Morning Briefing - March 30, 2020

ANKARA (AA) - Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown on the coronavirus pandemic in Turkey and across the world, its effect on mental health, and how a 101-year-old Spanish flu survivor beat COVID-19 in Italy.

The novel coronavirus continues spreading around the world rapidly. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases globally is now at 716,101, while 33,854 people died and 149,071 recovered.

Meanwhile, Turkey on Sunday announced 23 more deaths and 1,815 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 131 and the tally of cases to 9,217.

As part of measures to stem the spread of the virus, Turkey has restricted the number of taxis operating on the streets in the three most populous provinces of the country -- Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir -- as of Monday.

Taxis with license plates ending with an odd number will be allowed to operate on Monday, and those with even numbers on the next day, said the Interior Ministry.

Meanwhile, Italy on Sunday reported 756 new deaths from coronavirus, bringing the total number of victims to 10,779, the highest in the world.

On the brighter side, however, the latest figures provided by the Italian Civil Protection Department showed that both the daily death rate and the increase in the number of contagions continued to slow down compared with the previous days.

Current contagions rose by 5% to reach 73,880, the same percentage rise seen on Saturday. The total number of recoveries reached 13,030.

In France, a total of 292 more people died amid coronavirus, pushing the country's death toll to 2,606.

On Sunday, a cargo plane from China landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport carrying 100 tons of medical equipment, including 5.5 million masks, to help France combat the deadly virus.

In Britain, the death toll from coronavirus climbed up to 2,118 with 209 new deaths in the past 24 hours, according to figures released by health officials on Sunday.

The figures came as a chief scientific adviser has warned that full lockdown could be in place until June.

Neil Ferguson, the government's leading epidemiology adviser, said the U.K. public would have to remain in their homes for nearly three months as the disease is contributing to rising numbers in the country.

Spain confirmed over 800 deaths on Sunday, for the second day in a row, according to data released by the Spanish Health Ministry.

So far, 6,528 people have died in Spain from COVID-19, the second-highest in the world. Since last week, deaths have surged by 4,808.

According to the figures released Sunday, Spain has confirmed 78,797 cases, with nearly 5,000 patients in intensive care and over 14,700 recovered.

The U.S. government's top infectious diseases official said Sunday that the country could see up to 200,000 deaths from coronavirus and millions of infected cases.

"Looking at what we’re seeing now, we’re looking at 100,000 to 200,000 deaths,'' said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on CNN.

Some much-needed good news from Italy hit the airwaves on Sunday. A 101-year-old Italian man who survived the Spanish flu pandemic also beat coronavirus.

The man, identified only as Mr. P, was born in the town of Rimini on the northwestern coast of the Adriatic Sea in 1919, growing up between the two World Wars.

Last week, Mr. P went to a hospital in Rimini after testing positive for COVID-19.

In related developments, long spells of self isolation in place to curb the outbreak across the world are fanning fear, anxiety and depression.

Experts believe that any kind of interaction is crucial at such times.

Clinical psychologist and psychotherapist Thomas Maliaroudakis said that this can help as it creates bonding and comforts people that share similar issues.

Maliaroudakis explained that human beings are social creatures and social isolation is something unfamiliar and new, therefore a significant amount of the population will find it difficult to adjust to this new situation due to the loss of control.