
Thousands of people have been detained across Central America for violating rules put in place by their governments to curb the fast-spreading new coronavirus in a region that has fewer medical resources than developed countries.

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry on Thursday condemned groundless accusations from the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) that racist slurs against him had come from the island, as Taipei escalated its feud with the body.

The Falkland Islands Executive Council has approved measures to restrict non essential visitors to the Islands in order to help delay the spread of the Covid/19 in the archipelago.

Brazil said on Wednesday the first case of COVID-19 had been detected among the Yanomami people, an Amazon indigenous group known for its remoteness and its vulnerability to foreign diseases.

Australian police raided the coronavirus-stricken Ruby Princess cruise ship and seized its black box as part of a criminal investigation after thousands of passengers were allowed to disembark in Sydney and 15 people later died of the illness.

After weeks of disagreement - especially between the United States and China - the UN Security Council will meet on Thursday to discuss the coronavirus pandemic for the first time.

The sanitary charter aircraft contracted to repatriate Australians on board the coronavirus infected “Greg Mortimer” cruise, stranded off the Uruguayan coast is expected this Thursday in Montevideo, and will be flying to Melbourne on Saturday according to foreign ministry sources.

The Falkland Islands government announced on Wednesday that there are five confirmed cases of COVID-19, all individuals currently serving at the Mount Pleasant Complex, some fifty kilometers from the capital Stanley. This means no residents of the Islands have been contaminated with the virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday pleaded for global unity in fighting the coronavirus and gave a strident defense of his agency's handling of the pandemic, in response to US President Donald Trump's criticism.

Services activity in Brazil shrank 1% in February, official figures showed on Wednesday, the biggest monthly fall in over 18 months and another sign Latin America's largest economy was already in go-slow mode before the coronavirus crisis erupted.