Euobserver.com

Viktor Orban's government was quick to blame an Iranian legally studying in Hungary as his country's first coronavirus case. In fact, it was a Hungarian woman, who probably caught it in Italy.

In cooperation with the Belgian foreign ministry, Brussels Airlines will use its planes to fly back 9,500 Belgians who are currently on holiday abroad in 14 different countries, luchtvaartniews.nl reports. The airline announced earlier it will keep all its planes on the ground from 21 March until 19 April. The repatriation is possible thanks to crew that volunteered for the operation.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned on Thursday that millions of people could die if the coronavirus keeps spreading. "If we let the virus spread like wildfire, especially in the most vulnerable regions of the world, it would kill millions of people," he said, urging G20 countries to support those countries whose healthcare systems are weaker. "Solidarity is not only a moral imperative, it is in everyone's interests," he added.

Hungary will deploy special military task forces to monitor the operations and safety of 140 companies providing critical services during the coronavirus pandemic, defence minister Tibor Benko said on Wednesday. He did not names companies, but said more could fall under the new measures, Reuters reported. Energy group MOL is one of them, the company confirmed. The task forces will brief the defence ministry regularly on the companies.

The EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has tested positive for coronavirus, he tweeted on Thursday. Barnier said "I am doing well and in good spirits. I am following all the necessary instructions, as is my team. For all those affected already, and for all those currently in isolation, we will get through this together."

The EU has held discussions with Netflix, and other operators, in a bid to reduce internet congestion, as online usage surges across Europe during the coronavirus crisis, the Guardian reports. EU industry commissioner Thierry Breton said after the meeting: "Streaming platforms, telecom operators and users, we all have a joint responsibility to take steps to ensure the smooth functioning of the internet during the battle against the virus propagation."

The Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte will extend the national lockdown beyond April 3, Italian media reported on Thursday. Italy is the world's second-most affected country with over 35,000 cases registered. "It is obvious the measures we have taken - whether that be shutting down much of the country's individual and business activities, or our actions regarding schools - can only be extended," he told newspaper Il Corriere della Sera.

The Wuhan province in China, the initial epicentre of the outbreak of the coronavirus, reported for the first time that no new people were infected by the virus on Thursday. China's national health commission said there were 34 new cases, but all were recent overseas arrivals.

The eurozone's central bank has promised to buy up to €750bn of government and private bonds in new pandemic counter-measures.

In a televised message Wednesday, German chancellor Angela Merkel said "We are not doomed to helplessly watch the spread of the virus. We have the means to fight it: we must practice social distancing out of consideration for one another". The pandemic was Germany's greatest challenge since the end of WWII, she added. Just under 12,000 individuals have been infected in Germany, according to the John Hopkins University coronavirus centre.

Coordination among EU countries to better manage border closures amid the coronavirus outbreak is slow. So are the queues of lorries and cars waiting at some internal frontiers.

Greece has banned large pubic gatherings to curb the spread of the coronavirus, while imposing a curfew on thousands of asylum seekers and migrants living in misery in overcrowded camps, with one water tap for 1,300 people at one camp.

Returning home has become complicated for many EU citizens - both inside and outside the bloc -as the number of travel and entry restrictions keeps growing globally in a bid to halt the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.

Russia has defended its credibility on coronavirus data, after Belarus said its neighbouring country was "ablaze" with infections - and the EU accused Moscow of other "lies".

The numbers that the World Health Organisation publishes, the numbers that journalists and governments around the world refer to, are contaminated with politics. They are not useless, they tell us something, but they paint a skewed picture. How so?

As citizens are urged to self-quarantine and wash their hands with soap and warm water, what if there's nowhere to hide, if you live in an overcrowded site or shanty-town, and don't have access to clean water and sanitation?

The economic and labour crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic could increase global unemployment by almost 25 million, according to a new assessment by the International Labour Organization (ILO). The ILO estimate a rise in global unemployment of between 5.3 million ('low' ) and 24.7 million ('high') from a base level of 188 million in 2019. By comparison, the 2008-9 global financial crisis increased global unemployment by 22 million.

In Lombardy, the province which includes Italy's economic capital Milan, 319 people coronavirus patients have died in a single day, two sources with access to the data have told Reuters.They also said the number of new cases in the region had increased by almost 1,500, with the total tally of confirmed cases rising above 17,700.

China will provide two million surgical masks, 200,000 other masks and 50,000 testing kits to help the EU tackle the coronavirus, EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen said. "China has not forgotten that in January, when China was the centre of the outbreak, the EU helped. We donated more than 50 tonnes of protective equipment," she said, adding that the EU, being at the pandemic's centre today, needs equipment.

The vice-president of the European People's Party (EPP), Siegfried Muresan MEP, has urged the EU Commission to abolish all tariffs for protective and medical supplies, in a letter to president Ursula von der Leyen. "Abolishing tariffs is a concrete step the EU can take to help the citizens. The European Commission must not hesitate in taking any action possible to fight COVID-19," the letter reads.