“As coronavirus continues to spread in Israel, more and more key members of the government have had to go into isolation, whether due to contracting the illness or coming into contact with someone who did,” the Jerusalem Post reports.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went into self-quarantine on Thursday, because of contact with Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman, who tested positive for COVID-19. Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen and National Security Advsier Meir Ben-Shabbat must go into isolation for the same reason.”

“In the areas worst hit by the pandemic, Italy is undercounting thousands of deaths caused by the virus, a Wall Street Journal analysis shows, indicating that the pandemic’s human toll may end up being much greater, and infections far more widespread, than official data indicate.”

“Italy’s hidden death toll shows what could lie in store for the worst-hit areas of the U.S., Europe and many other countries in the weeks ahead if the coronavirus is not tamed fast. The burden that the pandemic puts on health-care systems can cause so many deaths that it is hard to gauge the full human cost.”

“Across Asia, countries and cities that seemed to have brought the coronavirus epidemic under control are suddenly tightening their borders and imposing stricter containment measures, fearful about a wave of new infections imported from elsewhere,” the New York Times reports.

“The moves portend a worrisome sign for the United States, Europe and the rest of the world still battling a surging outbreak: Any country’s success with containment could be tenuous, and the world could remain on a kind of indefinite lockdown.​”

“Italian authorities believe the country’s coronavirus epidemic, the world’s deadliest, is slowing down appreciably after three weeks of national lockdown, a hopeful sign for other Western countries that are following approaches similar to Italy’s with a time lag,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“But Italian officials and health experts said it will take until after Easter to cut new infections enough to begin loosening the lockdown and reopen parts of Italy’s economy.”

The Trump administration has frozen all overseas shipments of USAID’s stockpiles of protective medical gear following mass confusion over which resources are needed inside the United States, Politico reports.

The moratorium was brought in following an embarrassing mix-up in Thailand. A Trump official asked the Thais if they could send protective gear to the U.S., only to told by them that a U.S. shipment of the same supplies was already on its way to Bangkok—the second of two such deliveries.

A Russian military plane loaded with medical equipment took off from outside of Moscow Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin offered Donald Trump help for the U.S. battle with coronavirus, Bloomberg reports.

Said a Kremlin spokesperson: “The Russian side offered assistance amid the dire epidemiological situation in America. Trump gratefully accepted this humanitarian aid.”

New York Times: “The totalitarian state’s singular ability to control the movement of people also bolsters its disease-control efforts. But decades of isolation and international sanctions have ravaged North Korea’s public health system, raising concerns that it lacks the medical supplies to fight an outbreak, which many fear has already occurred… Many observers of North Korea doubt its claims of not having any coronavirus cases. But a lack of testing equipment may mean it literally has not detected a single case.”

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro told his supporters to confront coronavirus like men, the AP reports.

Said Bolsonaro: “The virus is here, we’re going to have to confront it. Confront it like a man, not a boy! We’re all going to die one day.”

“Even as coronavirus cases mount in Latin America’s largest nation, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has staked out the most deliberately dismissive position of any major world leader, calling the pandemic a momentary, minor problem and saying strong measures to contain it are unnecessary,” the AP reports.

“Bolsonaro says his response to the disease matches that of President Trump in the U.S., but the Brazilian leader has gone further, labeling the virus as ‘a little flu’ and saying state governors’ aggressive measures to halt the disease were crimes.”