboring Alsace region in France.

• Walt Disney is delaying the launch of its streaming services by **two weeks **following a request from the French government, the company said in a statement.

ACROSS EUROPE

By Ira Spitzer in Munich

Germany has 22,364 confirmed cases and 84 deaths as of Sunday, 9:30 GMT, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold a teleconference with the country's 16 provincial leaders to discuss whether further nationwide restrictions are needed to slow the spread of the virus. Currently just two states have imposed limits on freedom of movement, although public gatherings have been banned and non-essential shops have been closed nationally.

00:37

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