To some, Israeli Health Minister Yaakov Litzman is guilty of a "catastrophic failure" of leadership for not urgently conveying the coronavirus threat to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community that elected him.

A small group of Franciscan monks and Roman Catholic faithful took to the streets of Jerusalem's Christian Quarter in the Old City Sunday to distribute olive branches after the traditional Palm Sunday procession was cancelled due to restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Palm Sunday celebrations start the Holy Week leading up to Easter. Worshipers traditionally carry palm fronds and olive branches and march from the top of the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem's Old City.

Fashion brand Armani said on Thursday it would start making single use medical overalls for hospital workers at all its Italian factories. 

Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulcher, believed by Christians to house Christ's tomb, was shut Wednesday, as Israel tightened movement restrictions and the Palestinians announced their first novel coronavirus death.

Either on television as in Libya or on tablets in the IT-savvy Gulf monarchies, in the time of novel coronavirus millions of schoolchildren around the Arab world are now learning lessons at home.

Governments across the region have shuttered schools forcing pupils to stay away in a bid to combat the virus, but at the risk of deepening an already worrying educational divide.

The Austrian village of Sankt Corona am Wechsel may need to rethink its tourism campaign, its mayor said Monday after the new coronavirus pandemic has drawn some unwanted attention.

In the Middle East, where the three main monotheistic faiths shape daily life, the coronavirus pandemic has seen religious leaders support constraints unthinkable just a few weeks ago. 

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday suspended prayers inside all its mosques except the holiest two sites in Islam as it steps up efforts to contain the new coronavirus, state media reported. 

Italians are beating the social isolation imposed by the country's coronavirus lockdown by taking to their windows and singing in unison, with videos of the phenomenon racking up thousands of views online.

Since Monday a series of decrees from the Italian government have drastically limited citizens' movements, with vast swathes of the economy shut down and people instructed to leave the house only when strictly necessary.

Hundreds of thousands of Islamic worshippers gathered in eastern Pakistan this week amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, ignoring government warnings that such events could propagate the disease.