Daily US Times, Berlin: Germany to largely shut its borders with Austria, France, and Switzerland from Monday to stop coronavirus spreading.
Other EU countries also taking sweeping measures. Austria banning gatherings of more than five people from Monday.
The Czech Republic already closed its borders and could introduce a nationwide quarantine. Romania is about to declare a state of emergency.
Slovakia also closed its borders.
The Spanish government banned all the citizens from leaving home except for work or for buying essential supplies and medicines. The country also largely shut its borders.
Spain recorded 97 more deaths and 2,000 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the country’s total death toll to 288 and overall number of cases to 7,753. The country became Europe’s second worst-hit country after Italy.
Restaurants, cafes, cinemas, and most shops are now shut in France, where 91 people have died with 1,441 confirmed cases.
Italy, which began a national lockdown on Monday, has recorded 1,441 deaths and 21,157 cases
On Friday, The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that Europe was now the “epicentre” of the pandemic.
WHO head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has urged countries to use aggressive measures, community mobilisation and social distancing to save lives.
What are the latest measures?
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz urged all citizens to self-isolate and banned gatherings of more than five people as of Monday.
He added Russia, Ukraine, UK and the Netherlands to a list of countries, entry to whose citizens is restricted.
The government earlier announced that schools and most shops will be closed from Monday.
Meanwhile, the neighboring Czech Republic is about to quarantine the entire country.
The Prime Minister of the country, Andrej Babis, said in a TV interview he would propose to the government that the entire country should be put under quarantine.
He confirmed that the number of cases in the country had risen from 214 to 231 with no death reported.
Romania reported 123 cases and is set to declare a state of emergency on Monday.
All cultural centers, museums, and sports venues will be closed. Restaurants and cafes may only do home deliveries.
Schools are already closed in the country and essential services like banks and petrol stations will remain open.
On Saturday, the Prime Minister urged for unity, calling on all regions to put ideological differences aside and put citizens first.
France is way ahead of Spain in confirmed cases. The 63.5 million people nation has more than 4,400 confirmed cases. In order to prevent the virus from further spreading, the country also announced sweeping restrictions.
The government closed down all cafes, restaurants, nightclubs, cinemas as well as non-essential business, which went into force 23:00 GMT on Saturday.
Essential businesses like food shops, chemists, banks, tobacco shops, and petrol stations will not come under the ban.
Mr Philippe also asked people to reduce their travel, especially between towns.
He said, “The best way to slow down the epidemic is social distancing”.