On Tuesday, the World Health Organization issued a stark warning to countries in South East Asia.
“The situation is evolving rapidly. We need to immediately scale up all efforts to prevent the virus from infecting more people,” said regional director Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh.“More clusters of virus transmission are being confirmed. While this is an indication of an alert and effective surveillance, it also puts the spotlight on the need for more aggressive and whole of society efforts to prevent further spread of COVID-19. We clearly need to do more, and urgently.”
Eight of the 11 countries in the WHO’s SE Asia region have confirmed cases:
• Thailand 177
• Indonesia 134
• India 125
• Sri Lanka 19
• Maldives 13
• Bangladesh 10
• Nepal and Bhutan one each
World summary by BBC News
WHO says South East Asian countries must “act now” to tackle the virus
The European Union will ban all travellers from outside the bloc for 30 days
The Euro 2020 football tournament has been postponed for a year
More than 185,000 people have contracted the new coronavirus worldwide
Iran is the worst-affected country, followed by Italy and China
The US is working on an $850bn stimulus package
