Euobserver.com

An EU-China summit has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the EU Commission said on Tuesday. It was originally planned for the end of March in Beijing. The two sides jointly decided to postpone the meeting to focus on combatting the outbreak. "The two sides will remain in contact to agree on a date once the situation begins to normalise," a spokeswoman said.

Iran has temporarily freed a total of 85,000 prisoners, including political prisoners, a spokesman for its judiciary said on Tuesday, adding that the prisons were responding to the threat of a coronavirus epidemic in jails, the Guardian writes. "Some 50 percent of those released are security-related prisoners [political prisoners]. Also in the jails we have taken precautionary measures to confront the outbreak," the spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said.

French president Emmanuel Macron said France was "at war" against "an invisible and elusive enemy" [coronavirus] in a TV address on Monday. He warned people to "severely restrict movements for the next 15 days at least," limiting social contacts, and said any violation of the new regime would be "punished". He also called for a "general mobilisation" of anti-virus workers and postponed a second round of French local elections.

Global infections of coronavirus have passed 180,000 and currently stand at 182,406, the Johns Hopkins University in the US, which is keeping a global tally, has said. There have been 7,154 deaths and 79,433 recoveries. The countries with the highest number of cases were China (81,050), Italy (27,980), Iran (14,991), Spain (9,942), South Korea (8,320), Germany (7,272), France (6,650), the US (4,661), Switzerland (2,330), and the United Kingdom (1,553).

The Netherlands will not impose a national lockdown over coronavirus because it would have to be in place for too long to make a difference, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said on TV on Monday. "It wouldn't be a matter of days or weeks. In that scenario, we would actually have to shut down our country for a year, or even longer, with all the consequences that follow," he added.

"As of tomorrow noon, external borders of the European Union and the [passport-free] Schengen area will be closed. All travel between non-EU countries and the European Union will be suspended for 30 days," French president Emmanuel Macron said on TV on Monday. EU leaders are holding a video-summit on Tuesday to formally agree the anti-coronavirus measure, proposed by the European Commission. French nationals will be allowed to return home.

US tech firm Apple has been penalised €1.1bn by French anti-trust regulator, the Autorité de la Concurrence, in the biggest such fine in French history. "Apple and its two wholesalers [French firms Tech Data and Ingram Micro] agreed to not compete against each other," it said. Apple denied wrongdoing and pledged to appeal. The move comes after EU regulators also levied record fines against US tech firms in recent years.

The European Commission has put forward a plan - which it says has strong support among member states - to deny non-essential travellers entry into the European Union for up to 30 days.

Malta has let the Libyan coastguard drag a boat of migrants from Maltese waters back to Libya, violating international law, a UN agency said.

What are Italy's mistakes and achievements in the fight against Covid-19? What are the biggest challenges? What are the citizens' greatest concerns? And how are people reacting?

EU industry commissioner Thierry Breton said "We are at war with the virus. An economic war."

Spain's lockdown involves never-before-seen measures, such as nationalisation of private health providers and closure of non-essential shops, but crowds on Monday morning showed teleworking was being only partly implemented.

Unprecedented scenes in the Romanian parliament, where interim prime minister Ludovic Orban was reinstated amidst a full medical lockdown.

Belgium's King Philip has given interim prime minister Sophie Wilmès the task of forming a government, after seven opposition parties agreed to support it. The agreement came after a political drama - and there are doubts if it will hold.

Far fewer people have been trying to cross the Greek border than in the last few weeks - but Turkey says migrants are still welcome to have a go.

Poland has cancelled a hearing by its new disciplinary board on whether it can jail a government-critical judge called Igor Tuleya, citing coronavirus. The hearing, originally due Friday, was to be held behind closed doors, but was also expected to draw a large group of street protesters. The EU court is currently deliberating an injunction on the Polish disciplinary board, amid fears it is being used for political purposes.

Spain on Monday closed its borders to contain the coronavirus. "We are concerned about the health of citizens who are in Spain, with no distinctions made based on ethnicity or religion," said interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who explained that the measure will last for 30 days. The Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia have also closed borders. Germany and others have partly closed them.

The EU Commission will propose to member states a temporary ban on all non-essential travel from third countries into the EU for initially a period of 30-days due to coronavirus, commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Monday said. EU leaders, who will hold crisis talks on Tuesday, will have to agree on the measure. EU officials will be urging the UK and other non-member states to join.

Germany's federal government cannot make unilateral decisions to close schools or shut down public transport. Only local authorities can. What this has meant is that the German "lockdown" to contain the spread of coronavirus has proceeded in fits and starts.

European Commission executive vice-president Frans Timmermans is in self-imposed quarantine until 20 March. Timmermans had held a meeting on 6 March with the French secretary of state for ecological transition, Brune Poirson, who tested positive with Covid 19. "Executive vice-president Timmermans is in a good state of health, he does not have any symptoms," said a European Commission spokesperson.