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Paris — Lockdowns aimed at halting the march of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic have extended worldwide as the US outbreak continued to accelerate with the death toll there passing 3 000.

Despite slivers of hope in stricken Italy, tough measures that have confined two-fifths of the globe’s population to their homes are being broadened.

Moscow and Lagos joined the roll call of cities around the world with empty streets, while Virginia and Maryland became the latest US states to announce stay-at-home orders, followed quickly by Washington DC.

A US military medical ship steamed into New York, where it will relieve pressure on the city’s badly stretched health system. A field hospital set up in Central Park was due to go online later yesterday.

The scale and speed of the US pandemic continued to expand, with the death toll topping 3 000 out of 163 000 known infections — the highest case count for any single country.

President Donald Trump sought to reassure Americans that authorities were ramping up distribution of desperately needed equipment like ventilators and personal protective gear.

But he also offered a stark warning, saying “challenging times are ahead for the next 30 days” as he acknowledged a potential nationwide stay-at-home order.

“We’re sort of putting it all on the line,” Trump said, likening the efforts against coronavirus to a “war”.

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases around the world rose above 784 000, with 413 000 of those in Europe, which also has the lion’s share of the deaths, according to an AFP tally.

World leaders — several of whom have been stricken or forced into isolation — are still grappling for ways to deal with a crisis that is generating economic and social shockwaves unseen since World War II.

Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed “closer cooperation” and addressed plunging oil prices in a Monday call, the Kremlin said. Putin’s government was getting to grips with its own outbreak, with the Russian strongman urging residents of Moscow to respect a lockdown that has closed all non-essential shops, and left Red Square deserted.

Anna, a 36-year-old web designer, said the lockdown would be hard for her and her five-year-old daughter. “But I don’t want Arina to get sick,” she told AFP on her way to buy bread. “So of course we will observe the quarantine.”

After weeks of a national lockdown in Italy, signs were emerging that drastic action could be slowing the spread of the disease.

Even though the country’s death toll grew by 812 in 24 hours to 11 591, the number of infections climbed just 4.1 percent.

“The data are better but our work continues,” said Giulio Gallera, the chief medical officer of Lombardy, Italy’s worst-hit region.

Spain announced another 812 virus deaths in 24 hours, taking it past China, where the disease first emerged in December.

Even with the US health system stretched, Trump said he was ordering some excess medical equipment be sent to Italy, France and Spain.

The lockdowns are causing hardship across the world, but particularly in impoverished cities in Africa and Asia.

Africa’s biggest city, Lagos, joined the global stay-at-home from Monday, with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordering a two-week lockdown for its 20 million people. The measures also apply to the capital Abuja.

“Two weeks is too long. I don’t know how we will cope,” said student Abdul Rahim, 25, as he helped his sister sell food from a market stall.

Experts in Germany, Europe’s economic powerhouse, said the virus would shrink output there this year by up to 5.4 percent.

The World Bank warned the economic fallout from the pandemic could cause Chinese growth to shudder to a halt, and thrust millions of East Asians into poverty.

The same holds true for large parts of Africa.

In Benin, President Patrice Talon said his country could not enforce public confinement because it lacks the “means of rich countries”.

Aid groups have warned that the coronavirus toll in the developed world could pale compared with the devastation it wreaks on defenceless populations in poor states and war zones such as Syria and Yemen.

Three billion people around the world lack access to running water and soap, the most basic weapons of protection against the virus, according to UN experts.

Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi has also announced a lockdown beginning 2 April for 28 days.

Masisi said that he wanted lockdown to be more than the 21 days stipulated in the constitution, therefore he would call parliament to decide how much longer it would be in force.

He has also detailed a raft of financial interventions that include a loan repayment holiday of between three and six months for home and vehicle loans.

Masisi tested negative for Covid-19 following a trip to Namibia but after three cases were confirmed on Monday, he has declared a lockdown.

He said that the 2 billion pula Covid-19 relief fund would go towards a wage subsidy for workers, guarantee loans by commercial banks and to give credit to businesses that can’t get it from banks, as well as tax concessions.

“Banks have agreed to offer restructuring of loan facilities this will owner-occupied residential mortgage properties and motor vehicle loans.

“All commercial banks will offer a payment holiday for three months with the option to extend to 6 months.”

He said that the country would also build up reserves including grain, water, medical supplies and fuel.

He said fuel prices would be reduced as they had dropped globally. — AFP