The Latest: France vows that virus won’t cost workers money

The Latest on the world’s coronavirus pandemic:

France is promising to compensate the virus-related salary losses for “99%” of workers, as travel bans, school closures and other measures take a heavy toll on the economy.

It’s part of tens of billions of euros the government says it will stump up as French financial markets plunge and companies curb activity to try to stem the spread of the virus.

“Nobody with a job will lose a cent,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on BFM television Friday.

France is also banning all gatherings of more than 100 people now that the virus has infected more than 2,800 people in the country and is spreading fast.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced the measure Friday, reducing the threshold from a previous level of 1,000 people. The night before, President Emmanuel Macron ordered all schools closed and asked companies to allow workers to stay home.

France is going ahead with nationwide elections on Sunday but is ordering special measures to keep people at a safe distance.

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The Germany government is pledging at least 460 billion euros ($513 billion) in guarantees to cope with the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

Germany’s economy minister, Peter Altmaier, said there was no limit to the amount the government was willing to use to support everyone from individuals, such as taxi drivers, to large companies, to prevent the coronavirus pandemic from causing permanent harm to the economy.

Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said the 2008 financial crisis offered lessons for the current situation. “We will use all means at our disposal,” he said Friday at a joint press conference with Altmaier.

Scholz told reporters in Berlin that thanks to careful spending the government was in a position to spend heavily to put in place necessary measures such as tax relief for companies and relaxing labor regulations.

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Greece’s Olympic committee says it is suspending the rest of its torch relay for the Olympic Flame due to the “unexpectedly large crowd” that gathered to watch despite repeated requests for the public to stay away.

The Hellenic Olympic Committee said Friday a large crowd had gathered to watch the flame for the Tokyo Olympics pass through the southern Greek town of Sparta. The flame was lit Thursday at the birthplace of the ancient games in Ancient Olympia, in a pared-down ceremony due to the coronavirus.

The handover of the Olympic Flame to the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee will go ahead as scheduled on March 19 in Athens, in the stadium in which the first modern Olympics were held in 1896.

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Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan has announced a lockdown of the Indonesian capital’s entertainment sites and tourist destinations, including museums, the national monument, the beach Dreamland Park Center, the city zoo, bars and clubs.

The measures will go for two weeks effective Saturday to combat the spread of the coronavirus. He also urged residents to stay home and urged businesses to prepare remote working systems.

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Czech citizens coming home from 15 countries that are considered risky due to the virus outbreak will have to stay under quarantine for two weeks.

The announcement Friday by the Czech Republic’s government listed the following countries: China, Iran, Korea, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Britain.

Foreigners from those countries are barred from traveling to the Czech Republic and Czechs are not allowed to travel to those countries. Those measures become effective Friday midnight when the country renews border checks with Austria and Germany.

The Czech Republic has 117 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

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For the first time ever in Norway, King Harald V, whose duties are mainly ceremonial, took part Friday in a meeting with the government … by telephone.

Formally, the monarch formally heads the Council of State and any government changes or laws first become official when a royal decree has been signed. The monarch, several members of the royal family and some government members have protectively been put in quarantine because they had traveled abroad in recent weeks.

Later, his son, Crown Prince Haakon, who is heir to the throne and not quarantined, took part in the formal ceremony during which Prime Minister Erna Solberg presented new ministers.

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In Pakistan, clerics in their sermons during Friday prayers asked people to seek forgiveness from Allah for their mistakes and sins and pray for speedy recovery of all those who have been tested positive for the coronavirus.

Despite an appeal from the country’s president, Arif Alvi, to avoid large gatherings at mosques, people worshiped as usual.

Authorities in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore asked organizers to postpone an annual five-day congregation and the southern Sindh province closed all education institutions for unusual summer vacations until May to avoid the spread of coronavirus.

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Spain’s has ordered its first mandatory lockdown, confining over 60,000 people to four towns as infections for the new coronavirus increase sharply.

The rise is straining health services and putting more pressure on the government to act faster to fight the pandemic.

The country had more than 3,800 cases by Friday morning and at least 84 deaths. The Spanish capital, Madrid, has nearly 2,000 cases alone, many linked to nursing homes.

The government has closed museums and sports centers, sent home nearly 10 million students, asked people to work remotely and limited crowds at public events in high risk areas. But questions are rising whether the measures are enough.

Madrid’s vice president said Friday that the region is in dire need of medical supplies, despite announcing an unprecedented plan to pool intensive care units from both public and private hospitals and to use hotel rooms for medical needs.

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Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton is in isolation at a hospital after testing positive for the coronavirus. He returned to Australia on Sunday from Washington, D.C., where he met U.S. Attorney-General William Barr and President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, last week.

Dutton also attended a conference with other representatives of the Five Eyes intelligence network, which includes the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

Dutton said Friday he was in isolation in a hospital after confirmation he has the virus.

Australian authorities have stepped up their response to the outbreak by recommending people avoid nonessential gatherings of 500 or more and to reconsider all international travel.

Australia has more than 120 confirmed cases.

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Japan’s parliament enacted a law Friday that would allow Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to declare a state of emergency if the coronavirus outbreak worsens in the country.

The law is controversial because it can severely limit civil rights. It allows Abe to order legally binding school closures, confiscate private property to build medical facilities, order shipments of emergency supplies and take other measures related to the outbreak.

Government officials said there is no immediate plan to declare a state of emergency, but Abe is expected to make a decision based on experts’ latest evaluation of the outbreak.

Japan has 675 confirmed cases, not including 697 others from a quarantined cruise ship.

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Thailand’s health minister has ignited controversy by warning about the possible spread of the coronavirus from vacationing Europeans who wear dirty clothes and don’t shower.

Tweets posted Thursday night by the account linked to Anutin Charnvirakul lashed out at Western visitors for not wearing face masks to protect against the virus, and warned his fellow Thais that they should be more careful in dealing with Westerners than with Asians.

Thailand’s government has come under criticism for confusing and inconsistent handling of the health crisis.

The tweets, along with the entire account, disappeared from Twitter by Friday afternoon.

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The Spanish royal palace says King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia have tested negative for the coronavirus.

The royal couple took the test on Thursday after the government confirmed the infection of Equality Minister Irene Montero, who had attended an event with the queen last week.

Another Cabinet member was also confirmed to be infected after all the Cabinet was tested.

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German states are beginning to close down schools as a precautionary measure to protect against the spread of the coronavirus.

The southern state of Bavaria, western state of Saarland and city-state of Berlin all announced school closures Friday, and others were expected later.

Bavarian Gov. Markus Soeder also said the state is implementing strict restrictions on visits to hospitals, retirement homes and other facilities where people may be particularly vulnerable.

He says he’s convinced Germany will weather the crisis, but that the success of government efforts would depend greatly upon “social cohesion” from citizens.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government and state governors late Thursday agreed on other measures, including asking hospitals to postpone any non-essential operations or other procedures to keep beds and facilities free for coronavirus patients.

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Bulgaria’s parliament has declared a state of emergency to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Lawmakers on Friday voted unanimously to approve the government’s proposal for a 30-day state of emergency across the country, citing a threat to the health of the population.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said this will allow the government to shut down schools, kindergartens, universities, concert halls, night clubs and discos.

Bulgaria has reported 23 coronavirus cases, with one death.

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Authorities in Kenya say a woman has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the first case in the East African country.

Muhahi Kagwe, Kenya’s health secretary, told reporters on Friday that the patient, a Kenyan citizen, is a woman who recently traveled from the United States via London.

The Kenyan case is the first in the East African region. The West and Central African nations of Ghana and Gabon also announced their first confirmed cases of the disease.

Ghana Minister of Health Kwaku Agyeman-Manu said two people who returned from Norway and Turkey tested positive and are in isolation. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said that $100 million will be spent on enhancing the country’s preparedness and response plan. All foreign travel for government officials has been suspended.

Gabon also announced its first confirmed case of the virus in a 27-year-old who returned to Gabon on March 8 after staying in Bordeaux, France.

Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Cameroon and Togo in the west and central African region have also recorded cases.

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South Korea plans to limit the amount of information it releases about coronavirus patients amid criticism that the details currently shared reveal too much personal information and exacerbate panic.

The director of South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jung Eun-kyeong, said Friday her agency is drafting a new guideline for local governments to prevent them from releasing details that are unnecessary for quarantine and prevention work.

South Korean health authorities have been actively using personal information — including immigration, public transportation, credit card and smartphone GPS data — to track patients and their contacts.

Details about the places that patients visited before testing positive are posted online and shared through smartphone alerts to others.

South Korea’s Human Rights Commission on Monday raised concerns about the release of the data, saying patients were being exposed to “criticism, ridicule and hate.”

Some people have used the information to identify the patients and have publicly condemned them for moving around while sick.

A survey by Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Public Health found that many people were more afraid of being stigmatized as a virus patient than of catching the virus itself.

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Norway has reported its first death from the coronavirus. Prime Minister Erna Solberg said “an elderly person” died Thursday in Oslo, without elaborating.

Protectively, King Harald V, members of the royal family and some government members have been put in quarantine because they had traveled abroad in recent weeks.

In Denmark, lawmakers have passed a temporary law under which authorities can force people who are suspected of having the virus to undergo tests. The law gives authorities the ability to ban access to public places and stores.

The Danish government has already closed all schools and daycare facilities and ordered government workers who do not perform critical functions to stay home for the next two weeks,

Denmark’s popular Queen Margrethe has canceled all events around her 80th birthday on April 16.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping has told the U.N. that his nation wants to conduct joint research on drugs and vaccines and offer “as much assistance as it can” to countries where the novel coronavirus is spreading.

State media reported Friday that Xi told U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres by phone that economic and daily life are gradually returning to normal in China thanks to “arduous endeavors” at prevention and control.

Xi was quoted as saying: “The Chinese people will definitely prevail over the COVID-19 epidemic and will also definitely realize its intended targets for economic and social development.”

He was also quoted as saying that the Chinese people’s “hard work has won precious time for and made important contributions to other countries’ epidemic prevention and control.”

China, where the virus was first discovered, recorded just eight new infections on Friday.

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The Indonesian government is overseeing a campaign to clean 10,000 mosques around the country as part of its bid to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The cleaning campaign kicked off Friday at Istiqlal mosque in Jakarta and was witnessed by President Joko Widodo and other officials.

Indonesian Religious Affairs Minister Fachrul Razi called on worshippers at mosques to avoid any form of physical contact.

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Singapore has tightened measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus including expanding border controls, banning cruise ships and limiting mass gatherings.

From Sunday, travelers from Italy, Spain, France and Germany will not be allowed to enter the Southeast Asian city-state. Singapore earlier banned those from South Korea, Iran and China.

The Health Ministry said Friday that travelers who showed symptoms but tested negative for COVID-19 will now have to quarantine themselves at home for 14 days.

With immediate effect, it said Singapore will also cease port calls for all cruise vessels.

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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.