Coronavirus cases across Europe are rapidly increasing, with many nations now taking drastic action to slow down the spread of the coronavirus. The number of deaths in Europe comes close to 2,000, with 48,277 confirmed cases. Worldwide there have been 7,113 deaths and more than 180,000 cases.
Italy is the worst affected nation in Europe, with more than 27,000 cases confirmed, while Spain, Germany, France and Switzerland all have several thousand infected by the respiratory disease, also known as COVID-19.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK rose to 1,543 on Monday, up from 1,372 the day before, with 55 now dead.
Today, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen revealed plans to ban all non-essential travel in the to Schengen area.
The free travel region would be closed to all non-essential travel for 30 days if approved.
READ MORE: Work from home: Should YOU work from home? Latest advice
“Therefore, as I have just informed our G7 partners, I propose to the heads of state and governments, to introduce temporary restrictions on non-essential travel to the European Union.”
The Schengen Area has a population of over 420 million people.
About 1.7 million people commute to work across a European border each day, and in some regions these people constitute up to a third of the workforce.
Each year, there are 1.3 billion crossings of Schengen borders, with 57 million crossings due to transport of goods by road, valued £2.55 trillion (€2.8 trillion) each year.
