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As more tests are done, the percentage of serious and death rates will decrease.
Some articles are written by me. You may find them useful.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Twenty-one people aboard a mammoth cruise ship off the California coast tested positive for the new coronavirus, including 19 crew members, Vice President Mike Pence announced Friday, amid evidence the vessel was the breeding ground for a deadly cluster of more than 10 cases during its previous voyage.
7 pm EST update. An increase of 1,220 cases and 51 deaths since 12 noon.
Millions of patients will have face-to-face appointments with their GP replaced by telephone or video consultations under NHS plans to respond to the threat posed by the coronavirus.
In a significant policy change, NHS bosses want England’s 7,000 GP surgeries to start conducting as many remote consultations as soon as possible, replacing patient visits with phone, video, online or text contact.
TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s official guidance on the novel coronavirus has been to test patients who recently traveled to affected areas, but some doctors and hospitals have expanded testing on their own, finding the first in a series of patients linked to Iran before the scale of the Iranian outbreak was known.
The Canadian approach, which let front-line staff exercise judgment in looking for the virus, diverged from the United States, which said only on Tuesday that any American could be tested.
One unlikely catch was British Columbia’s sixth patient, a woman in her 30s whose test results were announced on Feb. 20. She had recently traveled from Iran, but as the country had only disclosed its first cases on Feb. 19, she would not have been flagged under federal guidelines in use at the time.
“We have always said that if a clinician has a concern about somebody and they have symptoms that could be COVID-19, that we would allow that testing,” she said.
The day after the case was found, Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief medical officer, told reporters “imported cases linked to Iran could be an indicator that there is more widespread transmission than we know about.”
Testing really works to know the chain of trasmission.
SEOUL, March 6 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s coronavirus caseload approached 6,600 on Friday, with most new virus infections still occurring in the southeastern city of Daegu, the epicenter of the virus outbreak here, and neighboring North Gyeongsang Province. Another alarming cluster of infections was reported in a small city near Daegu.
The 309 new cases, which were identified over the past 16 hours on Friday, brought the nation’s total number of infections to 6,593, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.
Medical staff and patients at a hospital in Milton Keynes have been placed in isolation after a man in his 80s became the second person in Britain to have died from coronavirus, amid family fears he was not isolated quickly enough.
Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation trust said the man, who had recently returned from a Caribbean cruise, tested positive for coronavirus shortly before his death on Thursday.
A family member, who did not wish to be named, told the Guardian: “Our concern is that the hospital were too slow to detect that our relative had symptoms similar to those of coronavirus and too slow to move him from a ward into isolation, and that that may have put a lot of people – fellow patients on the ward, staff who were looking after him and visitors who came to see him – at risk of contracting the virus from him.
TEHERAN (AFP) – An adviser to Iran’s foreign minister who took part in the 1979 US embassy hostage crisis has died from coronavirus, the official Irna news agency reported.
Mr Hossein Sheikholeslam, “a veteran and revolutionary diplomat” died late on Thursday (March 5), Irna said.
MANILA, Philippines — The country’s fifth confirmed case of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) involving a 62-year-old Filipino male is already considered as “local transmission,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday.
Local transmission is defined as the transfer of the virus that causes the disease in a local geographical setting.
Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, WHO’s representative in the Philippines, however, clarified that the case will not be a widespread contamination for now, as long as contact tracing is still being conducted.
“Even the fifth case is a local transmission, but getting another case in a local contact does not mean widespread contamination. We already know that this disease is transmitted upon close contacts,” he told reporters when asked if the fifth patient’s relatives also tested positive for COVID-19 later on.
When there is already a “widespread transmission beyond the geographical area,” Abeyasinghe said this is already considered a community transmission.
MANILA, Philippines — The Cardinal Santos Medical Center (CSMC) disclosed Friday that the fifth patient who tested positive for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was once treated at their hospital.
The Department of Health (DOH) earlier refused to disclose the name of the hospital where the fifth case of COVID-19 was first treated, though it admitted that the hospital was based in San Juan City.
The fifth confirmed case of the deadly coronavirus disease involved a 62-year-old Filipino, who is a resident of Metro Manila and had no travel history, but was a regular visitor of the Muslim prayer hall in San Juan City.
The patient, who is suffering from severe pneumonia, is currently staying at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City.
The US Trade Representative’s office in recent days granted exclusions from import tariffs for dozens of medical products imported from China, including face masks, hand sanitising wipes and examination gloves, filings with the agency showed on Friday.
Many of the exclusion requests for medical products appear to have been expedited amid the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak, with approvals granted just over one month past a January 31 application deadline.
The World Health Organisation dismissed reports that there were “reinfected” cases of coronavirus in China, as the global toll of people infected neared 100,000 on Friday.
“From the evidence we have, those cases were not reinfected,” she said, suggesting that the initial tests that returned a negative result could have been conducted imperfectly, or they were “borderline positive/negative” results.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The coronavirus legislation signed by President Donald Trumpon Friday lets Medicare expand the use of telemedicine in outbreak areas, potentially reducing infection risks for vulnerable seniors.
Coverage of telemedicine is now limited primarily to residents of rural areas facing long road trips for treatment from specialists. The law allows the government to waive those restrictions to help deal with the public health emergency created by the coronavirus outbreak.
It also could open the way for more lasting changes in Medicare’s coverage of virtual health care, including Skyping with the doctor or using devices that beam over measurements such as heart rate.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota health officials said Friday the state has its first confirmed case of coronavirus.
The Minnesota Department of Health said the case is an older adult from Ramsey County who traveled recently on a cruise ship that carried another person with a known case. The Minnesotan developed symptoms Feb. 25 and sought health care Thursday, the department said. The state got a positive test result on Friday, and is awaiting confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control.
KIRKLAND, Wash. (AP) — In the days before the Life Care Center nursing home became ground zero for coronavirus deaths in the U.S., there were few signs it was girding against an illness spreading rapidly around the world.
Visitors came in as they always did, sometimes without signing in. Staffers had only recently begun wearing face masks, but the frail residents and those who came to see them were not asked to do so. And organized events went on as planned, including a purple-and-gold-festooned Mardi Gras party last week, where dozens of residents and visitors packed into a common room, passed plates of sausage, rice and king cake, and sang as a Dixieland band played “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
“We were all eating, drinking, singing and clapping to the music,” said Pat McCauley, who was there visiting a friend. “In hindsight, it was a real germ-fest.”
ALBANY (AP) — The rabbi of a suburban New York synagogue grappling with the coronavirus outbreak has tested positive for the illness, as the number of cases related to an infected congregant climbed higher Friday.
Rabbi Reuven Fink, of the Young Israel of New Rochelle temple, is among the 33 confirmed cases of the virus announced by state officials, according to a statement posted Friday on the website of Yeshiva University, where Fink teaches two courses.
CAIRO (Reuters) – The Saudi ministry of sports announced on Friday it will suspend public attendance at all sports events starting Saturday, a statement from the ministry reported.
NEW YORK (AP) — A dizzying, brutal week of trading dropped one last round of harrowing swings on investors Friday.
After skidding sharply through the day as fear pounded markets, steep drops for stocks and bond yields suddenly eased up in the last hour of trading amid hints from Federal Reserve officials that they may offer more support to the economy.
By the end of trading, the S&P 500 had more than halved its loss for the day to 1.7% and even locked in a gain for the week.
SAN JOSE (Reuters) – Costa Rica’s government on Friday said it confirmed its first case of coronavirus, in a 49-year-old woman from the United States who is in the Central American nation with her husband.
As of Friday, there are now more than 100,000 confirmed cases of the virus worldwide. Some 72% of people have become more concerned about traveling during the coronavirus outbreak, according to a survey conducted in late February by travel website Big 7 Travel. The International Air Transport Association has estimated that the global airline industry could record a $113 billion loss from coronavirus-related disruptions and cancellations.
CAIRO (Reuters) – United Arab Emirates discovered late on Friday 15 new coronavirus cases, the health ministry announced in a statement.
The statement added the total number of cases in UAE now stands at 45 cases, and two more cases have been cured which brings the total number of cured people to seven.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Confined to their cabins, passengers aboard a mammoth cruise ship off the California coast awaited coronavirus test results Friday amid evidence the vessel was the breeding ground for a deadly cluster of at least 10 cases during its previous voyage.
On Thursday, a military helicopter crew lowered test kits onto the 951-foot (290-meter) Grand Princess by rope and later retrieved them for analysis as the vessel waited off San Francisco, under orders to keep its distance from shore. Princess Cruises said 45 of the more than 3,500 people on board were tested. Results were expected as early as Friday.
“The ship will not come on shore until we appropriately assess the passengers,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday. Depending on what they find, authorities could order a quarantine of all or some of those aboard.
A 15th person has died in the USA, according to a hospital in Washington state – the worst-hit in the union. EvergreenHealth Medical Center in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland has reported the state’s 12 death.
CAIRO (Reuters) – Iraq reported eight new coronavirus cases on Friday, 5 in Baghdad, 2 in Sulaimaniya and one case in Karbala, state news agency reported quoting health ministry.
WASHINGTON – The spread of the new coronavirus is shining a spotlight on a little-discussed gender split: Men wash their hands after using the bathroom less than women, research and observations show.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s online fact sheet “Handwashing: A corporate activity,” cites a 2009 study that finds “only 31% of men and 65% of women washed their hands” after using a public restroom.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian authorities warned Friday they may use “force” to limit travel between cities and announced the new coronavirus has killed 124 people amid 4,747 confirmed cases in the Islamic Republic.
Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour offered the figures at a televised news conference. He did not elaborate on the threat to use force, though he acknowledged the virus now was in all of Iran’s 31 provinces.
The threat may be to stop people from using closed schools and universities as an excuse to go to the Caspian Sea and other Iranian vacation spots. Semiofficial news agencies in Iran posted images of long traffic lines as people tried to reach the Caspian coast from Tehran on Friday, despite authorities earlier telling people to remain in their cities.
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Health officials in Reno say Nevada has a second case of coronavirus, a man in his 50s who is linked to the possible outbreak on the Grand Princess cruise ship, and that a Reno elementary school has been closed as a precaution.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania has confirmed its first two cases of the new coronavirus, one in Delaware County and one in Wayne County, and health officials hoped to track down people who had contact with them, Gov. Tom Wolf and state officials said Friday morning.
One of the confirmed cases is an adult who recently had exposure to an infected person in another state, and Pennsylvania health officials became aware of it right away, according to Dr. Sharon Watkins, the director for the state’s Bureau of Epidemiology.
The other confirmed case is an adult who recently traveled extensively in Europe, including to countries where the new virus is widespread, Watkins said.
ATLANTA (AP) — A woman who went to a Georgia emergency center with flu-like symptoms late last month has tested positive for COVID-19 by the state health lab, officials said Friday.
The Georgia Department of Public Health said it’s still awaiting final confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the Floyd County case.
The woman, 46, went to the emergency care center on Feb. 29, but didn’t meet testing criteria for COVID-19 and was released, Floyd Medical Center said in a statement. She returned, with worsening symptoms, on Tuesday. But she still didn’t quality for testing.
“Despite the patient, again, not meeting COVID-19 screening criteria, Floyd clinicians made the determination to admit her to the hospital due to her condition,” the hospital statement said.
PARIS (Reuters) – France will close nurseries and schools for 15 days from Monday in the two areas most hit by coronavirus infections, one north of Paris and the other in the northeastern part of the country, its prime minister said on Friday.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana health officials have confirmed the first illness in the state from the coronavirus outbreak.
State Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box said Friday the ill man was in stable condition in self isolation after going to an Indianapolis hospital late Thursday with symptoms. Box said the man had traveled to Boston where he was exposed to others with COVID-19.
BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia confirmed its first case of coronavirus on Friday, joining other South American countries which have reported cases of the fast-spreading disease.
HOUSTON (AP) — The city of Houston has reported its first case of the new coronavirus, a man between 60 and 70 years old who officials say traveled with a group of people to Egypt that included four other area residents who have also tested positive.
Officials in the nation’s fourth largest city said Thursday the man is experiencing mild symptoms of COVID-19 and is in self-quarantine at home.
The man was part of group of people who traveled to Egypt in February, officials said.
ROME (Reuters) – The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has risen by 49 to 197, the Civil Protection Agency said on Friday, the largest daily increase in fatalities since the contagion was uncovered two weeks ago.
The cumulative number of cases in the country, which has been the hardest hit in Europe by the epidemic, totaled 4,636 compared with 3,858 on Thursday. The Vatican, an independent state that sits in the heart of Rome, also registered its first case on Friday.
ZURICH (Reuters) – The Swiss government on Friday shifted its focus in the fight against the new coronavirus to protecting those most vulnerable, while continuing to try to slow its spread and track the origins of individual cases as long as possible.
“The focus is on protecting the health of particularly vulnerable people,” the government said in a statement. “The aim is to prevent serious illnesses and deaths as well as avoiding overloading health facilities.”
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The nation’s jails and prisons are on high alert, stepping up inmate screenings, sanitizing jail cells and urging lawyers to scale back in-person visits to prevent the new coronavirus from spreading through their vast inmate populations.
There have been no reports of COVID-19 inside U.S. jails or prisons. But more people are incarcerated per capita here than in any other country in the world and prisons have become hot spots in other nations touched by the outbreak.
Practicing even the most simple hygiene, such as washing hands, is not a given in such environments. Hand sanitizer is often treated as contraband because it contains alcohol.
Some common-sense steps that are useful for any emergency, such as severe weather, can help get you and your family ready in case you need to hunker down.
More than a dozen states have COVID-19 cases. An outbreak “could last for a long time in your community,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns in its preparation advice.
A good way to think about planning, says former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden, is “if you had to be quarantined for 14 days at home,” how would you cope?
NEW YORK (AP) — As an Arizonan, Gregory Cohen has never had to stock up ahead of a hurricane or other natural disaster.
But fear of the new coronavirus has led the 51-year-old attorney to run up a $90 bill at the local grocery store last week on emergency supplies. That included 12 cans of diced tomatoes, 12 cans of chili beans, soap and six boxes of pasta that he says should last him and his family four weeks.
“My biggest concern is that we will all be asked to stay at home,” said Cohen, who stored the supplies in tubs in his garage for his wife and teenage son. “This is my way of exerting control of the uncertainty of the current situation.”
Before a COVID-19 outbreak occurs in your community: Plan
A COVID-19 outbreak could last for a long time in your community. Depending on the severity of the outbreak, public health officials may recommend community actions designed to help keep people healthy, reduce exposures to COVID-19, and slow the spread of the disease. Local public health officials may make recommendations appropriate to your local situation. Creating a household plan can help protect your health and the health of those you care about in the event of an outbreak of COVID-19 in your community. You should base the details of your household plan on the needs and daily routine of your household members.
Demand for hand sanitiser has reached fever pitch in the UK, with one hospital reporting that and sanitising gel is being stolen by visitors on a daily basis. According to a report by the PA News Agency:
Bosses at Northampton General Hospital said sanitising gel had been disappearing from the ends of ward beds “every single day” this week.
Three wall-mounted dispensers have been ripped off, while visitors have used the hospital’s supply of sanitiser to “top up” their own bottles.
Do you want to know the science-backed alternatives? Check these pages out.
Quarantined Italian towns are buckling under the strain, major cities are emptying out and some of those infected say they are being stigmatised as Europe’s worst outbreak of coronavirus takes hold.
As of Thursday night, 3,858 cases had been detected as Italyaggressively tests for the virus. Out of that number, 148 people have died and 414 have recovered. Of those infected, 1,790 are in hospital – 351 in intensive care – and 1,115 are recovering at home.
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia confirmed on Friday that two more people had tested positive for the coronavirus, taking the total of confirmed cases to four.
The two Indonesians were in their 30s and had been tested after being in contact with the first two confirmed cases, Health Ministry official Achmad Yurianto told a news briefing.
PRAGUE (Reuters) – Slovakia will ban flights to and from Italy, the European country worst hit by the coronavirus outbreak, starting Monday, Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini said on Friday after announcing Slovakia’s first case of the new virus.
DOUALA, Cameroon (Reuters) – Cameroon and Togo confirmed their first cases of coronavirus on Friday, bringing the number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa hit by the epidemic to five.
TOKYO (AP) — World stocks and the price of oil dropped sharply again Friday as pessimism prevailed over hopes for central bank action to counter the economic disruption from the virus outbreak.
Rumors that Chinese officials might be overstating the extent to which local businesses are getting back to work also were undermining confidence, traders said.
After broad losses in Asia, France’s CAC 40 shed 3.7% to 5,160, while Germany’s DAX fell 3.6% to 11,515. Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 3.2% to 6,490. U.S. shares were set to slide again, with Dow futures down 2.1% and those for the S&P 500 falling 2.4%.
NEW DELHI (AP) — India is bracing for a potential explosion of coronavirus cases as authorities rush to trace, test and quarantine contacts of 31 people confirmed to have the disease.
It is screening international travelers at 30 airports and has already tested more than 3,500 samples. The Indian army is preparing at least five large-scale quarantine centers.
For weeks, India watched as cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, multiplied in neighboring China and other countries as its own caseload remained static — three students evacuated from Wuhan, the disease epicenter, who were quarantined and returned to health in the southern state of Kerala.
A fifth patient has died from Covid-19 in Spain as the number of people infected with coronavirus rose overnight by 102 case to 365, according to the country’s health officials.
All the victims so far in the country have been people in high-risk categories, elderly or suffering from a pre-existing condition, AFP quoted Fernando Simon of the Spanish health ministry as saying.
The number of cases in Germany have climbed to 600 by 3pm local time, reports Kate Connolly in Berlin.
So far there have been no deaths, while 16 people have recovered, according to the Robert Koch Institute, the foremost advisory body to the German government on health and safety issues. At 7am this morning there had been 534 confirmed cases.
12 noon EST update. An increase of 2,195 cases and 24 deaths since 5 am
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut health authorities are asking hospitals to set up alternative sites to test for the new coronavirus away from emergency rooms to help prevent spread of the disease, officials said Friday.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina health officials say a second person has tested positive for coronavirus in a case unrelated to the first one.
The state health officials say the person is in isolation at home and is doing well. They say the Chatham County man had traveled last month to an area of Italy that has an outbreak.
(Reuters) – An Australian family is rolling in a much-coveted commodity after mistakenly ordering 48 boxes instead of 48 rolls of toilet paper online.
Chris said they had worked out that it would take their family 12 years to get through the huge order. Instead, they have decided to sell some boxes in a fundraiser, at the same price at which they bought them.
Mooring prohibited in Phuket for the Costa Fortuna cruise ship which has 173 Italians on board (64 are affected by the landing restrictions). Madagascar and Thailand have imposed restrictions due to the coronavirus on the landing of Italians who have been in our country in the past 14 days. Costa changed his route by heading to the Seychelles. The ship, the company says, is sailing to Malaysia. The company announced this by stressing that the passengers “are all well”.
The provision for the recruitment of doctors and health professionals to face the Coronavirus emergency and strengthen the national health service could already go to the Council of Ministers tonight. According to what is learned from government sources, these are “thousands” of hires that will not concern only the ICU staff. The hires are expected to be financed with approximately one and a half billion of the 7.5 billion announced by the government as the first economic measure to deal with the emergency.
This weekend, as it became clearer and clearer that Covid-19 has been spreading stealthily through the Pacific Northwest, the task facing health officials has become more and more monumental. To try to stop the virus’ transmission and restrain the outbreak, they need to identify every single person with whom patients have come into contact, isolate those at risk of harboring the illness, and monitor the entire network of people for symptoms.
PROVIDENCE (AP) — A judge declared a mistrial in a child molestation case in Rhode Island after a juror hearing another case in a nearby courtroom was sent home with an illness.
The judge made the decision out of an abundance of caution Thursday after a juror hearing a personal injury case reported not feeling well at the Providence Superior Court, court spokesperson Craig Berke said.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania has its first two cases of coronavirus, one in Delaware County and one in Wayne County, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Friday morning.
The two people are isolated in their homes, Wolf said at news conference in Harrisburg.
The Delaware County case is an adult who recently traveled to an area of the United States where COVID-19 is present, officials said. The other case is an adult who recently traveled to a country where the coronavirus is.
MILAN (AP) — More cycling races were canceled Friday and more soccer matches will be played in empty stadiums because of the virus outbreak spreading around the world.
RCS Sport, which organizes cycling events in Italy, canceled the Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo races as well as the Giro di Sicilia.
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s death toll from coronavirus infections jumped on Friday to 124, as 17 died and more than 1,000 new cases were diagnosed over 24 hours, the health ministry said.
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea said on Friday it would suspend visas and visa waivers for Japan in response to Tokyo’s own travel restrictions on Koreans, as fears over the spreading coronavirus rekindled a feud between the neighbors dating back to before World War Two.
BANGKOK (AP) — Crossing more borders, the new coronavirus hit a milestone Friday, infecting more than 100,000 people worldwide as it wove itself deeper into the daily lives of millions, infecting the powerful, the unprotected poor and the vast masses in between.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s trip to the Centers for Disease Control, which was scuttled Friday because of unfounded fears that someone there had contracted the coronavirus, was back on, giving the president another chance to calm growing alarm about the spread of the virus in America.
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) – The streets of Bethlehem were near-empty on Friday as Palestinian police wearing masks patrolled the traditional birthplace of Jesus, hit hard by a state of emergency declared over coronavirus.
LONDON (Reuters) – A total of 163 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the United Kingdom, rising from 115, medical authorities said on Friday.
The number of people who have died from the virus stands at one, the health ministry and the Public Health England (PHE) agency said.
ICHEON, South Korea (Reuters) – At a face mask factory just outside the South Korean capital of Seoul, workers are churning out 300,000 masks a day – and it’s still not enough.
Across Asia, the spread of the coronavirus has sparked a run on masks in the hardest hit countries, as well as among those afraid that they could be next.
Some governments, like those in Australia and Singapore, have urged their citizens not to buy or wear the masks unless they are sick.
LONDON (Reuters) – The number of people infected by the new coronavirus globally surpassed 100,000 on Friday, according to a Reuters tally based on statements from health ministries and government officials.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has been called off because of concerns that a staff member may have been infected by the coronavirus.
Trump told reporters Friday that concerns were raised Thursday about “one person who was potentially infected” who worked at the CDC.
DUBLIN (Reuters) – More than 60 staff at a hospital in the Irish city of Cork were asked on Friday to self-isolate after the country’s first community transmission of coronavirus was found there, a health official was quoted as saying.
Health authorities in Ireland reported the first case of the virus not associated with travel from an affected area of Italy on Thursday as the number of cases rose to 13 from six a day earlier.
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s health ministry said it registered 12 people carrying the coronavirus on a Nile cruise ship heading to the southern city of Luxor from Aswan, state television reported on Friday.
The country had until now diagnosed three people with the virus, one of whom it said had fully recovered after receiving treatment
THIMPHU/NEW DELHI (REUTERS, AFP) – Bhutan said on Friday (March 6) that it had banned the entry of tourists for two weeks after it confirmed its first case of the coronavirus in a tourist who arrived from neighbouring India.
The tiny Himalayan kingdom, which is heavily reliant on high-end tourism for foreign exchange, said a 79-year-old American who entered by air from India on March 2 had tested positive for the virus.
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore reported 13 new coronavirus infections on Friday, its biggest daily jump that included a cabin crew member from Singapore Airlines and took the city-state’s total infections to 130.
The 47-year old male cabin crew had been in South Africa in mid-February and France in early March, but health authorities said he had not gone to work since the onset of symptoms.
LONDON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Business districts around the world began to empty and stock markets tumbled on Friday as the number of coronavirus infections neared 100,000 and the economic damage wrought by the outbreak intensified.
LONDON/SINGAPORE – The coronavirus epidemic could cost commercial airlines up to $113 billion (¥12 trillion) in revenue this year, an industry body warned Thursday, more than three times a projection it made just two weeks ago as the virus continues to spread around the world.
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s financial center of Shanghai reported three new coronavirus infections on Friday, in Chinese nationals who caught the virus abroad, the official People’s Daily of the ruling Communist Party said.
All three were students studying abroad in Iran, it added.
The coronavirus outbreak has prompted some of Japan’s struggling automakers to order partial plant closures and will likely prolong their troubles with parts procurement in China, forcing them to alter production plans, industry analysts say.
The automakers, mired in a sales slump, are already experiencing delivery delays with some models after taking longer than expected to restart production lines.
San Diego County health officials confirmed that the individual had tested positive for the new COVID-19 strain of the virus after traveling to Italy, returning to work and feeling sick.
Officials said there is no indication that the virus is spreading in the San Diego region, but warned it is just a matter of time and urged residents to have two to three weeks of food, water and medicine on hand in case of quarantine.
The article above has a sensible write-up about prevention and preparations
GENEVA (AFP) – The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned on Thursday (March 5) that too many countries were not taking all the steps needed to fight the spread of the deadly new coronavirus.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva he was concerned that a “long list” of countries were not showing “the level of political commitment” needed to “match the level of the threat we all face”.
GENEVA – As the coronavirus worms its way around the globe, catching people off guard, here is a list of myths about the Covid-19 disease which the World Health Organisation has debunked. More at the headline link.
Amid mounting criticism over the low number of people who have been tested for COVID-19 in Japan compared to its neighboring countries, tests starting Friday will be covered by the national health insurance in an effort to expand testing capabilities.
But whether more people will be screened as a result remains uncertain, and confusion is spreading among some municipalities and hospitals that don’t have the necessary equipment to test for the novel coronavirus.
At the same time, the health ministry is calling on the private sector to help develop faster, more reliable and cheaper testing methods.
WASHINGTON — Officials across the U.S. are preparing for a potential coronavirus outbreak among the homeless, particularly on the West Coast, where there is already a concentration of cases and the large homeless population has experienced past outbreaks of diseases like typhus.
The homeless are among those at highest risk because they sleep together in close quarters in shelters, are less likely to see doctors and have a higher prevalence of respiratory problems and other chronic health issues that make them more vulnerable, according to public health officials and advocates for the homeless.
“All these preventive things that are being done, like washing your hands — they can’t do any of those. They don’t have access to that,” said Nan Roman, president and CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, an advocacy group. “We need to make sure that homeless people get the services they need so it doesn’t spread to everyone else.”
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — As papier-mâché hand grenades and plastic assault rifles barely caught the attention of security guards, a health official in Dubai wordlessly watched over an infrared camera filming all who passed by — including a few scythe-wielding Grim Reapers.
Welcome to Comic Con in the times of the new coronavirus.
The Middle East Film & Comic Con began Thursday night in Dubai, a city of skyscrapers and nightclubs suddenly subdued by the outbreak of the new virus across the region. The wider United Arab Emirates has at least 28 confirmed cases of the virus, a small number compared to the 3,750 cases region wide, but the concern here is growing.
TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo organizers are downsizing the arrival ceremony for the Olympic torch because of the spreading coronavirus.
Organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori said Friday that 140 children will not be sent to Greece to give the flame a send off on March 19, a day before it is due to arrive in Japan.
HOUSTON (AP) — Houston officials confirmed the first three cases of coronavirus in the nation’s third-largest county Thursday, saying the three were on a trip to Egypt with multiple people, including a fourth man from a nearby suburb who a day earlier became the first Texan to have a positive test result outside of persons repatriated from abroad.
The newest cases involve two men and a woman who are between 60 and 70 years old and remain hospitalized in stable condition, said Dr. Umair Shah, the top health official in Harris County, where Houston is located.
AFP-JIJI/ PARIS – The Paris Marathon, originally scheduled to take place April 5 with 60,000 registered runners, has been postponed until Oct. 18 due to the COVID-19 outbreak, race organizers told AFP in a statement on Thursday.
TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares slipped Friday as fears about the virus outbreak once again dominated financial markets.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei dived 3.1% to 20,663.32. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 2.1% to 6,259.20. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 2.3% to 2,037.08. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 2.1% to 26,213.51, while the Shanghai Composite slumped 0.9% to 3,049.95. Shares also dropped in Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Vatican said on Friday that a patient in its health services had tested positive for the coronavirus, the first in the tiny, walled city state surrounded by Rome.
The discovery brought the epidemic to the heart of the capital of Italy, the worst-hit European country. The death toll in Italy, where the virus has hit mostly in the north, stood at 148 on Thursday.
TOKYO (AP) — World shares slipped Friday after a sharp drop on Wall Street, as pessimism prevailed over hopes for central bank action to counter the virus outbreak. Rumors that Chinese officials might be overstating the extent to which local businesses are getting back to work also were undermining confidence, traders said.
France’s CAC 40 shed 1.78% in early trading to 5,265.28, while Germany’s DAX fell 2.1% to 11,696.84. Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 1.4% to 6,614.02. U.S. shares were set to drift lower with Dow futures down 0.9%, at 25,815.00. S&P 500 futures lost 1.1% to 2,983.50.
Apple is cracking down on apps related to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak that aren’t from recognized institutions like governments or hospitals, iPhone developers say.
A search for “coronavirus” or “COVID-19″ on Apple’s App Store reveals few apps specifically centered around the outbreak and almost no spam.
A search for the same terms on Google’s app store returns no results.
SINGAPORE/BEIJING (Reuters) – As new coronavirus cases track downward in China, it is looking to burnish its credentials as a responsible power by sharing expertise and equipment with countries seeing a surge in cases and to repair an international image dented by the disease.
China’s diplomats have fanned out to deliver a message that it can control the outbreak and to call on countries to ease travel bans on Chinese people. They have given more than 400 media interviews and published more than 300 articles, according to the foreign ministry.
Since Tuesday, the number of confirmed Coronavirus cases in Germany has tripled. On Tuesday evening, there were around 180 infected persons. On Thursday night, that number had increased to 545.
Twelve days ago, no Coronavirus patients were left in Germany, after the first wave had been contained successfully. Then the virus hit Europe at full throttle. Once northern Italy was affected badly, it was only a question of time until the virus would return to Germany.
Christian Drosten, the head of the virology department at Berlin’s Charité clinics told the ‘Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung’ daily, up to a quarter million Germans would possibly die from the virus. In order for the Coronavirus to stop spreading, two thirds of all Germans needed to be immune, at least temporarily, meaning more than 55 million people would have to be infected first for that to happen.
Comment: To add context, Germany has one of the top ten best health care systems in the world for2020. It has some of the best specialists, facilities, and equipment to handle an epidemic. To say that up to a quarter-million Germans would possibly die means a lot.
Countries with weaker health systems will probably have higher numbers of dead.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Boise State University said Thursday that four students from South Korea participating in a school program are in self-isolation for 14 days in Boise.
The school in a statement said the students cleared a health screening for the new coronavirus after arriving in Seattle on Monday. The virus causes the disease called COVID-19.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A cruise ship being held off the coast of San Francisco Thursday due to suspicions of the new coronavirus disembarked hundreds of passengers in four Mexican Pacific ports during a cruise last month that included passengers who later tested positive for the illness.
The Grand Princess stopped in Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan before before making a final call in Cabo San Lucas on Feb. 18 and heading back to San Francisco. The passenger who died this week in California began showing symptoms the next day, but only tested positive for the virus March 3, according to health officials.
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The northwestern Chinese province of Gansu reported 11 new confirmed coronavirus patients, all of whom entered China on commercial flights from Iran, according to state media.
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts health officials confirmed Thursday the state’s third positive test for the coronavirus that has stymied global travel, sickened nearly 100,000 people and killed thousands.
The state’s latest case involves a Middlesex County woman in her 60s who recently traveled to northern Italy, the state Department of Public Health said in a statement.
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – A person in New Zealand confirmed to have been infected was revealed on Friday to have attended a rock concert packed with thousands of other people.
Health authorities said the man in his 30s, who is the partner of a woman who was confirmed to have COVID-19 this week, attended the Tool concert at Spark Arena in Auckland on Feb. 28.
The man and his partner had recently arrived back in the country from northern Italy.
TOKYO (Reuters) – South Korea confirmed a total of 6,284 coronavirus cases on Friday, up by 196 cases from late Thursday.
The Korea Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention also said seven more deaths from the virus were reported, bringing the total to 42.
My comment: Case fatality rate or death rate for South Korea is 42/6,284 x 100 = 0.66%! More testing will lower the death rate and allay fears. It also separates the infected from the uninfected.
TOKYO (Reuters) – At Stella Kids daycare in central Tokyo, school children spend the day sitting at separate individual tables, spaced far apart, and facing away from their peers.
They sit there for hours playing, studying and eating in the same seat from as early as 8 a.m. until their parents come to pick them up after work in the afternoon or evening.
The extreme measures are a result of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s request that all schools in Japan be closed starting this week to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is expected to sign an $8.3 billion measure to help tackle the coronavirus outbreak. The legislation would provide federal public health agencies money for vaccines, tests and potential treatments, and help state and local governments prepare for and respond to the threat.
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia ordered its first school closure on Friday after a 16-year-old pupil tested positive for the coronavirus, as the country’s prime minister warned the public bill for treating infected patients could top A$1 billion ($661 million).
Japan has canceled a memorial for victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Friday the cancellation was unavoidable because Japan “must take all possible steps to stop the further spread of the virus in the country.” Japan has urged schools to close nationwide and limited large gatherings of people among its containment measures.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s capital has pop up shops for food and drink, even marijuana. And now, coronavirus prevention supplies.
As local stores sell out of masks and hand sanitizer, Adilisha Patrom, owner of a co-working and event space next to Gallaudet University, saw an opportunity and jumped on it.
Inside, her storefront, different models of face masks and hand sanitizer bottles in various sizes are displayed along a stack of information sheets from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Thursday, one man stopped by, asked how much the masks cost and then left.
An 86-year-year old man infected with the coronavirus died in the Netherlands on Friday, the country’s first known fatality from the epidemic, the National Health Institute said.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Coronavirus test results were expected Friday for some passengers and crew aboard a cruise ship held off the California coast.
The Grand Princess lay at anchor near San Francisco on Thursday after a traveler from a previous voyage died of the disease and at least four others became infected. While the more than 3,500 aboard the 951-foot (290-meter) vessel were ordered to stay at sea as officials scrambled to keep the virus at bay, only 45 were identified for testing, Princess Cruises said in a statement.
The likely outcome of the coronavirus epidemic is not only that Chinese President Xi Jinping remains in power, but also that the Communist Party emerges bigger and stronger despite the current economic challenges, long-time China watchers said on Thursday.
Will other world leaders copy China’s playbook to consolidate power?
Coronavirus: vaccines ‘on track for emergency use’ in April
China says research on coronavirus vaccines is well under way, and some will be available for emergency and clinical research use next month.
Zheng Zhongwei, director of the National Health Commission’s Science and Technology Development Centre, said the five approaches to vaccines were being pursued and advancing steadily.
DOUALA, Cameroon (Reuters) – Cameroon’s health ministry on Friday confirmed its first case of coronavirus, a 58-year-old French citizen who arrived in the capital Yaounde on Feb. 24.
5 am EST first batch of headlines. An increase of 529 cases and 38 deaths from 7pm last night. Critical cases 7.4%, Deaths 3.4. The data pertains to global cases and cumulative since the epidemic started.
The number of cases rose to 534, up from 400 reported on Thursday evening. More than half of the cases, 281, are in the western region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state.
(Reuters) – More than 98,000 people have been infected by the coronavirus globally and over 3,300 people have died, according to a Reuters tally. Mainland China accounted for more than 3,000 deaths, while the toll in Italy stood at 148.
SYDNEY/TOKYO (Reuters) – In Australia, major grocers have restricted supplies to one pack per person. In Japan, rolls are chained to the wall in public toilets. In Hong Kong, armed robbers carried out a heist as supplies were delivered to a supermarket.
Health authorities and district offices across the country are sending “safety guidance texts” from early morning to late at night, reminding people to wash their hands thoroughly and not to touch their faces with unwashed hands.
But for many people, the texts – while intended as a public health service – are fuelling social stigma and in some cases, leading to speculation over extra-marital affairs.
Much of the criticism centres on messages that trace the movements of people who have recently been diagnosed with the virus.
“A woman in her 60s has just tested positive,” reads a typical text, “Click on the link for the places she visited before she was hospitalised,” it adds. Clicking on the link takes the user to the website of a district office that lists the places the patient had visited before testing positive. More at the link.
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Praised by the World Health Organisation for its efforts to prevent the coronavirus from spreading, Singapore warned on Friday that deaths in the city state would become “inevitable” as a global pandemic emerges.
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea issued a strongly worded protest on Friday against Japan’s decision to quarantine South Korean visitors for two weeks, as coronavirus containment measures ignited a fresh diplomatic row between the Asian nations.
Japan joined the list of almost 100 countries that have imposed restrictions on South Korean travelers, barring arrivals from highly affected areas starting on Saturday and ordering a two-week quarantine for those from other regions.
In a statement, the global body said the Palestinian Ministry of Health had confirmed seven cases of Covid-19. On Thursday, Palestinian authorities said they suspected cases might arise after a group of Greek tourists who visited the holy city of Bethlehem tested positive for Covid-19 following their return to Greece.
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s central province of Hubei, excluding the provincial capital Wuhan, reported zero new cases of coronavirus over 24 hours for the first time during the outbreak, as authorities continued to contain imported infections in other areas.
“I think the 3.4% is really a false number,” he told Sean Hannity, one of his favorite conservative Fox News hosts, in a phone interview broadcast live.
“Now, this is just my hunch,” Trump began, before continuing that “based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this, because a lot of people will have this, and it’s very mild – they’ll get better very rapidly, they don’t even see a doctor, they don’t even call a doctor.”
Trump said: “But again, they don’t know about the easy cases because the easy cases don’t go to the hospital. They don’t report to doctors or the hospital in many cases. So I think that that number is very high. I think the number, personally, I would say the number is way under 1%.”
The government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, said: “We have been looking at this right from the outset with very sophisticated mathematical modelling, and we are confident of refining the death rate, the mortality rate, down, and we really think 1% is probably the most accurate figure at the moment … It may be lower.”
This is why testing should be available freely. The more mild cases diagnosed. The lower the death rate.
