Stringent measures to fight virus on way in Europe

BRUSSELS－As the coronavirus outbreak continues across Europe, national governments and institutions are preparing to take more measures to contain the spread of the disease as well as protect the economy.

Ukraine confirmed its first case on Tuesday, taking the number of European nations that have reported infections to 25.

In Italy, the count of infected people continued rising to 2,036 by press time and health officials said it could take up to two weeks to know whether measures including quarantines in 11 northern towns were working.

Germany reported 188 confirmed infections on Tuesday, up from 157 a day earlier. And France confirmed 191 cases with three deaths as of Monday.

Meanwhile, the European Parliament said on Monday that it would limit access to visitors for three weeks, as part of precautionary measures to reduce the spread of the virus.

European Parliament President David Sassoli said parliamentary activity would continue, but seminars, events and other activities involving external visitors would be frozen. He said the EU assembly receives some 700,000 visitors a year, far more than other EU bodies.

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control on Monday raised the risk level of the novel coronavirus from moderate to high for people in the European Union.

"The coronavirus has brought governments and health systems throughout Europe to work at all different levels to contain this virus," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, while announcing the ECDC decision at a news conference on Monday.

Separately, echoing other central banks, including the Bank of Japan and Bank of England, European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said in a statement on Monday that the bank was "ready to take appropriate and targeted measures as necessary" to deal with the outbreak's economic impact.

And German Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Monday it was up to local authorities to decide whether to hold large events in Europe's largest economy after Switzerland on Friday banned events drawing more than 1,000 people.

The British government unveiled its "battle plan" to tackle the spread of coronavirus on Tuesday, with possible measures including school closures, home working and cancelling large-scale gatherings.

"It is highly likely coronavirus will spread more widely in the coming days and weeks, which is why we're making every possible preparation," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said after the number of recorded cases across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland rose to 40.

He later held a news conference on Tuesday alongside England's Chief Medical Officer and the government's Chief Scientific Adviser.

The government's plan says as many as one fifth of employees may be absent from work during peak weeks of the outbreak, and businesses could be given extra time to pay their taxes if they are facing short-term cash flow issues.

The plan includes the option of encouraging more home working and discouraging unnecessary travel as part of what it called a "social distancing" strategy to delay the peak of the outbreak until later in the year when the weather is warmer and the health service is under less seasonal pressure.

Julian Shea in London, Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.