Europe

ROME, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The coronavirus pandemic continued to advance in locked down Italy on Tuesday, bringing the total number of infections, fatalities and recoveries to 105,792, according to the latest data released by the country's Civil Protection Department.

The death toll on Tuesday was 837, bringing the total to 12,428 fatalities since the pandemic first broke out in northern Italy on Feb. 21.

LONDON (AP) — As increasing numbers of European hospitals buckle under the strain of tens of thousands of coronavirus patients, the crisis has exposed a surprising paradox: Some of the world’s best health systems are remarkably ill-equipped to handle a pandemic.

Outbreak experts say Europe’s hospital-centric systems, lack of epidemic experience and early complacency are partly to blame for the pandemic’s catastrophic tear across the continent.

MOSCOW, March 31. /TASS/: The decline of oil prices that began after the collapse of the OPEC+ agreement has not yet been completed. Prices may drop to $15-20 per barrel in the near future, experts interviewed by TASS said. However, they believe that withdrawal from the OPEC+ deal to limit production, which will enter into force on March 31, is not the reason for it, but an unprecedented decline in global demand amid a pandemic.

MOSCOW, March 31. /TASS/: Presidents of Russia and the US Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump did not discuss the US initiative to put up a $15 bounty for information that would lead to "arrest or conviction" of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov said.

When asked whether the two leaders discussed the issue during a phone call that took place on the US initiative, the spokesman answered in the negative.

MOSCOW, March 31. /TASS/: Russia’s Federation Council (upper house) on Tuesday voted for amendments to the Criminal Code envisaging a maximum prison term of five years for spreading gross fakes that entail dire effects.

Spreading socially significant falsehoods that have entailed health consequences will be punishable with 700,000 rubles to 1,500,000 rubles ($9,000-$18,000) or an 18-month wage, or 12 months of correctional works, or compulsory works, or three years in prison.

MOSCOW, March 31. /TASS/: Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, has endorsed fines of up to 300,000 ($3,800) for citizens, who don’t have the coronavirus, in case they violate quarantine rules.

These fines are outlined in the amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses approved by the State Duma on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, March 31. /TASS/: The Russian government asked the Finance Ministry to allocate funds to support Russian citizens having no opportunity to return from overseas, according to government’s assignments posted on Tuesday.

"The Russian Finance Ministry to support allocation of budget assignments of the federal budget for 2020 to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to support Russian citizens having no opportunity to return to the Russian Federation, requiring material assistance and not having housing in the country of stay," the document says.

MOSCOW, March 31./TASS/: The chief physician of the clinic for coronavirus patients in Moscow's Kommunarka, Denis Protsenko has been infected with the novel coronavirus, Rossiya-24 news channel reports referring to medics.

"My dear friends, I very much appreciate your concern. Indeed, I have tested positive for the CoV virus but I feel quite well. I have self-isolated in my office where I have everything I need to telecommute," Protsenko wrote on Facebook. 

He added that the hard work he had done in the past month must have lowered his resistance to infection.

Lausanne, Mar 31 (PTI) The International Olympic Committee's athletes commission on Tuesday welcomed the announcement of new dates for the Olympics, saying the declaration has given those bound for Tokyo "much-needed certainty" after the mega-event's postponement to 2021.

In a statement, the IOC athletes commission, which also features India's lone individual Olympic gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra, lauded the announcement of new dates -- July 23 to August 8, 2021 -- within days of the event's postponement due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

LONDON, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — British heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, who had tested positive for coronavirus, is out of self-isolation after seven days and is in good health, his spokesman said.

Last week, his Clarence House office revealed that Charles, 71, had been tested after displaying mild symptoms of the virus and had been in self-isolation at his Birkhall home in Scotland where he had continued to work.