Staff Editor

GENEVA/LONDON,  (Reuters) – The United States could become the global epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, the World Health Organization said today, as Britain went into lockdown.

TOKYO/ATHENS, (Reuters) – Japan and the Olympics movement decided today to delay this year’s Tokyo Games into 2021 as the coronavirus crisis obliterated the world’s last major imminent sporting event.

(Trinidad Guardian) There’s no way home for a group of Trinidad and Tobago nationals now stranded in Suriname after this country shut down its borders on Sunday in an attempt to control COVID-19 here.

(Trinidad Guardian)  Of the 51 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Trinidad and Tobago, only one patient is in an Intensive Care Unit while five are warded at the High Dependency Unit at the Couva Hospital.

TORONTO/TOKYO, (Reuters) – The International Olympic Committee has decided to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games because of the coronavirus pandemic, IOC member Dick Pound said today, as a window slowly began to open that would allow the showcase to be staged next year.

   COVID-19 UPDATE – For immediate release Considering the current situation, the Ministry of Education wishes to advise that schools will be closed for an additional week (March 30, 2020 – April 03, 2020).

SINGAPORE,  (Reuters) – Singapore Airlines (SIA) will cut capacity by 96%, ground almost its entire fleet and impose cost cuts affecting about 10,00 staff because of coronavirus travel curbs it described as the “greatest challenge” it has ever faced.

TORONTO/TOKYO,  (Reuters) – Major sporting nations Australia and Canada quit the Tokyo 2020 Olympics today as organisers faced global pressure to postpone the Games due to the coronavirus crisis for the first time in their 124-year modern history.

In a second statement in less than a week on the Guyana crisis,  Sir Shridath Ramphal has applauded the statement by Dominic Gaskin on the need for a new form of governance and has called for democracy and the rule of law to prevail.

Shanta’s The Puri Shop today announced a temporary closure until further notice.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has denied the country’s healthcare system will collapse next month, contradicting his own health minister as the number of confirmed cases in the country rose above 1,000.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Countries can’t simply lock down their societies to defeat coronavirus, the World Health Organization’s top emergency expert said today, adding that public health measures are needed to avoid a resurgence of the virus later on.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) could be “overwhelmed” by the coronavirus like the Italian health system in just two weeks, Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned today in the face of rising numbers of deaths.

(Trinidad Guardian) The Couva Hospital is now on total lockdown after receiving 40 new patients who have tested positive for the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) yesterday.

(Jamaica Gleaner) All Jamaican airports and seaports will be closed to incoming passenger traffic effective today, at 11:59 p.m.,

(Trinidad Guardian) Minister of National Security Stuart Young says Trinidad and Tobago will close its international borders completely from midnight Sunday (March 22) to prevent the spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Restaurateurs in Queens, New York lost their liquor license for serving patrons in violation of Gov.

(Reuters) – Grammy-winning country singer Kenny Rogers died late on Friday night at the age of 81, his family said on Saturday.

DUBAI, (Reuters) – Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus outbreak rose by more than 100 to 1,556 today and the total number of people infected now exceeds 20,000, a health ministry official said.

AFC executive and former Business Minister Dominic Gaskin today said he doesn’t “buy” the controversial Region Four figures which were declared by Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo and which are now the subject of a raging elections crisis.