Coronavirus Update: Disneyland Paris closes, Spain shuts down four towns

Coronavirus Update: Disneyland Paris closes, Spain shuts down four towns

The Paris theme park is shutting its doors on Sunday in line with the parks in California and Florida after several of its workers contracted the virus in recent days.

AgenciesUpdated: Saturday, March 14, 2020, 09:26 AM IST
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Disneyland Paris | AFP

Disneyland Paris is closing its doors, four Spanish towns are on lockdown and France is calling for a 'massive applying of the brakes' as coronavirus fears spread across Europe today, said Daily Mail.

The Paris theme park is shutting its doors on Sunday in line with the parks in California and Florida after several of its workers contracted the virus in recent days.

France banned any gathering of more than 100 people with immediate effect, having previously set a 1,000-person limit. The country had already shut down schools and universities for at least two weeks, with children at home across the continent today as Portugal, Ireland, Malta, Belgium and Luxembourg became the latest countries to shut their classrooms. 'This is not a lockdown,' Wilmes said.

'We want to avoid situations like Italy. These measures must prevent lockdowns,' said Belgium Prime Minister Sophine Wilmes.

The Czech Republic has taken even more drastic measures with a ban on all foreign travellers and Czechs leaving the country from March 16.

Portugal is declaring a state of alert, limiting visits to retirement homes and shutting down nightclubs with large public events already cancelled.

Four towns have been shut down in Catalonia in north-eastern Spain where police were today stopping cars on a road near Barcelona.

In Italy, which is already in lockdown, Catholic churches in Rome have now been shut as the Vatican falls in line with the rest of the country.

Football fixtures across Europe have been taking place behind closed doors amid calls for the Euro 2020 tournament to be postponed. Meanwhile, some European passengers were boarding the last flights to America this morning before Donald Trump's unexpected travel ban comes into force tonight. The drastic measures leave Britain increasingly out of step with the rest of Europe after Boris Johnson yesterday declined to impose a ban on schools or public events.

Europe now has a total of 28,550 cases, more than half of them in Italy, and 1,198 deaths.

Catholic churches down shutters

Rome is now shutting down all its Catholic churches with worshippers exempted from attending Sunday Mass. The shutdown was announced by the Pope's deputy in Rome last night as Italy's death toll passed 1,000 in the worst outbreak outside China. Cardinal Angelo De Donatis said Rome's 900 churches will be closed until at least April 3, when Italy's nationwide quarantine is due to end.

But the total church closure is thought to be unprecedented, added Daily Mail. Some places of worship keeping their doors open even during World War II when the Nazis and Italian fascists kept Pope Pius XII confined to the Vatican.

The Pope himself has been kept away from the public since he appeared to have a cold during an Ash Wednesday service last week.

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