Morning Briefing - March 31, 2020

ANKARA (AA) - Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown on the coronavirus pandemic in Turkey and across the world.

Monday marked yet another milestone for the novel coronavirus, which has dominated global headlines since erupting in late 2019 in China, as confirmed cases topped 786,000 worldwide with death toll standing over 37,800.

The disease, COVID-19, continues to claim lives in Turkey with the death toll standing at 168. Currently, dozens of settlements in the country have been put under quarantine as part of virus measures.

Donating his seven monthly salaries, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched a "National Solidarity Campaign" to fight the virus. Notably, the country's new hospital opened its doors for COVID-19 patients with its hundreds of beds and nearly 100 high-tech intensive care units.

Seagoing passenger service from Istanbul to other cities has been suspended over the outbreak. Older people are at higher risk of death stemming from the disease, and Turkey, for its part, does its best to ease this period for them, providing a helpline assisting the elderly.

Although Italy, one of the world's worst-hit countries, reported 812 new deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the spread has begun to lose momentum. That said, the virus politics is likely to dominate the EU agenda soon as the Italian premier said the outbreak may fuel euroskepticism.

As for the other European heavyweights, the death toll in Germany climbed to 645, while Spain registered 7,716 deaths so far.

France, which previously announced nationwide confinement until mid-April, faced 418 new deaths. A Turkish-origin baker family began to support French hospital by baking bread. The U.K., criticized for its "herd immunity" policy earlier, observed a total of 1,415 deaths.

The outbreak continues to affect life in the Middle East as many Arab states -- such as Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco -- confirmed new cases.

Coronavirus death toll in Iran rose to 2,757 with 117 new deaths whereas total confirmed cases stand at 41,495. Also, over virus fears, inmates in an Iranian prison staged a riot.

While the Red Cross warns of devastation due to the virus outbreak unless urgent humanitarian action was taken in war zones. Syria seems to be ill-prepared to tackle the issue due to its collapsed healthcare infrastructure.

Palestine, where the government called on the Red Cross to help jailed Palestinians amid the pandemic, marked the Land Day.

In the U.S., up to 200,000 virus-related deaths might be observed, according to a senior doctor, and the current death toll has surpassed 3,100. Also, Latin America’s Brazil announced its toll hit 165, and some demand the president to be impeached for virus mismanagement.

China, where the virus first originated, said majority of its new cases were imported. Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group in China, dispatched medical aid to European countries battling the outbreak.

While India, the world's second most populated country, has so far confirmed 32 virus-caused deaths and over 1,250 cases, Russia announced nine deaths and 1,836 cases.

Sports has been yet another field severely impacted by the pandemic, the International Olympic Committee announced the games would start on July 23, 2021, whereas the Paralympic Games would be held between Aug. 24 and Sept. 5, 2021.

If you are one of those over-thinking about the virus, you might want to check our report on the mental stress effects of the virus and how to tackle it. Also, you can turn the virus crisis into an opportunity for yourself if you regularly exercise while under lockdown.