The new virus is entering new territories, from mega-cities to seaside villages, and casting a fast-growing shadow over the world economy.
Habits are changing in Germany over the fear of the Coronavirus, where it’s common for people to shake hands at every meeting. Arriving for a meeting with migrant groups Monday morning, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was rebuffed by her interior minister, Horst Seehofer, when she stretched out her hand to greet him.
France’s government is telling people to scale back on handshakes – and even on the ubiquitous cheek kiss.
In Italy, Europe’s epicenter of the virus, authorities are conflicted about curtailing a cheek-kissing ritual that’s rooted in Italy’s Mediterranean culture as well as its strong family and social structure.
On a High-Tech level, Japanese electronics maker Sharp is now turning its expertise to mask making. Sharp Corp. will start making 150,000 masks a day at a plant that usually makes electronics displays. Other companies are changing their practices to adapt too. Nike temporarily shut down its European headquarters in the Netherlands after an employee tested positive.
On the other hand, the Louvre museum is closed Monday for the second day running, and they’re holding a string of meetings with management to find a solution.
Frustrated tourists stood outside in line for hours, and had to find another way to spend a rainy Monday in the French capital.
Workers who guard Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” and other treasures of world art want masks or health checks for visitors.
The latest Virus-related news; a Lithuanian man locked his wife in a bathroom out of fears she had the Coronavirus, after she met with a Chinese woman who had arrived from Italy. The man’s wife called police, who rushed to the apartment in the capital Vilnius.
The man said he had locked her up after “consulting on the phone with doctors” on how to avoid infection, according to local police.
