LONDON – Sunday is Mother’s Day in Britain, and the government has a stark message for millions of citizens: A visit to your mother could be life-threatening.
In a message to the nation, Prime Minister Boris Johnson implored Britons to forego family visits and Sunday lunches. He said “we cannot disguise or sugarcoat the threat” that “if your mother is elderly or vulnerable, then I am afraid all the statistics show that she is much more likely to die from coronavirus.”
On Friday, Johnson said that he hoped to see his 77-year-old mother on Mother’s Day. His office later said that he would speak to her on Skype.
The British government is scrambling to toughen its response to the coronavirus outbreak amid criticism it did not act quickly enough to close schools, pubs and restaurants.
Britain has 5,018 confirmed cases of the virus, including 233 deaths. The government says Britain will be facing a crisis on the scale of Italy´s in two weeks if people do not heed instructions to stay home and avoid contact with others.
BERLIN – Authorities in Austria’s western region of Tyrol have called on anyone who visited a bar in the Ziller valley earlier this month to watch for symptoms of the new coronavirus.
So-called apres-ski bars have emerged as a hub of infection, with tourists often carrying the virus back to their home countries and causing an outbreak there.
Officials said Sunday that Tyrol has recorded 839 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, at least 32 of which were in the Ziller valley.
Authorities said tracing possible contacts people had in bars is proving particularly difficult and urged anyone who visited bars there from March 8-15 to call a medical hotline if they feel symptoms.
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