Neos Kosmos will do our best to keep our readers updated on the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The information will be sourced from respected sources such as government and multilateral health organisations across the world and legitimate media sources.

We will also be referencing relevant media where necessary.

Below is a snapshot of COVID19 Cases in Greece, Australia and hotspots across the world.

Latest News Roundup:

India’s 1.3b people in lockdown

  • India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has imposed a nationwide lockdown in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
  • The restrictions came into force at midnight local time (18:30 GMT) and will be enforced for 21 days.
  • “There will be a total ban on venturing out of your homes,” Mr Modi said in a televised address.
  • He appealed for people not to panic – but crowds quickly mobbed stores in the capital, Delhi, and other cities.It is not clear how – or even if – people will now be allowed out to buy food and other essentials.

READ MORE: Australia’s PM Scott Morrison cancels elective surgery, launches Covid-19 commission as “bridge to the other side”

Australia’s COVID19 cases surge and new restrictions imposed

  • Prime Minister Scott Morrison extended coronavirus restrictions with new limits on weddings and funerals, more business closures
  • Nationwide crackdown on social gatherings will be expanded in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus.
  • The Prime Minister announced a list of additional activities now restricted to slow the spread of coronavirus
  • Shopping centres will continue to operate, but group events such as weddings and funerals are limited to small number of participants
  • Australians are now banned from travelling overseas
  • Mr Morrison said visits to homes, even with family, “should be kept to a minimum and with very small numbers of guests”.
  • “Going out for the basics, going out for exercise, perhaps with your partner or family members provided it’s a small group — that’s fine.
  • Chief medical officer Brendan Murphy said the measures were draconian, but necessary.
  • He emphasised the importance of people staying quarantined in their homes if they had returned from international travel or had been in contact with someone who came down with the disease.
  • “If we’re going to control community transmission we have to stop the capacity of this virus from spreading from person to person,” he said.

READ MORE: Australia’s PM expands coronavirus restrictions with stricter measures for weddings, funerals and travel

World Cases

As it stands on 25 March, the current crisis stands as follows:

Cases:  418,099

Deaths: 8,953

Recovered: 84,795

Worldwide cases of COVID19 have almost doubled between 19 March and 25 March from around 250,000 to over 416,000. Deaths have gone from 8,953 on 19 March to 18,608 on 25 March. Recovery has moved from just over 84,000 on 19 March to 108,323 on 25 March.

READ MORE: Coronavirus in Greece: 743 cases, migrant camps, new bank withdrawal rules and pets

Australia

Total Cases: 2,144 Deaths 8 Recovered 118

  • There has been a doubling of Australia’s cases in less than a week
  • Over 80,000 people have joined the unemployment queues in a day some lines across Centrelink and MyGov
  • Australia has recorded eight deaths and 118 recoveries from COVID-19, with more than 2144 cases across the nation
  • There have been 427 new cases since 3:00pm on 24 March to 9am on 25 March
  • State by State: New South Wales 913; Queensland 397; South Australia 170; Victoria 411; Western Australia 175; Tasmania 26; ACT 39
  • On 25 March, Virgin announced the grounding of 90 per cent of its flights.
  • Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced further restrictions to movement and a push for more isolation in an attempt to curb the rise of COVID19 infections
  • Total bans to travelling overseas have been imposed
  • All states have closed borders and interstate travel has been largely halted
  • From midnight on Wednesday 25 march, these activities and businesses will no longer be allowed to continue at Amusement parks and arcades; Indoor and outdoor play centres; Community and recreation centres, health clubs, fitness centres, yoga, barre (low impact workouts), spin facilities, saunas, wellness centres; Public swimming pools; Galleries, museums, national institutions, historic sites, libraries, community centres; Auction houses; Real estate auctions and open house inspections; In-store beauty therapy, tanning, waxing, nail salons and tattoo parlours, spa and massage parlours (excluding allied-health-related services, like physiotherapy); Food courts within shopping centres will only be able to sell takeaway
  • Hairdressers and barber shops can continue, but a customer must not be on the premises longer than 30 minutes; Personal training and boot camps are limited to a maximum of 10 people; Weddings can continue, but only with the couple, the celebrant, and witnesses totalling a maximum of five people; Funerals are limited to a maximum of 10 people; Outdoor and indoor food markets will be addressed by individual states and territories; Shopping centres themselves will remain open
  • Australia’s airlines have ground to a halt
  • Virgin announced a reduction of 90 per cent and grounding of 125 aircraft.
  • 10 per cent domestic capacity retained for transportation of essential services, critical freight and logistics.
  • Suspension of Tigerair Australia flying effective immediately.
  • Approximately 80 per cent of workforce to be temporarily stood down.
  • Qantas is suspending all international flights and domestic flights and has stood down 30,000 employees except for emergency and freight
  • Australia is facing the prospect of at least 1.7 million people being unemployed as the spread of coronavirus wreaks havoc on the nation’s economy.
  • Long queues formed outside Centrelink offices for over two days 24 – 25 March, despite the Federal Government urging welfare-seekers to go home.
  • It is estimating at least 1 million people will be made unemployed, joining the 750,000 people already receiving unemployment benefits.
  • Australia’s unemployment is expected to rise from 5.1 per cent to closer to 15 per cent.
  • The economic downturn and resulting unemployment may mirror the 1929 Depression era
  • Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced the largest stimulus package since wartime; “This is the most significant set of measures to support the Aust (sic) economy since wartime. This is a Team Aust (sic) moment & will provide the hope and support Australians need at this difficult time.”  Josh Frydenberg (Twitter 24 March)
  • The total stimulus package is around $170bn with over $85bn passed through parliament on Tues 24 March.
  • Labor Opposition has agreed to all measures of the stimulus package.

READ MORE: Farewell Athens… Covid-19 dispatch from Greece

Greece

Total Cases: from 418 on 19 March to 743 on 24 March Deaths from 5 on 19 March to 20 on 24 March Recovered 29

  • The Greek Health Ministry announced 71 new coronavirus cases have been reported, raising the country’s total to 718.
  • There have been a rise of new recoveries as well from daily recoveries hovering between 1-10 per day
  • Greece recorded 24 deaths due to the virus known as Covid-19.
  • Greece is suspending all travels to Turkey and the U.K. local media reported on Monday 23 March.
  • Flights are banned from Monday 6 a.m. local time (0400GMT) until 15 April, it added.
  • The Greek government is planning to suspend all international flights after Greek citizens abroad return to the country.

Cyprus

Cases: 124 Deaths: 3 Recovered: 3

  • Two more patients suffering with coronavirus died yesterday while eight more cases were confirmed by the Cypriot Health Ministry on Tuesday. Three of the new cases were contacts of people already tested positive to Covid-19, two had returned from European countries who contacted authorities after having symptoms and three are still unknown.
  • The deceased were a 63-year-old British man being treated at Limassol general hospital and a 58-year-old Greek Cypriot man at Nicosia hospital. The latter had no underlying health conditions
  • Three of the 124 coronavirus cases on the island were detected at the British bases.
  • There are 19 patients at Famagusta general hospital of whom three are in ICU, and there are fears that more will need to be intubated.
  • THere are currently 32 ICU beds available for Covid-19 patients and fears that the health services will be strained in the future, however there are plans that the number of beds will gradually increase to 125 with the addition of 89 beds in Nicosia and four in Limassol.

Italy

Cases: from 35,713 on 19 March to 69,176 on 25 March Deaths: 2,978 on 19 March to 6,820 on 25 March, Recovered: 4,025 March 19 to 8,236 March 25

  • Covid-19 has infected 2,629 health workers, or 8.3 per cent of the total (twice the percentage in China), as of 18 March
  • Over 400 new deaths in one day recorded on 17 March
  • Recovery Rate: by 23 March, recover stands at 55.02 per cent. The recovery rate peaked on 2 March to 74.03 per cent.
  • Death Rate: peaked at 87.5 per cent by 23 February and dropped to 27.42 per cent on 27 February and moved up in 23 March to 44.98 per cent.

China

Cases: 81,171 Deaths: 3,277 Recovered: 73,159

  • Isolation and social distancing seems to be working in China where the rate of infection has dropped from the high of 55,000 in 22 February to 4730 on 22 March.
  • All new cases have been detected in Shanghai and Beijing mainly from Chinese returning from overseas.
  • Death Rate: 43:18 per cent on 2 Feb to it’s loweston 17  March of 4.49 per cent.
  • Recovery Rate: in 23 March  it was 95.78 per cent and on 2 February at 56.82 per cent.

United States

Cases: 9,413 on 19 March to 53,358 on 22 March Deaths: from 154 on 19 March to 695, Recovered: 108 on 19 March to 370 on 22 March.

  • 5594 new cases and 49 new deaths in the United States. 23 per cent of the US Population is ordered to “stay at home” after governors in California (40 million residents), New York State (20 million), Illinois(13 million), and Connecticut (3.5 million) ordered nonessential workers to remain at home to slow the spread of coronavirus.
  • Death Rate: has now reached close to 60 per cent a rise of close to 10 per cent in two days from 16 March.
  • Congress is close to striking a deal on a sweeping $2 trillion economic rescue package to the worsening coronavirus crisis that includes direct payments to Americans, far-reaching financial help for small businesses and a lifeline to airlines considered crucial to the nation’s recovery. US working to determine if the self-swab coronavirus test is as effective as the other testing process. It would be a much easier test
  • All foreclosures and evictions to be suspended until the end of April
  • Counter to warning from health officials President Trump said he hopes the country can return to relative normalcy by Easter — just 19 days from now. “I’d love to have the country opened up and raring to go by Easter,” Trump said in a virtual town hall on Fox News.

Situation update worldwide, as of 24 March 2020

The data presented on this page has been collected between 6:00 and 10:00 CET

Summary: Since 31 December 2019 and as of 24 March 2020, 378 041 cases of COVID-19 (in accordance with the applied case definitions and testing strategies in the affected countries) have been reported, including 16 365 deaths. The deaths have been reported from Italy (6 077), China (3 283), Spain (2 182), Iran (1 812), France (860), United States (590), United Kingdom (335), Netherlands (213), Germany (126), South Korea (120), Belgium (88), Switzerland (66), Indonesia (49), Japan (42), Turkey (37), Brazil (34), Philippines (33), Austria (25), Sweden (25), Canada (24), Denmark (24), Iraq (23), Portugal (23), San Marino (20), Ecuador (18), Algeria (17), Greece (17), Egypt (14), Malaysia (14), India (9), Hungary (8), Luxembourg (8), Norway (8), Poland (8), Australia (7), International conveyance in Japan (7), Romania (7), Ireland (6), Pakistan (6), Panama (6), Peru (5), Albania (4), Argentina (4), Lebanon (4), Mexico (4), Morocco (4), Thailand (4), Bangladesh (3), Bulgaria (3), Burkina Faso (3), Colombia (3), Dominican Republic (3), Tunisia (3), Ukraine (3), Bahrain (2), Chile (2), Costa Rica (2), Democratic Republic of the Congo (2), Ghana (2), Iceland (2), Mauritius (2), North Macedonia (2), Singapore (2), Taiwan (2), United Arab Emirates (2), Afghanistan (1), Azerbaijan (1), Bosnia and Herzegovina (1), Cayman Islands (1), Cuba (1), Czech Republic (1), Finland (1), Gabon (1), Gambia (1), Guam (1), Guatemala (1), Guyana (1), Israel (1), Kosovo** (1), Lithuania (1), Moldova (1), Nigeria (1), Paraguay (1), Serbia (1), Slovenia (1), Sudan (1) and Zimbabwe (1).

Cases have been reported on the following continents:

Africa: South Africa (402), Egypt (327), Algeria (189), Morocco (134), Tunisia (89), Senegal (79), Burkina Faso (75), Cameroon (56), Nigeria (40), Rwanda (36), Ghana (27), Democratic Republic of the Congo (26), Côte d’Ivoire (25), Togo (18), Madagascar (17), Kenya (16), United Republic of Tanzania (12), Ethiopia (11), Equatorial Guinea (9), Uganda (9), Seychelles (7), Gabon (6), Benin (5), Central African Republic (4), Congo (4), Eswatini (4), Cape Verde (3), Djibouti (3), Liberia (3), Namibia (3), Zambia (3), Angola (2), Chad (2), Gambia (2), Guinea (2), Mauritania (2), Niger (2), Sudan (2), Zimbabwe (2), Eritrea (1), Mozambique (1) and Somalia (1).

Asia: China (81 748), Iran (23 049), South Korea (9 037), Malaysia (1 518), Israel (1 442), Japan (1 128), Pakistan (887), Thailand (827), Indonesia (579), Saudi Arabia (562), Singapore (509), Qatar (501), India (492), Philippines (462), Bahrain (339), Lebanon (267), Iraq (266), United Arab Emirates (198), Taiwan (195), Kuwait (189), Vietnam (123), Jordan (112), Sri Lanka (97), Brunei Darussalam (91), Cambodia (87), Oman (66), Kazakhstan (62), Palestine* (59), Uzbekistan (49), Afghanistan (40), Mauritius (36), Bangladesh (33), Kyrgyzstan (16), Maldives (13), Mongolia (10), Bhutan (2), Myanmar (2), Nepal (2), Syria (1) and Timor-Leste (1).

America: United States (46 442), Brazil (1 891), Canada (1 646), Ecuador (981), Chile (746), Peru (395), Mexico (367), Panama (345), Argentina (301), Dominican Republic (245), Colombia (235), Uruguay (162), Costa Rica (158), Venezuela (84), Trinidad and Tobago (51), Cuba (40), Honduras (30), Bolivia (28), Paraguay (27), Guatemala (20), Jamaica (19), Barbados (17), Netherlands Antilles (17), United States Virgin Islands (17), Bermuda (6), Guyana (6), Suriname (6), El Salvador (5), Haiti (5), Bahamas (4), Greenland (4), Cayman Islands (3), Nicaragua (2), Saint Lucia (2), Antigua and Barbuda (1), Belize (1), Dominica (1), Grenada (1), Montserrat (1) and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (1).

Europe: Italy (63 927), Spain (33 089), Germany (29 212), France (19 856), Switzerland (8 015), United Kingdom (6 650), Netherlands (4 749), Austria (4 486), Belgium (3 743), Norway (2 371), Portugal (2 060), Sweden (2 016), Turkey (1 529), Denmark (1 460), Czech Republic (1 236), Ireland (1 125), Luxembourg (875), Poland (749), Finland (700), Greece (695), Iceland (588), Romania (576), Slovenia (442), Russia (438), Estonia (352), Croatia (306), Serbia (222), Bulgaria (201), Armenia (194), Slovakia (191), Hungary (187), San Marino (187), Latvia (180), Lithuania (179), North Macedonia (136), Andorra (133), Bosnia and Herzegovina (129), Faroe Islands (118), Cyprus (116), Moldova (109), Malta (107), Albania (100), Belarus (81), Ukraine (73), Azerbaijan (72), Georgia (61), Kosovo** (61), Liechtenstein (46), Montenegro (27), Monaco (23), Guernsey (20), Jersey (18), Gibraltar (15), Isle of Man (13) and Holy See (1).

Oceania: Australia (1 823), New Zealand (142), Guam (29), French Polynesia (23), New Caledonia (7), Fiji (4) and Papua New Guinea (1).

Other: International conveyance in Japan (696).

* This designation shall not be construed as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual positions of the Member States on this issue.

** This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1244/1999 and the International Court of Justice Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.

Daily updates and figures are from Worldometer and, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.