Chaos at US airports over screenings

Chaos gripped major US airports Sunday as Americans returning from coronavirus-hit European countries overwhelmed authorities attempting to process the surge.

Frustrated passengers complained of hours-long lines, crowded and unsanitary conditions and general disarray in the system for screening people for symptoms of the virus.

‘Very close quarters,’ Ann Lewis Schmidt told CNN, describing conditions at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. ‘So if we didn’t have the virus before, we have a great chance of getting it now!’ Schmidt said.

US airports have been hit with a flood of Americans, many of them students, since restrictions on travel  from Europe ordered by US president Donald Trump took effect at midnight Friday.

The United States on Saturday extended the ban on travel from Europe, South Korea and China to Britain and Ireland. Only US citizens and legal residents are being allowed in from those countries, and they are then supposed to self-quarantine for 14 days.

Illinois governor JB Pritzker said the crowds and lines at O’Hare were ‘unacceptable & need to be addressed immediately,’ in a tweet directed at Trump and vice president Mike Pence, who is coordinating the administration’s response to the pandemic.

‘@realDonaldTrump @VP since this is the only communication medium you pay attention to — you need to do something NOW,’ he said.

Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot was equally scathing: ‘The reactionary, poorly planned travel ban has left thousands of travellers at ORD forced into even greater health risk,’ she tweeted.

Similar conditions were reported at New York’s JFK Airport and in Dallas.

Chad Wolf, acting Homeland Security secretary, acknowledged the long lines in a tweet and said his department was trying to add screening capacity.

‘It currently takes 60 seconds for medical professionals to screen each passenger. We will be increasing capacity but the health and safety of the American public is first & foremost.’

The airport bottlenecks were the latest evidence of turbulence in the administration’s response to a pandemic that started in China in December and has since spread worldwide.

President Donald Trump, who had played down the risks early on, was himself tested for the virus Friday night, days after potentially being exposed to it during a visit by Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro.

A spike in deaths from the coronavirus in Spain has pushed the global toll past 6,000, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources.

The worldwide death toll rose to 6,036, with 159,844 infections after 105 died in Spain. While China remains the country with the most deaths with 3,199, the pandemic is now spreading more rapidly in Europe, with 1,907 deaths in the continent’s worst-hit country Italy.

China on Sunday reported 16 new imported cases of the coronavirus, the highest in over a week.

In a bid to stop imported infections, Beijing authorities said all international arrivals in the Chinese capital will be sent to quarantine facilities.

The number of people infected with the coronavirus in Spain increased by a third to 7,753 and more than 100 new deaths were recorded over the last 24 hours, health officials said Sunday.

In total, coronavirus has so far infected 118 persons in India, the ministry informs. Out of the 118 cases, 17 patients are foreign nationals. Moreover, of the total tally, two persons have passed away due to the disease, with one death having occurred in Karnataka’s Kalburgi and the second one in Delhi. Nine patients have also been discharged after having been recovered, reports Financial Express.

With the emergence of five new cases of the novel coronavirus in Pakistan, the total number of COVID-19 infections in the country has increased to 33, reports Khaleej Times.

The latest spike in Europe’s second-most affected country after Italy comes after the Spanish government imposed a near-total nationwide lockdown, banning people from leaving home except to go to work, get medical care or buy food.

The country’s death toll from the outbreak climbed to 288 on Sunday from at least 183, while the total number of cases rose to 7,753 from 5,753.

The wife of Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez is among those who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, his office said late Saturday, just hours after he announced the lockdown.

Vittorio Gregotti, an Italian architect who designed the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics stadium, died Sunday at the age of 92 after catching the novel coronavirus, Italian media said.

Iran shut a key Shia tomb and appealed Sunday to its citizens to stay at home to halt a coronavirus outbreak it said has claimed over 700 lives and infected nearly 14,000 people.

The new overall tolls announced by the health ministry included another 113 deaths and 1,209 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection.

People ‘should cancel all travel and stay at home so that we may see the situation improving in the coming days,’ ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said.

Austria on Sunday banned gatherings of more than five people and told residents to go out only if necessary, in a bid to halt the spread of coronavirus.

Police would enforce new restrictions on public life, the government said, threatening fines for non-compliance.

The tougher measures were decided at an extraordinary session of parliament, during which chancellor Sebastian Kurz called on the population to self-isolate and limit contacts to ‘the people they live with’.

By Sunday, Austria had registered 800 coronavirus cases and two deaths.

Cafes, restaurants, playgrounds and sports facilities will now also be shut down, following Friday’s decision to close non-essential shops.

Germany will close its borders with France, Austria and Switzerland from Monday morning due to the coronavirus crisis, a source close to the matter told AFP on Sunday, confirming a report in German media.

Greece announced a new coronavirus death on Sunday, the country’s youngest fatality, bringing the toll to four, while police arrested citizens that defied a lockdown.

Greek authorities on Saturday said that an additional 38 patients had been infected by the new coronavirus, raising the total to 228.

The president of Kazakhstan on Sunday declared a nationwide state of emergency to stem the spread of new coronavirus infections, further limiting travel and commerce.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net