The continued spread of Covid-19 remains a real threat for many countries, as Chinese city scales up measures and Japan manages another outbreak onboard a cruise ship.

The continued spread of Covid-19 remains a real threat for many countries, as Chinese city scales up measures and Japan manages another outbreak onboard a cruise ship.
In the Chinese city of Harbin preventative measures were scaled up again as local clusters of Covid-19 cases grew.
Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang province bordering Russia, has had clusters of infections in a local hospital throughout the month, and local residential communities were put in strict quarantine to avoid cross contamination.
Yesterday, state media reported an incident of one virus carrier passing on the disease to more than 40 people, which caused one local hospital shut down for a full disinfection.
Harbin has banned entry to residential zones by non-locals and vehicles registered elsewhere, state media said. It had already ordered isolation for those arriving from outside China or key epidemic areas.
The continued spread of Covid-19 remains a real threat for many countries, as Chinese city scales up measures and Japan manages another outbreak onboard a cruise ship.
In Japan, at least 91 crew members on board a cruise ship docked in Nagasaki are  now confirmed to have Covid-19.
The Italy-flagged Costa Atlantica has no passengers aboard and arrived in the southern Japanese port for repairs in January.
Its operator first notified local authorities of suspected virus infections on Sunday.
It’s expected test results for all 623 crew members on board will be available tomorrow.
A Japanese expert was planning to board the ship for the first time later today to assess the situation.
Some crew have been isolated in cabins but many also have to move around to maintain basic functions, the ship’s operator has told Japanese officials.
Crew members are all non-Japanese except for one translator who is a Japanese national.
Local officials are working with the national government to allow those who test negative to go home, while also attempting to arrange for the ship to leave the region if it is safe to do so.
So far, one crew member has been hospitalised and is on a ventilator, while others with relatively mild symptoms have remained on the ship.
Japan has already dealt with one virus outbreak on a cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, which docked in Yokohama after a former passenger tested positive for the disease.
Authorities ordered an on-ship quarantine, but more than 700 people ultimately contracted the virus, and 13 died.
Indonesia transport ministry has said it will temporarily ban domestic and international air and sea travel, with some exceptions, starting this week to prevent a further spread of the coronavirus.
The announcement came as the holy month of Ramadan began in the world’s largest Muslim majority country.
The government has already banned the traditional annual exodus from the cities to the provinces during the holiday period.
The ban on sea travel took immediate effect, but the ban on air travel will start tomorrow so that some pre-booked flights can go-ahead.
Europe feels the economic pinch of virus measures
Hungary plans to replace the current lockdown that imposes a blanket curfew over the population with a more fine-tuned version from early May, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told state radio.
Mr Orban said the new rules will focus on the elderly, the sick and those living in big cities, as those people are exposed to a disproportionate measure of risk.
He said he expected a fast economic recovery in the wake of the pandemic, adding that his government’s recovery plans will focus on employment.
“I am not among the most optimistic people, but neither am I a pessimist,” he told state radio in an interview. “I expect a fast recovery.”
Hungary has kept in place a nationwide lockdown for more than a month, which has destroyed tens of thousands of jobs, which Mr Orban said he wanted to rebuild, calling that the most important plank of his crisis management plans.
In Norway, the country’s economy contracted in the first quarter as efforts to halt the outbreak brought many industries to a standstill, Statistics Norway said.
It said the economy could plunge by 5.5% for the full year.
The mainland economy, which excludes the volatile off-shore oil and gas production, shrank by 1.9% in the January-March period from the final quarter of 2019, SSB said, adding that the decline in March from February was 6.4%.