South Africa

More than 200 people have been arrested in the North West for contravening lockdown regulations. This after the country went into a 21-day lockdown that was ordered by President Cyril Ramaphosa to curb the coronavirus from spreading. North West Department of Community Safety and Transport Management spokesperson Alpheus Koonyaditse said the suspects had contravened Disaster Management Act regulations The suspects were arrested for failing to confine [themselves] to their residential places, while others were arrested for moving between metropolitan and district areas as well as misrepresenting that another person was infected with Covid-19. "Others were arrested for failing to close liquor premises and some for failing to adhere to the prohibition on gatherings," Koonyaditse said. Community Safety MEC Sello Lehari said: "Our law enforcement authorities are working day and night to ensure that people are adhering to the regulations of Covid-19. Our in

Authorities are investigating how pictures of a police woman un-dressing were taken and shared on social media. In the pictures shared on Facebook, the woman is seen sitting on a sofa with a cellphone in one hand and what looks like a glass of alcohol in the other.  Another picture then shows the woman with the glass closer to her mouth while the last two pictures show her un-dressing, even revealing her pan_ties. In the pictures, the woman seems to be aware in the first picture that someone was taking the pictures as she smiles in the direction of the camera. However, it is difficult to tell whether in the other picture where she is undressing, she was fully aware of what was happening. It is unclear at this stage whether the pictures were shared by the woman in the picture or someone else did it with or without her consent

The number of new coronavirus infections inside China – the source of the outbreak – was for the first time overtaken by fresh cases elsewhere on Wednesday, with Italy and Iran emerging as epicentres of the rapidly spreading illness. Asia reported hundreds of new cases, Brazil confirmed Latin America’s first infection and the new disease – COVID-19 – was also detected for the first time in Pakistan, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Romania and Algeria. US health authorities, managing 59 cases so far – mostly Americans repatriated from a cruise ship in Japan – have said a global pandemic is likely. US President Donald Trump, seeking to calm markets and an increasingly worried public, said in a live broadcast that the United States was “very very ready” to face the virus threat and that Vice President Mike Pence would be in charge of the national response. It was one of just a handful of times that the president has appeared in the White House briefing room. Stock markets across