Europe's leaders sound alert

ROME－Italy faces "the most difficult crisis" in its postwar period, the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, said as the country recorded 793 more deaths at the weekend, taking the toll in the hardest-hit country in Europe to almost 5,000.

Reported infections rose to 53,578 from 47,021, the Civil Protection Agency said.

In its latest effort to halt the epidemic, Rome ordered that all businesses must close until April 3, with the exception of those essential to maintaining the country's supply chain.

"We are slowing down the country's production engine but we are not stopping it," Conte said.

The Russian military was to start sending medical help to Italy from Sunday after receiving an order from President Vladimir Putin, Russia's Defense Ministry said.

The Russian military transport aircraft were to deliver eight mobile brigades of military medics, special disinfection vehicles and other medical equipment.

Spain ramped up its battle against the coronavirus on Saturday, mobilizing tens of thousands of additional health workers and racing to finish construction of field hospitals as its death toll jumped by a third.

"We must prepare ourselves emotionally and psychologically for very hard days ahead," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told the nation in a televised address as Spain reported 1,720 deaths, the second-highest in Europe after Italy.

The number of infections across the country rose to 28,572, the health ministry said, adding that the capital, Madrid, remained the hardest hit.

"The cases are rising and are going to continue to rise in the coming days," the ministry spokeswoman Maria Jose Sierra said, adding that nobody knew when the outbreak in Spain would peak.

Authorities have called up 52,000 extra workers to help the country's health service as it struggles to contain the virus, including 14,000 retired doctors and nurses.

About 2,800 soldiers have been mobilized to disinfect train stations and airports and to bring help to elderly, vulnerable people, said General Miguel Villarroya, chief of the defense staff.

Madrid and Barcelona announced on Friday that they would set up field hospitals in their biggest exhibition halls to deal with the expected growth in the number of patients.

In the face of rising numbers of deaths, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that the National Health Service could be overwhelmed by the coronavirus, as the Italian health system had been in just two weeks.

Britain's health system would be "completely overwhelmed" without a "heroic and collective national effort" of social isolation to slow it, he said, again urging Britons to stay at home to stop the spread of the virus.

'Shield themselves'

The government says people with certain health conditions should "shield themselves" from the pandemic by living in isolation.

A total of 5,067 cases of coronavirus had been confirmed in the country, a rise of more than 1,000 in a day. The number of deaths was 234, according to the latest figures available.

France's health ministry said the country was "rapidly evolving toward a generalized epidemic" throughout the country, in which COVID-19 had infected 14,485 and killed 562 people by Sunday.

At a news conference, Health Minister Olivier Veran said France's current containment measures, in place since Tuesday and running 15 days, could be renewed depending "on the observance of the application of containment by the population", with the figures suggesting no sign of a slowdown soon.

France has been under virtual lockdown, with citizens allowed out of their homes only to buy groceries, go to work, exercise alone or seek medical care.

Veran said France had ordered more than 250 million masks, intended in particular for health personnel, who have complained about a dire shortage of the protective gear.

Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.