Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1228170
8 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 1 APRIL 2020 NEWS INTERNATIONAL Eurovision arena in Rotterdam to become temporary hospital AS the Eurovision 2020 festival was canceled due to the coronavirus, Rotterdam decided to remodel the Ahoy arena into a temporary hospi- tal for 680 people. 88 beds in 22 four-person rooms will be ready soon. Each of them has a shower and toilet. There are also quarters for doctors, nurses and rest. Patients will stay in individual cubicles. The hospital will accept patients with coronavirus and with other diseases, who do not need treat- ment at the hospital but they also cannot stay at home. The arena will be used if Dutch hospitals are overcrowded.; Like the Ahoy Arena , the first rooms at Van der Valk Ridderkerk Hotel will also soon be ready to admit patients. The site has been earmarked for people who tested positive for coronavirus buy who cannot stay at home. SPAIN'S health minister has confirmed that the country's death toll from COVID-19 has increased by another 849 from Monday's fig- ures - the nation's biggest jump in a 24-hour period. The number of lives lost from the disease now totals 8,189. The number of confirmed cases of the nov- el coronavirus in Spain has also jumped to 94,417 from Monday's figure of 85,195. As of this writing, more than 5,600 people cur- rently need intensive care treatment. The near 10% increase in cases has put an end to several days of falling rates - destroy- ing hopes that the contagion could be com- ing to an end. On a positive note, In a ray of light, nearly 20,000 patients have recovered from the dis- ease in the Mediterranean nation. Spain's Health emergency chief Fernando Simon has said that despite the pandemic ap- pearing to be nearing its peak in some areas, the country is still experiencing a shortage of intensive care beds, adding: "We continue to have a major problem with ICU saturation." Spain has now entered its third week of a nationwide lockdown, with flags flying at half-mast in Madrid and surrounding re- gions. Over the weekend, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez officially extended Spain's state of emergency, requiring all non-essential work- ers to remain at home for a further 14 days. Coronavirus death toll in Spain jumps by 849 in one day PLANES will no longer be forced to fly empty during the Covid-19 crisis, as the EU has now suspended rules that previ- ously required airlines to "use or lose" their airport slots even if they had no passengers. The EU announced the change on Monday. The temporary measure will last until October 24, and "could be ex- tended" by the EU Commission "if the situation continues", the EU Council said. Previously, the rules stated that air- lines were obliged to use at least 80% of their takeoff and landing airport slots in order to keep their schedules for the next year. As demand for flights plummeted due to the Covid-19 crisis, this rule was said to be forcing airlines to waste thousands of litres of fuel to fly "ghost planes" with no passengers, simply to maintain their slots. The Croatian minister for transport, Oleg Butkovic, whose country current- ly has the presidency of the EU Council of the Union, said: "[This measure] will continue to help ease the heavy eco- nomic burden that airlines are suffer- ing, and will bring them a certain secu- rity during the summer season." The rule change was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ) yesterday. France had been among the countries to call on the EU to make the change. Two weeks ago, economy minister Bruno Le Maire said: "On the subject of airline travel, I have asked the Euro- pean commissioner Paolo Gentiloni to request that airline companies may be able to keep their slots without having to fly their empty planes across the sky." "It is totally absurd that this regulation is being applied in the current circum- stances." British transport minister Grant Shapps had also called on the independ- ent coordinator of airline slots, Airport Coordination Ltd (ACL), to relax the rules during the outbreak. Read more: France joins calls to stop 'ghost' Covid-19 flights This is not the first time the slot rules have been suspended during times of crisis; it also happened after the ter- rorist attacks of September 11, 2001; during the SARS epidemic of 2003; and after the financial crisis of 2008-2009. EasyJet and Ryanair grounded Airlines have already begun to respond to the changes, continued international flight restrictions, and the significant drop in demand. Yesterday, low-cost airline Ryanair said it would be extending its "limit- ed schedule" operations, and said that "90% of Ryanair's aircraft are ground- ed for the coming weeks", until at least Thursday April 9. It said: "We are working with EU gov- ernments to try to keep some minimum flight links open for emergency reasons, even though the passenger loads on these flights will be very low." Budget airline EasyJet has also an- nounced that it has grounded its entire fleet - notwithstanding continued res- cue flight operations - and has waived its fees for flight changes to existing bookings. In a statement issued on Sunday, the airline said: "As a result of the unprec- edented travel restrictions imposed by governments in response to the coro- navirus pandemic and the implemen- tation of national lockdowns across many European countries, EasyJet has, today, fully grounded its entire fleet of aircraft." EU changes rules to stop Covid-19 'ghost flights' The Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam