The number of coronavirus cases swelled to more than 652,000 worldwide on Saturday — with Spain and Italy accounting for more than half the dead — as countries tightened restrictions in hopes of curbing the virus’ global rampage.
Spain logged its most lethal day yet, with 832 deaths, bringing the country’s tally to 5,812, while Italy’s total death toll hit 10,000, prompting leaders there to consider extending a lockdown into mid-April.
Leaders from Asia to Africa enacted measures to deal with the pandemic as global competition for medical supplies raged on.
India, in the midst of a three-week lockdown, has just 933 confirmed cases and 20 deaths but is seeking 38 million face masks and 6.2 million pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical workers, according to internal documents seen by Reuters.
The supply shortage could be far greater, as the documents cover only a fraction of India’s states and territories.
Fears of mass casualties loom for the country of 1.3 billion, where many residents have underlying health conditions.
France is also facing a severe PPE shortage and has reportedly ordered 1 billion face masks, mostly from China — while some try to profit off the pandemic.
Paris police arrested a man last week after discovering 23,000 protective face shields in a truck. The man — who had a stack of cash in his nearby apartment — allegedly admitted he intended to sell them, according to Radio France Internationale.
South African soldiers enforced social distancing by firing rubber bullets at crowds gathered outside a supermarket in Johannesburg.
The country, which announced a lockdown on Friday, now has more than 1,187 coronavirus cases and two deaths.
Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau barred residents showing coronavirus symptoms from boarding planes or trains, and Finland deployed police, military and border guards to enforce a blockade of a southern region that includes the Nordic nation’s capital, Helsinki.
Travel restrictions were implemented in several countries.
Russia announced it would close its borders Monday, as local officials continued to dispute the country’s case count. Authorities claim they have a total of 1,264 positive diagnoses but “testing volume is very low, and nobody knows the real picture,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Health Secretary Matt Hancock and the chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, are leading the country from under quarantine after coming down with coronavirus symptoms — sparking ridicule from Brits who said their leaders downplayed the crisis.
As British fatalities rose above 1,000 Saturday, officials gave a grim outlook.
“If it is less than 20,000 . . . that would be a good result,” said Stephen Powis, medical director of National Health Service England.
Wuhan, China — the origin of the outbreak — began to lift its strict lockdown by opening some subways and borders. But new signs emerged suggesting Chinese officials could be concealing the real death toll.
Skepticism of the official count of 3,299 deaths was raised as photos circulated on social media showing families picking up vast numbers of urns. One funeral home told the Chinese media outlet Caixin that it received shipments of 10,000 urns.
Japan on Saturday raised alarms it could be the next country to implement drastic measures.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has yet to declare a state of emergency, but a surge of untraceable diagnoses there shows the country’s strategy of carefully tracking cases could be faltering.