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As more tests are done, the percentage of serious and death rates will decrease.
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.
At least three passengers on that Grand Princess cruise have been confirmed to have the new virus, and one of them became California’s first fatality from the virus Wednesday.
U.S. health officials are scrambling to track down other passengers who have returned home. But when Mexican health officials were asked about it late Wednesday, they said they had not been notified and have announced no actions.
Tennessee Medical Epidemiologist Mary-Margaret Fill, who also spoke at the news conference, said the patient began feeling ill shortly after returning from out-of-state travel and had very limited activity outside his home. He took a nonstop, round-trip flight from Nashville to Boston and did not show symptoms during the trip, state health officials said.
HOUSTON (AP) — Houston officials confirmed the first two cases of novel coronavirus in the nation’s third-largest county Thursday, one day after a man in a nearby suburb became the first Texan to have a positive test result outside of persons repatriated from abroad.
The newest cases involve a man and a woman who had traveled, according to a statement from Harris County Public Health. The department did not say where they had gone or disclose their condition.
U.S. senators who were briefed on the plan said it could take days or weeks before thousands of medical personnel are trained to run the tests.
Washington state already has “a huge demand” for testing, Dr. Kathy Lofy, state health officer, said Wednesday at news conference in Seattle. She said lots of people who are sick want to know whether they have the virus.
The state lab planned to ramp up its testing capacity over the next several days. Commercial labs have been urged to start testing too.
A cardiac patient who tested positive for coronavirus died at the San Giovanni hospital in Rome . The San Giovanni Addolorata Hospital communicates this. “Given the complex clinical picture, it is possible to affirm that the woman died ‘with’ COVID-19 and not because of it”, the hospital explains.
“Fridays have become the scariest day of the week because we know with a high percentage of certainty that there’s going to be more bad news and we have seen how that manifests in equity valuations,” Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities, told MarketWatch.
5 pm EST update. An increase of 1,154 cases and 43 deaths from 12:30 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — A day after Vice President Mike Pence assured Americans that lab tests for coronavirus would be covered by private and government health insurance, that promise appears to be less than airtight.
The bottom line: Medicare, Medicaid, and “Obamacare” insurance plans will cover the tests, officials said Thursday. Major insurers also said they will cover such tests. But people with employer-provided insurance should check with their plan because copays and deductibles may apply. State health departments will test for free.
Some independent experts were flummoxed, uncertain that the government has the authority to order blanket coverage of a medical service.
“I’m not sure what he means,” said Karen Pollitz of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “I can’t point to anything that would back that up.”
It’s unlikely that a patient will receive only one test for coronavirus. A doctor also might order a chest X-ray or tests for bacterial pneumonia or the flu, also respiratory diseases, depending on the patient’s symptoms.
NEW YORK (AP) — New York state’s coronavirus caseload doubled overnight to 22, as the mayor of the nation’s largest city implored the federal government Thursday to send more test kits for the new virus.
The newly diagnosed cases include two critically ill, hospitalized patients in New York City and a hospitalized man in Long Island’s Nassau County, officials said.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada has its first case of coronavirus — a Las Vegas-area man in his 50s who recently returned from a trip to Washington state, health officials said Thursday.
The patient has been hospitalized in an isolation unit, said Dr. Fermin Leguen, acting chief of the Southern Nevada Health District. He said the diagnosis was made late Wednesday based on lab results after the man sought treatment for respiratory distress.
The case puts Nevada on a list of Western states that include Washington. Oregon, California, Arizona and Utah, with cases of the virus that causes the illness called COVID-19. Washington state has been hit the hardest with 11 deaths.
The first patient was sent to the hospital March 2 after experiencing symptoms and being treated at an urgent care facility. He remains hospitalized. He is not linked to Westchester, New York, cases, Persichilli said.
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A school district north of Seattle with 22,000 students will close for up to two weeks because of coronavirus concerns and state officials issued an order to waive fees for virus testing as the number of deaths in the Washington rose to 11.
U.S. stocks closed sharply lower Thursday as anxieties about the worldwide spread of COVID-19 lingered and concerns about the ability of governments to control the impact of the disease on their economies sent the benchmark U.S. Treasury note yield to a fresh all-time low.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -3.57% closed at 26,121.28, down 969.58 points, or 3.6%, while the S&P 500 SPX, -3.39% lost 106.18 points, 3.4%, to close at 3,023.94. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, -3.099% fell 279.49 points, 3.1%, to close at 8,738.60.
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia denounced Iran for granting Saudi citizens entry amid the coronavirus outbreak and urged it to reveal the identities of all Saudi nationals who had visited since the start of February, a government statement said on Thursday.
The statement, which cited an unnamed official, urged Saudi citizens who are currently in Iran or have returned recently to report their travel, promising if they did so in 48 hours they would not be subjected to a law forbidding travel to Iran.
ROME (Reuters) – The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has risen by 41 over the past 24 hours to 148, the Civil Protection Agency said on Thursday, with the contagion in Europe’s worst-hit country showing no sign of slowing.
SEOUL, March 5 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s coronavirus caseload rose above 6,000 on Thursday, with most new virus infections still identified in the southeastern city of Daegu, the epicenter of the virus outbreak here. A third virus-stricken area near Daegu was designated as a “special care zone.”
Neither patient had a history of travel to a location with confirmed COVID-19 cases and neither have had contact with a person with a confirmed COVID-19 case, according to Colfax. It appears that they contracted the virus through community transmission in San Francisco, Colfax added.
The Vatican says it is working with Italian authorities to coordinate measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the tiny city state, where Pope Francis is recovering from a cold.
CBS News spoke to one of the country’s top experts on viruses, Marc Lipsitch from Harvard University, who cautions that 40-70% of the world’s population will become infected — and from that number, 1% of people who get symptoms from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, could die. The virus can spread rapidly and people can transmit it before they know they are infected.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Scrambling to keep the coronavirus at bay, officials ordered a cruise ship with about 3,500 people aboard to hold off the California coast Thursday until passengers and crew could be tested, after a traveler from its previous voyage died and at least one other became infected.
SEATTLE (AP) — Hard surfaces, easy-to-clean floors and separate heating-and-cooling units in each room: The amenities offered by the suburban EconoLodge motel may not be fancy, but they were just what Seattle-area officials say they were looking for in a quarantine facility for coronavirus patients.
BANGKOK (AP) — The global march of the new virus triggered a vigorous appeal Thursday from the World Health Organization for governments to pull out “all the stops” to slow the epidemic, as it drained color from India’s spring festivities, closed Bethlehem’s Nativity Church and blocked Italians from visiting elderly relatives in nursing homes.
The elderly patient, who had underlying health conditions, is the first to die in the UK, although a British man who was quarantined on a cruise ship in Japan has also died.
“We believe they contracted the virus in the UK and contact tracing is already underway.”
12:30 pm EST update. An increase of 832 cases and 16 deaths since 6 am
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Europe is experiencing delays in supplies of medicines and face masks because of coronavirus disruptions, according to EU and industry officials, compounding already acute shortages of drugs on the continent.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union states are mulling radical measures to cope with the coronavirus outbreak, including the mobilization of retired healthcare workers and medical students to help hospitals handle growing numbers of patients, an EU official said on Thursday.
“It is now highly likely that the virus is going to spread in a significant way,” the spokesman said. “Officials will therefore accelerate work on preparations for the ‘delay’ phase of the government’s plan, focusing on steps we could take to seek to delay the spread of the virus.”
Beijing Ditan Hospital affiliated to the Capital Medical University said on March 4 that the first patient with novel coronavirus pneumonia complicated with encephalitis was discharged from the hospital on February 25.
Liu Jingyuan, director of the ICU at the Hospital, presided over the treatment of the patient. He reminded that patients with conscious disturbances must consider the possibility that the virus may attack the central nervous system.
If China retaliates against the United States at this time, in addition to announcing a travel ban on the United States, it will also announce strategic control over medical products and ban exports to the United States. Then the United States will be caught in the ocean of new crown viruses.
According to the US CDC officials, most masks in the United States are made in China and imported from China. If China bans the export of masks to the United States, the United States will fall into the mask shortage, and the most basic measures to prevent the new crown virus are Can’t do it.
During this time, a voice deliberately speculated that China owes the world an apology, which is very ridiculous. In order to fight the new crown pneumonia epidemic, China has made huge sacrifices, paid huge economic costs, and cut off the new crown virus. The route of transmission. No country has made such a great sacrifice and effort in this new crown pneumonia epidemic.
Moreover, according to the research of Academician Zhong Nanshan, although the new crown pneumonia epidemic broke out in China, the source may not necessarily be in China. Many studies have also pointed out that the origin of the new crown virus may come from other countries. Many confirmed cases of new crown pneumonia in the United States, Italy, Iran and other countries without a history of Asian contact have demonstrated this, so China has no reason to apologize.
Just as we warned two days ago, the Trump administration won’t be able to meet its promised timeline of having a million coronavirus tests available by the end of the week, according to senators speaking after a briefing Thursday from health officials.
“There won’t be a million people to get a test by the end of the week,” Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida said.
“It’s way smaller than that. And still, at this point, it’s still through public health departments.”
Bloomberg reports that Scott and other lawmakers said the government is “in the process” of sending test kits out and people still need to be trained on how to use them.
The S&P 500 sank more than 2% in early trading Thursday, and Treasury yields fell toward more record lows as the market swung back to fear about the effects of a fast-spreading virus in its latest yo-yo move. Just a day earlier, stocks had soared, in part on hopes that more aggressive moves by governments and central banks around the world could help contain the economic fallout.
Palestinian authorities said the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, built atop the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born, will close indefinitely due to coronavirus concerns. The church was expected to draw tens of thousands of visitors and worshippers during the Easter holiday next month. The Palestinian Health Ministry meanwhile said it was preventing all tourists from entering the West Bank, where Bethlehem is located.
NEW YORK (AP) — Two newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New York City have been diagnosed in individuals with no connection to other people with the disease and no recent travel to a region where there is an outbreak of the new coronavirus, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday.
The two new patients, a man in his 40s and a woman in her 80s, are both hospitalized in intensive care, de Blasio said in a statement.
“We are going to see more cases like this as community transmission becomes more common,” he said. “We want New Yorkers to be prepared and vigilant, not alarmed.”
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — In an open expanse of desert in Dubai, seven World Health Organization workers are racing to sort, package and send out hundreds of shipments of medical supplies to countries around the world battling a new virus that has spread fast, disrupting life for millions of people.
The WHO team in Dubai is in charge of preparing the precious cargo of supplies, including goggles, virus testing kits and specialized face masks. Front-line medical workers around the world need these supplies to safely test and treat patients who have fallen ill and contracted the virus, which leads to an illness called COVID-19.
A school district north of Seattle with 22,000 students will close for up to two weeks because of coronavirus concerns.
All 26 schools in the Northshore School District will be closed for up to two weeks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and protect vulnerable staff members, the district’s superintendent said in a letter to parents. The district is largely in Bothell, Washington, 20 miles north of Seattle.
Almost 300 million students worldwide faced weeks at home with Italy the latest country to shut schools over the deadly new coronavirus, as the IMF urged an all-out global offensive against the epidemic.
More than 95,000 people have been infected and over 3,200 have died worldwide from the virus, which by Thursday had reached some 80 countries and territories.
There are only 15,000 coronavirus test kits available in the United States, according to the Food and Drug Administration, which has authorized commercial labs to develop more tests. More than a million tests are expected to be produced by the end of the week.
The delay in CDC test kits isn’t stopping some states from unveiling their own testing procedures.
“We cannot have a system which is centralized in a few laboratories. Really, the front-line battle of the response to the new coronavirus will be done in the outpatient clinics and the hospitals,” said Dr. Albert Ko of the Yale School of Public Health.
MILAN (Reuters) – A day after their government ordered a limit on public gatherings and recommended that people avoid shaking hands to limit the spread of the coronavirus, normally sociable Italians have been grappling with new habits.
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The number of patients infected with the coronavirus in the Netherlands has more than doubled to 82, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said on Thursday.
The quarantine announcement, published in the official Royal Gazette on Thursday, classified South Korea, China, Macao, Hong Kong, Italy and Iran as “dangerous communicable disease areas”.
This means that all arrivals from these places, including those that transit through them, will have to provide the authorities with their address and travel plan and be self-quarantined for 14 days.
Coronavirus email to government staff offers to help plan their ‘demise’
A coronavirus email to government staff offered help with planning their ‘demise’.
The unfortunate choice of words was included in an email sent to staff at the Department for Business, Energy, Innovation and Skills (BEIS) and seen by the Mirror.
The Mirror understands it was not a typo – but it doesn’t mean what it appears to.
It was sent by a representative of ISS, the outsourcing company who perform building management for the department’s Whitehall HQ.
“Should, as part of your preparations need us to consider something more specific to your demise, ISS are happy to do so.”
NEW YORK (AP) — The growing fear over a new virus has transformed busy streets and shopping centers into ghost towns in parts of China, Japan and Italy.
Now, with the virus spreading in the U.S., it could deal a major blow to the country’s over 1,000 malls at time when many are already struggling with a slew of retail bankruptcies. New diagnoses of the disease in several U.S. states have raised the tally of cases to more than 100. Nine people have died, all in Washington state.
TRAVEL: An industry group says the spreading coronavirus could cost airlines as much as $113 billion in lost revenue. That figure, released Thursday, is four times the number released just two weeks ago by the The International Air Transport Association, which is imploring governments for assistance. The group says the industry urgently needs help from governments in waiving some requirements and fees.
Iran will begin erecting checkpoints to limit travel between major cities and has urged people to reduce their use of paper banknotes as authorities scramble to contain the coronavirus, which has caused at least 107 deaths and infected more than 3,500 people across the country.
The country’s Ministry of Health and Population said a 44-year-old Egyptian citizen showed symptoms after returning from Serbia via 12-hour transit in France.
On a tree-lined block an hour outside Boston sits a secret warehouse filled with hundreds of boxes labeled “pandemic product.”
The boxes, containing items like IV fluid, medical gloves and protective gowns, remain shrink-wrapped in neat rows inside the facility until the day Massachusetts General Hospital orders an emergency infusion of supplies.
A post on Facebook claims that Wuhan, China, the centre of the new coronavirus outbreak, was where 5G was first rolled out. It suggests that 5G has damaged peoples’ immune systems and so boosted the virulence of the common cold.
The main implication of the claim—that 5G can impact immune systems—is totally unfounded. There is no evidence linking the new coronavirus to 5G.
These claims are wrong. The maps the claims are based on are not satellite images, and they do not show real, observed data on current levels of sulphur dioxide. NASA, which provided the data in the first place, told Full Fact that they are simply forecasts based on weather patterns and historical information about SO2 emissions.
Apost on Facebook seems to claim that a number of viruses have been patented.
Some of these patents are for potential cures or vaccines for the diseases listed. Some are for patents of the pathogens themselves. This does not mean whoever applied for the patent invented the viruses. Some of the patents have been abandoned or have lapsed.
Singapore’s Ministry of Health has provided enough information for local citizens to create a website tracking the movement and status of individual cases. Such transparency may be reassuring to the public, but it’s also a potential violation of patient privacy.
In China, mobile phone apps such as AliPay and WeChat are used by the government to track people’s interactions and perform contact tracing. China has accomplished impressive containment measures, but few Americans aspire to turn the country into China.
HONG KONG (AP) — Pet cats and dogs cannot pass the new coronavirus on to humans, but they can test positive for low levels of the pathogen if they catch it from their owners.
That’s the conclusion of Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department after a dog in quarantine tested weakly positive for the virus Feb. 27, Feb. 28 and March 2, using the canine’s nasal and oral cavity samples.
A unidentified spokesman for the department was quoted in a news release as saying. “There is currently no evidence that pet animals can be a source of infection of COVID-19 or that they become sick.”
A government panel said Thursday it will consider ways to promote manufacturers’ domestic production as part of an effort to protect the country’s economy from the impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
WASHINGTON – New research from Singapore published shows that patients with the novel coronavirus extensively contaminate their bedrooms and bathrooms, underscoring the need to routinely clean high-touch surfaces, basins and toilet bowls.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A man in his 30s who’s hospitalized in Bergen County has New Jersey’s first positive test for COVID-19, Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement Wednesday.
BANGKOK (AP) — People around the world girded for months of disruptions from the new virus Thursday as its unrelenting spread brought ballooning infections, economic fallout and sweeping containment measures.
“Countries should be preparing for sustained community transmission,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, leader of the World Health Organization, said of the 2-month-old virus outbreak. “Our message to all countries is: This is not a one-way street. We can push this virus back. Your actions now will determine the course of the outbreak in your country.”
France may find it “difficult to escape” the epidemic stage of coronavirus Covid-19, which would see it freely circulating across the country, the government’s spokesperson has warned.
Currently, the virus is contained in “clusters” in Morbihan (Brittany) and the Oise (Hauts-de-France), and is described as in “stage two” of three. Three people have died so far, and 191 cases have been confirmed.
Health minister Oliver Véran has said that the country is “anticipating the possibility of an epidemic”, but reiterated that “we are not in an epidemic [now], but we are facing the approaching threat of an epidemic”.
“Some faith communities already stream services or communicate with each other over social media,” Aten noted. “Though there aren’t any perfect solutions and such discussions can be difficult to have, it’s better to have them now and not later.”
A NSW bidet retailer has been inundated with calls from people seeking a toilet paper alternative after supermarket shelves were stripped bare in a coronavirus-induced panic.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran will set up checkpoints to limit travel between major cities and urged citizens on Thursday to reduce their use of paper money to fight a spreading outbreak of the new coronavirus, which has killed at least 107 people across the Islamic Republic.
“Globally, about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases have died. By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
But the U.N. agency is reporting a number that health authorities know will keep fluctuating — and it’s far too soon to predict whether it ultimately winds up worse than flu or about the same.
“In every outbreak there are at least two competing biases that make the case fatality rate look higher or lower,” said Dr. Marc Lipsitch of Harvard’s School of Public Health.
Some ill people may die while many people with mild or no symptoms are being missed, he explained, “because the testing has been so variable and not adequate in many places.”
By the time people elsewhere in China were getting sick, authorities were better able to test for the virus and uncover people with mild cases. Consequently, the death rate in the rest of the country was strikingly lower, 0.7%.
The outbreak has worsened in Iran, where as of Tuesday 4.4% of the more than 1,500 patients so far known to have COVID-19 have died. That number is helping to drive the global death calculation.
Outside of Hubei province in China and Iran, the death rate globally as of Tuesday was about 1%.
Thousands were stranded on a cruise ship off the California coast Wednesday over fears of the new coronavirus after passengers and crew members on board developed symptoms.
Officials delayed the return of the Grand Princess to San Francisco on Wednesday night from Hawaii to carry out testing on board for those potentially infected.
A 71-year-old man who had been aboard the same vessel during its previous voyage to Mexico died after contracting the Covid-19 illness, becoming the first fatal case in California, the operator Princess Cruises and California Governor Gavin Newsom said
With 140,000 people tested, the country’s mortality rate is just over 0.6 per cent compared to the 3.4 per cent global average reported by the WHO
Various factors can influence this percentage, but scientists agree that all things being equal, it is more accurate when more people are tested
My comment: The total number of cases is the denominator in the calculation of the case fatality rate (death rate). The total number of deaths is the numerator.
When more testing is done, more cases will be detected and the denominator will increase. The total number of deaths will increase too because of more testing but more mild cases will be detected since the majority of the Covid-19 cases have mild symptoms. (80%).
Overall, the calculated death rate will get lower as exemplified by the South Korean experience.
Doing more tests will actually allay fears against the virus rather than spread panic because the true value of the death rate, would be lower, (0.6 in case of S Korea) will be known.
Health workers will also be provided proper protection and spread will be contained inside and outside the hospitals.
DeepMind, Google’s London-based AI research unit, has published predictions of the structure of proteins associated with SARS-CoV-2, in the hope that they help scientists understand how the new coronavirus functions, and allow for more precise investigation into potential treatments.
The company used its AlphaFold system, which applies machine learning techniques to estimate the physical structure of proteins, to generate the predictions, which it has published without the normal, time consuming, review or verification process for such work.
Indonesia will ban entry and transit of foreign visitors who have visited cities hit by coronavirus outbreaks in Iran, Italy and South Korea in the past 14 days, starting March 8, the country’s foreign minister says.
China’s government, in enforcing the world’s largest quarantine to contain the coronavirus outbreak, has adapted and co-opted industrial drones to help ensure that an estimated 50 million residents are kept at home and indoors across a dozen cities.
The software flying the drones made in Shenzhen is being rewritten to adapt their applications for disease detection and crowd management. The vehicles will use thermal sensors, high-definition zoom lenses, loudspeakers and chemical spray jets for disinfecting large areas, according to two makers of industrial drones.
“The coronavirus outbreak has changed the way people work and operate,” bolstering applications and autonomous equipment that reduce human contact, said Xie Jia, deputy general manager at Shenzhen Smart Drone UAV. The company’s drones are used in surveying, mapping and defence, with a logistics model that can lift a maximum payload of 15kg.
After meeting with AMA members in Australian capitals, AMA Director Dr Tony Bartone acknowledges the pressure and uncertainty many members have expressed about the virus challenge.
Dr Bartone’s statement says doctors have faced difficulty getting accurate clinical guidance and access to personal protective equipment.
“There is confusion and evidence of insufficient practical information,” the statement reads.
Following a suspected case of coronavirus at a hotel in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, the Palestinian Ministry of Health has closed all mosques and churches in the area.
According to Wafa, the official Palestinian Authority news service, a medical state of emergency had been declared in the holy city, home to the Church of Nativity, a popular pilgrimage site revered as the birthplace of Jesus.
Two Chinese scientists have published an article suggesting that the 2019 coronavirus outbreak could have originated from bats in a laboratory in Wuhan. However, apart from maps showing the proximity of laboratories, they offer no evidence to prove this.
Holy water will be removed from Catholic churches in Perth and drinking from the chalice will be banned under temporary precautions aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus.
The communion wafer will also be administered in the hand, rather than on the tongue, and the sign of peace handshakes will be omitted.
The novel coronavirus that’s spread to dozens of countries across the world may be able to live on surfaces, namely metal, glass or plastic, for up to nine days — if it resembles some of its other human coronavirus-causing “cousins,” that is.
In an analysis of 22 studies on other human coronaviruses — such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and endemic human coronaviruses (HCoV) — researchers found the viruses can “persist on inanimate surfaces like metal, glass or plastic for up to nine days.”
Whitty was asked by a committee of lawmakers whether Britain had moved to the second stage of the government’s plan, which covers containing the virus, delaying its transmission, researching its origins and mitigating its impact.
6 am EST. An increase of 717 cases and 34 deaths from 7pm yesterday. Critical 7.5%. Deaths 3.4%
“But you can also get headaches, and there is a suggestion that it might affect the nervous system as well.”
He said that while coronavirus would not cause issues like meningitis – inflammation of the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord – the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in the early 2000s did infect the nervous system of some people who contracted the disease.
Doctor Swan said that if COVID-19 is like SARS, in severe cases it could infect the part of your brain which controls respiration and lead to respiratory failure.
“In countries where they don’t have ECMO (life support for the heart and lungs), they don’t have intensive care with ventilation – you will succumb,” Doctor Swan said.
Another paper by Wuhan doctors published in the Journal of Forensic Medicine earlier this week said that autopsies of virus victims suggest the deadly illness is “like a combination of SARS and AIDS” that can cause “irreversible” lung damage even if the patient recovers.
The federal government will spend billions of dollars next week in a bid to avoid Australia’s first recession in three decades, as it prepares to abandon its promised budget surplus.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday refused to guarantee Australia could avoid a recession and Treasury revealed it expects the coronavirus outbreak alone will result in the economy shrinking by at least 0.5 per cent in the March quarter.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is expected to unveil the coronavirus stimulus package on Wednesday. CREDIT:ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN
Treasury is not forecasting a recession “at the moment” but Mr Morrison, pressed by Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese on whether the country could avoid a downturn, sought to avoid the issue.
“I can guarantee the Australian people that they will get the strong economic management they voted for,” the Prime Minister said.
(Reuters) – A growing number of countries around the world have been evacuating or planning to evacuate diplomatic staff and citizens from areas hit by the new coronavirus.
ROME (Reuters) – Italy closed all schools and universities and took other emergency measures on Wednesday to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Europe’s worst-hit country as the death toll and number of cases jumped.
Education Minister Lucia Azzolina said schools and universities all over the country would be closed from Thursday until at least March 15. Only those in the northern regions most heavily affected by the epidemic have been closed so far.
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea declared a “special care zone” on Thursday around a second city hit hard by the coronavirus and the U.S. military confirmed two new cases among relatives of its troops in the country, which is battling the biggest outbreak outside China.
There are now several cases in the UK where healthcare officials cannot see where coronavirus infection has come from clearly, whether it is from having been abroad or having been in contact with someone who has, Whitty adds.
MUMBAI (Reuters) – India has ramped up the screening of travelers to keep the coronavirus at bay but a flurry of new cases has experts warning that it may be hard to contain a spread in densely populated South Asia with its generally poor medical infrastructure.
India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are home to some 1.7 billion people, or more than a fifth of the world’s population, but their over-stretched health systems could struggle to handle the type of intensive care required for coronavirus patients.
On top of that, a prevalence of existing health problems such as diabetes could spell trouble while the sort of sweeping restrictions China has imposed to stifle the virus would be hugely difficult in South Asia’s more unruly cities.
Fears were fanned this week when India’s health minister disclosed that 16 foreign tourists who have tested positive had been touring since mid-February.
But 450 million of India’s 1.3 billion people are estimated to be migrants, with vast numbers packing its rail and road systems daily meaning controlling any spread would be a huge challenge.
“We don’t have human resources, we don’t have the required inventory, we don’t have a capacity to cope with a big emergency with the given resources,” Shahid Malik, secretary general of the Pakistan Medical Association, told Reuters.
BEIJING (Reuters) – Mainland China reported a rise in new confirmed cases of coronavirus on Thursday, reversing three straight days of declines, because of a spike in new infections in Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak.
A 33-year-old German man may be the first European to have contracted Covid-19 and to have transmitted it, Italian daily newspaper il Corriere della Sera has reported, citing a letter of German experts published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
I talked about this particular case in this article,
