CORONAVIRUS: Spain, France announce new restrictions as Sudan confirms first case

Health authorities in Spain have announced new strict restrictions in a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus also known as COVID-19 which has spread across the globe and has claimed many lives.

The restrictions in Spain comes after Begona Gomez – the wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez – was diagnosed with coronavirus shortly after her husband announced sweeping new measures designed to keep people off the streets and contain the spread of the virus.

As Al Jazeera’s Graham Keeley writes from Barcelona, the restrictions are something of a shock in a country where life is lived outside in bars, restaurants, or on the beaches.

In France, a ban has been placed on nightlife, as the Philippines seals off Manila in the most aggressive response to the pandemic yet seen in Southeast Asia, and the Australian government ordering all arrivals from overseas to go into quarantine for 14 days.

READ ALSO: CORONAVIRUS: I’m expecting my test result – Trump

In a related development, Sudan says a man in his 50s who died on Thursday in the capital, Khartoum, had coronavirus, confirming the country’s first case.

The man had visited the UAE in the first week of March, health authorities said.

Sudan has stopped issuing visas for, and flights to, eight countries, including Italy and neighbouring Egypt, over fears of the coronavirus outbreak.

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