America ramped up its response to the coronavirus pandemic as more new Covid-19 infections were reported outside China for the first time. The Federal Reserve took sweeping action to stem the US economic fallout of the worldwide outbreak that has sickened more than 168,000 people and left more than 6,500 dead. The death toll in the United States was 68 and more than 3,500 have been infected. Meanwhile, mainland China reported 16 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections Sunday, the National Health Commission said on Monday, down from 20 a day earlier. Twelve of those cases were imported and there were 12 deaths, bringing the death toll to 3,213. That brings the total number of confirmed cases in China to 80,860, while Hong Kong had 148 and Macau had 10. From China to the West: learn our lessons on coronavirus pandemic The number of Covid-19 cases outside China was more than 86,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The World Health Organisation said Europe has become new epicentre of the pandemic. With 368 deaths, Italy’s grim figure was higher than any single-day toll reported in China. China has touted the effectiveness of quarantining Wuhan and Hubei province since late January, along with measures to prevent large gatherings and limit travel across the country. As the United States moved nearer to shutdown, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention issued new nationwide guidance. It recommended that organisers cancel or postpone any in-person events gathering 50 people or more – with the exception of day-to-day activities in education or business – for at least the next eight weeks. Here are the latest developments: Malaysia announces national lockdown Following two sudden spikes in coronavirus cases, the Malaysian government on Monday announced the country would be entering a national lockdown . In a live address on Monday evening, Muhyiddin said the government would implement the Movement Control Order from March 18 until March 31. Muhyiddin’s announcement comes after coronavirus fears in Malaysia hit new heights with the number of cases climbing to 553, the highest in Southeast Asia. The country reported 125 new cases on Monday – 95 of which are linked to a mass Islamic religious meeting held last month, according to the Health Ministry – following a 190-case jump over the weekend. Philippines imposes home quarantine on entire Luzon island The Philippines imposed strict home quarantine measures and a halt on work and transport across its main island of Luzon on Monday, putting half the country’s population on lockdown in an aggressive bid to quell rising cases of coronavirus. The government would with immediate effect compel people to remain in their homes and reliant on deliveries of food and medical supplies, while transport and work would be suspended except for essential services, Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said. “The president’s ultimate goal is to save ourselves from ourselves,” Panelo said in a television interview. The measures, if implemented fully, would be among the strictest in place in Asia, as the country grapples to contain an outbreak that has seen confirmed cases rise to 140 – from only three cases 10 days ago – with 12 deaths. “We are the soldiers but we are also the enemy,” Panelo said in another interview. “We are enemies with ourselves. We are the carriers of the virus.” Singapore records 17 new cases, another daily high Singapore has confirmed 17 more cases of the coronavirus, its Ministry of Health said on Monday, marking the city state’s biggest daily jump. Singapore has reported a total 243 infections to date. Eleven of Monday’s cases were imported. The ministry also said 109 cases have recovered and been discharged from hospital. Of the 234 people who are in hospital, most are in a stable condition or improving, the ministry said. There are 13 people in critical condition in intensive care. Taiwan tightens travel restrictions Taiwan will ban its nationals from travelling to 44 countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and North Africa from Tuesday as it confirmed a surge of imported coronavirus infections in the past two days. Taiwan’s Health Minister Chen Shih-chung on Monday said the island’s Central Epidemic Command Centre will publish the names of the violators and make them pay their own medical expense if they contract the virus after they return from their holiday visits and are quarantined at isolation facilities in Taiwan. Also, from Tuesday, foreign nationals permitted to visit Taiwan will not be required to pay their own medical expense if they are infected, Chen noted. Taiwan has already barred its people from visiting China, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, part of the US and Japan as well as 26 Schengen Europe countries and the UK for fun. Visitors from those countries are also barred except for special business or other occasions. After confirming six imported cases, Taiwan on Monday announced eight more new infections, all brought back by its nationals from overseas pleasure trips. ”The new wave of infections mostly comes from our people who have visited other countries with the coronavirus outbreak, ” Chen said, adding this prompted to temporarily ban Taiwanese from making holiday visits in countries listed as unfit for visit. Currently, Taiwan has issues travel warning on at least 76 countries and areas, asking its people not to visit unless highly essential. Coronavirus: how countries are clamping down on arrivals Member of Iranian clerical assembly dies from virus Ayatollah Hashem Bathaei, a 78-year-old member of the Iranian clerical body that chooses the country’s supreme leader has died from the illness caused by the new coronavirus, news agencies reported Monday. He was the latest of several senior Iranian officials to have been infected in the worsening outbreak. Iranian state TV says the new coronavirus has killed another 129 people, pushing the country’s death toll to 853 amid 14,991 confirmed cases. Iran is struggling to contain the worst outbreak in the Middle East. Monday saw the biggest one-day rise in the death toll since the epidemic began. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is 80 years old and has been in power since 1989, wore disposable gloves at a recent public event, apparently as a precaution. Emergency announced in parts of Australia The state of Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) announced a state of emergency to deal with the outbreak. Victoria, the country’s second-most populated state with Melbourne as its capital, and the territory surrounding the country’s capital Canberra announced the measure after two more elderly people died. The state of emergency in Victoria will last at least four weeks. It means authorised officers can quarantine places and people, detain them, restrict movement and prevent entry to premises to protect the public. Australia has more than 300 confirmed cases, with five deaths, including the two reported overnight. The Australian federal government on Sunday announced that all people travelling to the country must abide by a compulsory 14-day self-isolation at home or in their hotel. South Korea’s downward trend South Korea reported 74 new coronavirus infections on Monday, slightly lower than a day ago, according to the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The new cases bring the country’s total to 8,236. The KCDC also reported that 303 more patients had fully recovered and had been released from care. A total of 1,137 people have recovered and been released so far. South Korea has been experiencing a downward trend in new cases and the latest numbers are significantly lower than the peak of 909 cases reported on February 29 and slightly down from the 76 recorded on Sunday. China’s economy suffered dramatic collapse in warning to rest of world Fed’s drastic emergency measures The US Federal Reserve announced that it cut interest rates to near zero in an effort to blunt the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the economy. The rate on short-term funds were lowered by a full percentage point to zero to 0.25 per cent, according to the de facto central bank. To support the smooth functioning of markets, the Fed will also increase its holdings of Treasury securities by at least US$500 billion and its holdings of agency mortgage-backed securities by at least US$200 billion, an operation known as “quantitative easing”. Those purchases will take place “over coming months”, the Fed said. “I have to say this, I’m very happy and they did it in one step, they didn’t do it in four steps over a long period of time, they did it in one step,” US President Donald Trump said about the Fed’s move. Infectious disease expert does not rule out US lockdown The leading infectious disease expert in the United States, Anthony Fauci, has left the door open to a nationwide lockdown. Asked by CNN if he would recommend measures that would include severely curtailing gatherings in pubs and restaurants or temporarily shutting them, Fauci said he wanted to see “dramatic diminution in the personal interaction” occurring in such places. What we do next will have a massive impact on the trajectory of this virus in New York. We can only maintain public health by STAYING APART. The decision each of makes now will impact us all tomorrow. STAY HOME. — Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) March 15, 2020 Calls for restaurants and bars to be temporarily closed have grown louder over the weekend amid expectations that community transmission nationwide will surge in the coming week. “I think Americans should be prepared that they are going to have to hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing,” Fauci, told NBC’s Meet the Press . In Los Angeles and New York City, restaurants and bars have been ordered to close, limiting business to delivery or take-out. Schools in New York City will also close until at least April 20. Hong Kong lowers interest rate after Fed’s drastic step Massive bottlenecks at US airports ‘improving’ US officials on Sunday said long queues and massive delays in the country’s airports were seeing “immediate improvement” after complaints overnight from returning US citizens who were subject to enhanced medical screening. On Twitter some travellers said the wait time at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport from disembarking to baggage collection was about four hours. Similar delays were reported in Dallas Fort Worth International and New York’s JFK. US President Donald Trump said on Twitter that it was important to do medical screenings at the airports. We are doing very precise Medical Screenings at our airports. Pardon the interruptions and delays, we are moving as quickly as possible, but it is very important that we be vigilant and careful. We must get it right. Safety first! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 15, 2020 Italy, Britain report more deaths Italy recorded 368 new deaths from the Covid-19 outbreak on Sunday as the total rose to 1,809 from 1,441 a day earlier, the country’s civil protection authority said on Sunday. Italy, the worst-hit European country, reported its biggest day-to-day increase in infections – 3,590 more cases in a 24-hour period – for a total of almost 24,747. “It’s not a wave. It’s a tsunami,” said Dr Roberto Rona, who is in charge of intensive care at the Monza hospital. Italy’s foreign minister said China is sending 150 pulmonary respirators to Italy to help treat the seriously ill. Clash of the titans: how the coronavirus became the new China-US battleground The number of deaths of Britons with coronavirus jumped by 14 in the last 24 hours to 35, while the number of people diagnosed rose by 20 per cent to 1,372, health authorities said on Sunday. The British government said earlier on Sunday it would step up its response to the crisis, including isolating older people “in the coming weeks”. Britain has to date taken less stringent steps to slow the virus than elsewhere in Europe. A total of 40,279 people have been tested in the country, the health ministry said on Sunday. Ireland to close all pubs Ireland ordered all pubs and bars to close for two weeks and urged people not even to hold house parties. The move came after videos of groups singing in packed Dublin venues sparked anger on social media. The government’s decision comes just two days before Ireland’s national day, St Patrick’s Day, which traditionally sees bars across the country packed from early in the day. The annual parade celebrating the day had already been cancelled. Ireland, known around the world for its traditional pubs, on Sunday said the number of confirmed cases had increased to 169 from 129. But showing packed bars with singalongs and crowded streets in Temple Bar, Dublin’s busiest nightlife district, went viral on social media on Saturday under the #CloseThePubs hashtag. Portugal to close border with Spain Portugal will close its border with Spain to tourists for at least a month to curb the spread of coronavirus, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Sunday. Goods and people travelling for work will still be allowed to cross the border but not those on leisure trips, he told a news conference after speaking by video conference with his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez. The travel restrictions will apply to both land and air borders and they will come into force once the interior ministers of both nations iron out the details on Monday, Costa said. US Senate expected to pass bill to aid virus victims On Monday, all eyes will be on the market reaction to the emergency coronavirus aid bill the Democrat-controlled US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed over the weekend. The Republican-controlled Senate is expected to pass the bill and send it to US President Donald Trump to sign. The bill provides free testing for the coronavirus , food assistance, and some paid sick leave for employees at firms with less than 500 people. Pope prays before 1522 plague crucifix Pope Francis ventured into a deserted Rome on Sunday to pray at two shrines for the end of the coronavirus pandemic, as the Vatican said his Easter services will be held without the public for the first time. Francis left the Vatican unannounced to pray at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and then walked along one of Rome’s main streets to visit St. Marcello church to pray before a crucifix that was used in a procession when the plague hit Rome in 1522. Brazil suspends football matches The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said on Sunday it is suspending all matches until further notice because of the coronavirus pandemic. The CBF had initially avoided an all-out suspension, instead ordering on Friday that matches be played in empty stadiums in the country’s two largest cities, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. But as fears over the virus’ spread continued to mount, it ultimately followed the lead of the Champions League, Premier League, Bundesliga and a long list of other sporting events worldwide that have suspended their seasons. African nations close borders, cancel flights Several African countries on Sunday closed borders, cancelled flights and imposed strict entry and quarantine requirements to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, which has a foothold in 26 nations on the continent as cases keep rising. Anyone entering Kenya in the last 14 days should self-quarantine, President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya told the nation in a televised address. Schools should close immediately and universities by the end of the week, he said. Hong Kong to impose quarantine on all arrivals from US, Britain and Ireland President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa announced the closure from Wednesday of the country’s borders to all foreign nationals from countries highly impacted by the deadly coronavirus outbreak. In West Africa, Ghana will from Tuesday ban entry to anyone who has been to a country with more than 200 cases in the last 14 days, unless they are an official resident or a Ghanaian national. Namibia ordered schools to close for a month. Djibouti, which has no confirmed case, announced it is suspending all international flights. Tanzania, which also has no cases, cancelled flights to India and suspended school games. SAS temporarily lays off 90 per cent of workforce Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) said it was temporarily halting most of its flights starting on Monday due to travel restrictions and the “non-existent demand” for air travel. The company said it will resume flights when “there are yet again conditions to conduct commercial aviation.” SAS will temporarily lay off up to 10,000 employees, or 90 per cent of its workforce. Also, Air New Zealand said on Monday it would further reduce capacity, by 85 per cent on its long haul network and by 30 per cent on its domestic network, and American Airlines said it is suspending about 75 per cent of its long-haul international flights. Delta, American Air Lines and United Airlines, the three largest US airlines, are in talks with the US government about potential assistance, but no details have emerged. Associated Press, Agence France-Presse