Britain has joined other nations in imposing strict stay-at-home orders, with the number of virus deaths worldwide surging past 16,500 and the number of confirmed cases crossing 377,000.

The death toll in New York City neared 100, sparking growing concern over the spread of the virus in the largest US metropolis, home to some 8.4 million people.

Italy, Spain and France have already imposed nationwide lockdowns. So too has Malaysia.

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More than 10,000 people have now died in Europe, where confirmed cases have soared past 200,000, with Italy’s 63,927 infections and Spain’s 39,673 accounting for more than half of the total,

Italy, with more than 6,000 deaths, now has more fatalities than mainland China where 3,277 people have died and 81,171 have been infected since reporting began in January. A total of 73,159 people have recovered, according to official figures.

Here are the updates:

Singapore shuts bars, bans large gatherings

Singapore will ban gatherings of more than 10 people – apart from at work or school – effective Friday and shut bars, cinemas and other entertainment venues until the end of April as it ramps up social distancing measures to stem the spread of the virus.

Tuition and enrichment centres will also be closed to prevent “the intermingling of students from different schools” while religious services will also be suspended. Places of worship will stay open, but be subject to the 10-person limit on public gatherings.

As of midday Tuesday, the city state had reported 558 infections, 49 of which were new amid a surge in imported cases from Britain and the US especially. Singapore closed its borders to all foreigners on Monday.

Sending out their sternest warning yet against travel after issuing several earlier advisories, health authorities said Singapore citizens and residents would have to pay full treatment costs at public hospitals instead of enjoying the usual subsidised rates if they left the country, returned and were admitted for the Covid-19 illness.

A check on the Health Ministry’s website on Tuesday showed that for lung, nose and throat infections with very severe complications, a patient could spend between S$5,900-8,300 (US$4,080-5,740). With government subsidies that same treatment would cost S$1,800-2,400.

“These are necessary measures and we hope Singaporeans take these measures seriously,” said Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong, who co-chairs a multi-ministry task force to tackle the outbreak.

“Our key message to all Singaporeans is stay at home as much as you can, go out if you need to work, go to school, go out for essential tasks. Otherwise, stay at home, reduce your social gatherings and all other activities for the next one month.”

Tokyo Games to be delayed

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he and International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach agreed on Tuesday that they will aim to hold the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

He said the IOC had ruled out a cancellation of the Games and was laying the groundwork for a postponement, citing the “astonishing” spread of Covid-19 across the globe.

Thailand to declare one-month emergency

Thailand’s prime minister said his government has agreed to declare a state of emergency to implement stricter measures to control the coronavirus outbreak.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said his Cabinet agreed Tuesday at its weekly meeting to put a one-month state of emergency into effect on Thursday. It will give the government enforcement powers not normally available to it.

He said details of the measures will be announced later.

The announcement came after Thailand confirmed coronavirus infections jumped by 106 to 827, and three more people died, bringing the death toll to four. Cases have surged this month, leading to a partial shutdown of much of the country, including in Bangkok.

Many of the new cases are linked to clusters from a boxing stadium event, foreign travel and the tourism and service industries.

China’s new infections double from imported cases

Mainland China saw a doubling in new cases driven by a jump in infected travellers returning home from overseas, raising the risk of transmissions in Chinese cities and provinces that had seen no new infections in recent days.

China had 78 new cases on Monday, the National Health Commission said, a twofold increase from Sunday. Of the new cases, 74 were imported infections, up from 39 imported cases a day earlier.

Capital Beijing was the hardest-hit, with a record 31 new imported cases, followed by the southern Guangdong province with 14 and the financial hub of Shanghai with nine. The total number of imported cases in China stood at 427 as of Monday.

Beijing has imposed tough screening and quarantine protocols, and has diverted all incoming international flights to other Chinese cities, but that has not stemmed the influx of Chinese nationals, many of whom are students returning home from virus-hit countries.

Of the four new local infections, one was in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, the National Health Commission said on Tuesday. This follows five days of no new infections in the city, the epicentre of the outbreak in China. Seven more deaths were reported, all in Hubei.

Britons ordered to ‘stay at home’

Under the new measures, Johnson said going out to shop for basic necessities was still allowed, as was exercise, medical needs, and travel to and from work.

But shops selling items such as clothes or electronics as well as libraries, playgrounds and places of worship would be shut, with the ban also extending to weddings and baptisms but not funerals.

France, China seek emergency G20 talks

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by telephone with President Xi Jinping on Monday, after Saudi Arabia, which currently presides over the G20, last week called for a “virtual” summit.

“The two leaders agreed a summit would be helpful in particular on the health front … and on the economic front” the Elysee Palace said in a statement, citing “coordinated fiscal and monetary measures.” “The presidents agreed that their teams will remain in close contact over technical cooperation as well as material needs to combat this epidemic,” the statement said.

Saudi Arabia has called for an extraordinary videoconference of G20 leaders as the economic fallout from the coronavirus lockdowns spreading worldwide hammered financial markets, putting many countries on course for a recession.

Trump calls to protect Asian communities in US

“It is very important that we totally protect our Asian-American community in the United States, and all around the world,” Trump tweeted.

“They are amazing people, and the spreading of the Virus is NOT their fault in any way, shape, or form. They are working closely with us to get rid of it. WE WILL PREVAIL TOGETHER!”

His tone – and avoidance of calling SARS-CoV-2 the “Chinese virus” – contrasts with last week when he voiced anger at being accused of racism.

Trump has called “Chinese virus” an “accurate” term because the pandemic was first detected in the Chinese metropolis of Wuhan.

Indonesia cancels national exams amid biggest daily rise in cases

Indonesia on Tuesday confirmed 107 new coronavirus cases, the biggest daily increase to date in the Southeast Asian country, bringing the total number of cases to 686.

Health Ministry official Achmad Yurianto said seven more people had died of the disease as of Tuesday, bringing the total number of deaths to 55.

There are 30 people in the country who have recovered from the virus.

The country’s upcoming National Examination was also cancelled on Tuesday over concerns about the spread of the virus, a move that will affect more than 8 million high school students, education minister Nadiem Makarim said.

The national exams had been due to be held in two phases, starting on March 30 and April 20.

Makarim, the former chief executive and co-founder of ride-hailing and payments giant Gojek, said exams held by individual schools – which are separate from the national exams – could be conducted online, while students could also be assessed based on their grades in earlier semesters.

Some Indonesian provinces have already shut schools due to the coronavirus outbreak including West Java, the country’s most populous province with almost 50 million people, and Jakarta which has declared a state of emergency in the capital.

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Myanmar confirms first cases

Myanmar confirmed its first cases of late Monday after weeks of increasing scepticism over its claims to be free of the disease.

The country of 54 million people had been the world’s largest country by population not to report a single case of the pandemic that has confined more than 1.7 billion to their homes.

With only 214 people tested by late Monday, medical experts and rights groups have urged Myanmar to stand up and face the pending crisis.

Myanmar’s health ministry late Monday confirmed a 36-year-old Myanmar man travelling back from the United States and a 26-year-old Myanmar man returning from Britain had both tested positive.

Malaysia sees triple digit rise in cases

Malaysia on Tuesday recorded 106 new coronavirus cases, bringing the national total up to 1,624 with 15 deaths – 10 of which have been linked to a cluster stemming from a mass religious gathering that took place last month.

In total, 184 patients have recovered while 64 are still in intensive care, including 24 on ventilators.

Noor Hisham Abdullah, the country’s top health official, warned Malaysians to stay at home and adhere to the rules of the partial national lockdown, now in its seventh day, which restricts movement, as well as barring interstate travel and social visits.

“We’ve been using the carrot for the past couple of weeks. But perhaps it is time for us to use the stick. The choice is the public’s,” he said.

“If you follow our instructions, help the health ministry, help the government by staying home to break the chain of infection, then we have a small opportunity to break the transmission of the virus. The success or failure does not only depend on us, but on each and every one of you.”

Also on Tuesday, Malaysia received a second tranche of medical supplies, including thousands of face masks and medical goggles, from Chinese state-owned engineering and construction contractor

China Communications Construction Company, which is behind a belt and road megaproject in the country.

Nepal locks down for a week

Nepal began a weeklong lockdown, with the Himalayan nation’s 30 million people ordered to stay at home.

The government’s decision came hours after Nepal confirmed its second coronavirus case on Monday.

Schools, offices and markets were closed and streets empty in the capital Kathmandu on Tuesday as people and businesses complied with the order. Violations carry penalties.

All domestic flights are to stay grounded, and that all private and public vehicles are to stay off the streets. Citizens are allowed to leave home for purchasing medicine and food. All non-essential services and manufacturing have also been ordered to shut down.

On Monday, Nepal sealed its land borders with India and China for a week to all traffic except for cargo trucks. All international flights have already been suspended.

Italy virus deaths fall for second day

On Sunday, 651 people died. That followed 793 on Saturday and 627 on Friday.

The total number of confirmed cases in Italy rose to 63,927 on Monday from a previous 59,138, an increase of 8 per cent, the Civil Protection Agency said – the lowest rise in percentage terms since the contagion came to light on February 21.

Of those originally infected nationwide, 7,432 had fully recovered on Monday compared to 7,024 the day before. There were 3,204 people in intensive care against a previous 3,009.

The hardest-hit northern region of Lombardy remained in a critical situation, with a total of 3,776 deaths and 28,761 cases. That compared with 3,456 deaths and 27,206 cases reported up to Sunday.

Astronauts quarantined ahead of ISS mission

Two Russian cosmonauts and a US astronaut were spending their final weeks on Earth in quarantine before they are expected to blast-off on April 9 for the International Space Station for six months.

Launching from a pad in Kazakhstan, the Expedition 63 crew will depart Earth without much of the usual fanfare at the Baikonur cosmodrome and ceremonies in Moscow, as the world attempts to curb the spread of the Covid-19 disease through social distancing and citywide lockdowns.

The space station has continuously staffed astronauts for nearly 20 years, serving as a test bed for an array of scientific research including studies to better understand the human immune system and microgravity medical experiments for vital uses on Earth.

Police in India shame those defying lockdown

Police in India’s northern city of Meerut are making citizens who break lockdown hold up signs reading, “I am a friend of coronavirus,” or “I am the enemy of society,” before posting their pictures on Twitter.

Most of India, which had 482 infections and nine deaths by Tuesday, is under lockdown to curb the spread of the virus, including Meerut, in the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh.

Mosque worker Mohammad Alim, 40, said he took a widow and her three sons to a police station in the city on his motorbike on Monday night to report an altercation with neighbours.

“When I reached the police-station, the inspector handed me that shaming sign and clicked my picture,” he said.

“I feel scared. I do not know who to complain to now,” added Alim, who also accused officers of verbally abusing him.

Meerut police tweeted a picture of Alim holding a sign that read “I am a friend of coronavirus” with the caption, “Some people do not care about society’s safety.”

The police Twitter feed had nine more similar pictures, with comments in Hindi, including, “I do not believe in the law of the country” and “I do not care about my family or society.”

Meerut police official Akhilesh Narayan Singh said that only people who did not follow orders to turn around and go home were photographed, adding that 22 cases of lockdown violations had been filed.

Coronavirus latest: Singapore, Malaysia cases spike; Hong Kong bans tourists

Millions of Germany-bound face masks ‘disappear’ in Kenya

Six million protective face masks ordered by Germany to prevent further coronavirus infections have gone missing, Spiegel magazine reported on Tuesday, citing defence officials.

The order of FFP2 particulate respirators, the standard recommended for health care workers by the World Health Organisation, “disappeared without a trace” at an airport in Kenya, a German Defence Ministry representative was cited as saying. The ministry is investigating the incident.

Spiegel reported that the representative said that tens of millions of the masks had been ordered for delivery to Germany by last Friday, but said that the fact that the first major order has fallen through is “more than annoying,” according to the report.

The procurement of urgently needed medical materials in the fight against coronavirus is being handled by the German military, with assistance from the Health Ministry.

Egypt imposes night-time curfew

Egypt is to impose a night-time curfew for two weeks from Wednesday to contain the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli announced.

“Movement will be banned on all public roads from 7pm to 6am … for two weeks,” he told a Tuesday news conference. “All mass transport, public and private, will be halted over the same period.”

Penalties for violators include a fine of up to 4,000 Egyptian pounds (about US$250) and even prison.

The prime minister said central and provincial government services, including the issuing of licences, would be suspended for two weeks.

Shops selling more than basic goods would be allowed to open until 5pm on work days but would be required to close over the Friday-Saturday weekend.

Cafes and nightclubs would be closed, while restaurants and other food outlets would be allowed to offer delivery services only.

Bakeries, grocery stores, pharmacies and supermarkets outside malls would be exempted.

The health ministry has so far registered 19 deaths from the coronavirus in Egypt out of 366 confirmed cases.

The government has already closed schools and universities and halted air traffic in a bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus among the country’s 100 million people.

Religious authorities have since Saturday shut all mosques and churches and halted prayer gatherings for at least two weeks.

Uefa postpones Champions League, Europa League final

This season’s Champions League final, Europa League final and women’s Champions League final, all due to be played in May, have been formally postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, European soccer’s governing body Uefa said on Tuesday.

“No decision has been taken on rearranged dates,” said Uefa. All three competitions are currently suspended along with almost every European domestic league because of the coronavirus.

Uefa last week postponed the Euro 2020 tournament until next year.

Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, DPA, Kyodo, Reuters, Kok Xinghui, Tashny Sukumaran