😷Steps taken by different countries against 😷🤒. 💀. 🤒coronavirus (COVID-19)🤒. 💀

Countries around the world are imposing severe restrictions on their populations in a bid to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Some countries have effectively closed their borders to all but their own citizens, imposed strict controls on internal travel and ordered people to stay in their homes.

Who is restricting travel from abroad?

China, where the Covid-19 outbreak started, has banned all foreign visitors, concerned that nearly all its new cases of the virus have come from abroad.

Other countries in Asia have also placed major restrictions on travel.

India has suspended all visas for foreigners until mid-April and Japan has banned entry to certain categories of Chinese nationals and non-nationals who have been in Iran, South Korea or Italy in the past two weeks.

Australia and New Zealand have banned entry to all foreigners, with Australia telling all citizens and residents who return to the country they must go into quarantine for two weeks.

Singapore has done the same, stopping visitors entering and requiring all citizens, permanent and long-term residents to self-isolate at home for 14 days

Canada, the US and the European Union have also imposed border restrictions.

The EU sealed its external borders on 18 March to anyone from outside the bloc for at least 30 days. .

The UK government has urged British citizens not to travel abroad at all unless it's essential.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Image captionThe US is now barring entry from European countries

The United States has told its citizens not to travel outside the country, warning that they could find themselves having to remain abroad for an indefinite period.

The US has also closed its northern border with Canada and is cracking down on people trying to cross illegally from Mexico.

What about movement within countries?

Across the world more and more countries are placing restrictions on the movement of their citizens.

India has imposed a strict lockdown on its 1.3bn population after a sharp rise in coronavirus cases there.

Italy - severely hit by the epidemic - began a major lockdown on 12 March, which has been extended beyond the original end date of 25 March, and been gradually tightened.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Image captionThe Indian capital of Delhi after a lockdown was implemented

France and Spain have also told people they need permission to move around, and most public venues are closed.

The UK has joined other countries in severely limiting movement , although people are allowed out once a day to exercise, to shop for basic necessities, for medical reasons or to go to work if absolutely necessary.

The authorities in France, Spain, Italy and the UK have introduced fines for people who ignore the rules. In one part of Italy - Lombardy - these fines are as high as €5,000.

The lockdown rules in Germany vary slightly from state to state, but do allow people to leave their homes for fresh air.

There are major restrictions across US states. The US state of California is  stopping people leaving home unless it's absolutely necessary and is forcing businesses deemed non-essential to close.

New York state, which has the highest number of coronavirus cases in the US, also introduced a strict lockdown.

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionThe normally busy Oxford Circus station in London is deserted

When the outbreak began in China, the authorities there restricted travel nationwide and told people to stay at home, relaxing this only recently.

In Hubei province, travel restrictions are now being eased for some people, and the city of Wuhan where the virus started is due to come out of lockdown on 8 April.

Many other countries have also limited movement to varying degrees.

What other measures have been taken?

The WHO has urged countries to test as much as possible to find out who's infected, and so help curtail the spread of the virus.

But there's been a wide variation in testing.

South Korea tested the most per head of population while others have tested much less, although they are increasing that now.

The United States, which was relatively slow in getting its testing programme underway, has now significantly ramped this up across the country.

Other steps have included shutting down venues where large numbers of people gather, for example closing schools and educational institutes.

The UN estimates that about 87% of those enrolled in education around the world have been affected by school and college closures.

The UN's educational, scientific and cultural body Unesco says that as of 25 March, more than 160 countries had closed all their schools.

The coronavirus pandemic has also had a major impact on the sporting calendar, as countries have sought to limit mass gatherings.

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The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games have been postponed until next year.

But there's also been a huge impact on a whole host of other major sporting events, including football, rugby union, Formula 1, tennis, cricket, golf and others.

You can find a list of events around the world that have been affected here.

There've also been cancellations of major cultural and religious events around the world, including film festivals, major music events and religious pilgrimages.