Older Americans, especially those with chronic medical concerns, should probably avoid big social gatherings and airline flights, given the rapid spread of coronavirus, a top U.S. health official said on Sunday, as investors braced for another volatile week in financial markets.

Anthony Fauci, the head of the infectious diseases unit at the National Institutes of Health, also said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that after initial missteps distributing diagnostic tests, there should be 400,000 more kits available by Monday and 4 million by the end of the week.

The number of confirmed U.S. cases of coronavirus reached nearly 550 on Sunday, including 22 deaths, according to state public health authorities and a running national tally kept by the Johns Hopkins University center tracking the outbreak.

More than half of the 50 U.S. states have reported infections, including the first cases in Virginia, Connecticut and Iowa, as well as the U.S. island territory of Puerto Rico, documented on Sunday.

Warnings from Fauci and others about the need for greater “social distancing” – the practice of minimizing unnecessary contact in public settings – came amid the disclosure of a high-profile example of the risks now inherent in large gatherings.

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz said on Sunday he would self-quarantine after coming in contact at last month’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference with an attendee who had since tested positive for coronavirus. 

The Texas Republican and 2016 presidential candidate said he had “briefly interacted” with the infected person at the CPAC meeting in Maryland 10 days ago, but was not experiencing any symptoms and felt “fine and healthy.”

The coronavirus originated in China last year and causes the sometimes deadly respiratory illness COVID-19. The outbreak has killed more than 3,600 globally.

As the outbreak spreads, daily life has been increasingly disrupted, with concerts and conferences canceled and universities telling students to stay home and take classes online.

To contain the outbreak in China, the government quarantined millions of people for weeks. Italy has announced similar measures, locking down 16 million people in the north of the country.

As recently as Saturday, President Donald Trump said he would continue to hold political rallies, which sometimes draw up to 20,000 people.

The Democrats competing to challenge him in the November 3 presidential election, Senator Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden, have not cancelled any campaign events so far.

Germany, which has nearly 1,000 cases, on Sunday urged the cancellation of all events with more than 1,000 people.

‘Think twice’ 

Fauci said authorities in the United States may also need to consider steps to keep people out of crowded places if the virus continued to spread.

Still, he downplayed the likelihood of the type of large-scale mandatory quarantines imposed in China and Italy, while saying nothing could be ruled out.

“I don’t imagine that the degree of the draconian nature of what the Chinese did would ever be either feasible, applicable, doable or whatever you want to call it in the United States,” he said in an interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes.” “But the idea of social distancing, I mean, obviously, that’s something that will be seriously considered.”

He urged those most at risk to limit travel.

“If you’re a person with an underlying condition and you are particularly an elderly person with an underlying condition, you need to think twice about getting on a plane, on a long trip, and not only think twice, just don’t get on a cruise ship,” Fauci said on “Meet the Press.”

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams told CNN that case numbers would rise, adding that the average age of death for people with the virus was 80, and the average age of those needing medical attention was 60.

“Unfortunately, you are going to see more deaths, but that doesn’t mean that we should panic,” he said. Communities need to “prepare for more cases so we can prevent more deaths,” Adams said.

In financial markets, talk about recessions and bear markets was growing as investors try to assess how badly the outbreak will damage global growth. Many strategists have turned more pessimistic in recent days and are anticipating further market drops and a possible end to the longest economic expansion in U.S. history.

Cruise ship crisis 

The hardest-hit place in the United States has been a nursing home in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland, and Washington state is considering mandatory measures such as banning large gatherings but not necessarily imposing massive quarantines, the governor said.

The Life Care Center nursing facility has accounted for 13 of the 18 confirmed coronavirus-related deaths in Washington state, which has reported a total of 136 cases overall to date, the most of any state.

In California, officials said on Sunday that the cruise ship Grand Princess, barred from returning to San Francisco last week due to a coronavirus outbreak on board, would send most of its 2,400 passengers to quarantine centers set up at four military bases across the country.

Those requiring immediate medical attention will go to hospitals. The crew of 1,100 will be quarantined and treated aboard the ship, unless they are in need of acute care off the vessel.

The ship was ordered to remain at sea last week after a group of passengers and crew developed flu-like symptoms, and health officials learned that some passengers from an earlier cruise aboard the same vessel had later contracted coronavirus. One has died.

Twenty-one people aboard the Grand Princess tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, and the ship has been redirected to a specially secured terminal across San Francisco Bay at the port of Oakland for a brief stop on Monday to let passengers off the ship.

As of Sunday, California’s tally of confirmed cases had risen to 114 statewide, including the two passengers aboard the Grand Princess who tested positive two days earlier, the state Public Health Department.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the number of cases in New York was now 105 and he expects that to rise as testing expands.

“What we are really trying to do here is avoid the massive disruption of closing everything down for two weeks the way China did, the way Italy is doing,” he said.

Cuomo said a lawyer from Westchester County who is believed to be at the center of the outbreak there had attended a number of large gatherings, contributing to the roughly 70 people in Westchester who have tested positive.

“It’s these large gatherings where you can expose a number of people in a very short period of time and then it’s like dominoes, right, then the tree continues to expand with branches.”

In New York state, the Scarsdale public school district said it was closing all its campuses for more than a week starting on Monday after a middle-school teacher tested positive.

Columbia University in New York City said it was suspending classes on Monday and Tuesday because someone on the campus was under quarantine from exposure to the virus.

(REUTERS)

Over the last two months, the world has been living in fear of another virus that has proven its destructive capacity in China. The Coronavirus, the virus that shares the same DNA with other flu-related viruses, is less virulent if compared to the Ebola virus that tore the West African economy into shreds in 2014, but very destructive and disruptive.

China, the country that first reported the arrival of the virus, is still struggling to contain this virus that is spreading around the world like wildfire. Despite China’s massive and effective healthcare infrastructure, the virus has succeeded to make mincemeat of the world’s second largest economy.

The global travel and hospitality sector is the virus’ number one victim, with many airlines and hotels already reporting huge financial losses. The virus is no respecter of persons and it heads to any country without seeking a visa or buying an air ticket. From China, the virus has made it to Japan, Italy, France, Hong Kong, South Korea, Iran, the United States, Canada, Morocco, and many other countries.

The world is really dealing with its first major pandemic in a century and the World Health Organization has recognized that if urgent measures are not taken, the Coronavirus will become a major health disaster on the hands of many national governments.

Many governments around the world are not waiting for the killer virus to land on their shores before they can start scrambling for a solution. Many governments are already thinking ahead of time and many are already deploying state-of-the-art technology and making policies that will slow down the virus if and when it shows up in their countries.

As usual, Africa is always a major concern. The continent is notorious for its lack of reliable and modern health facilities and this could spell disaster for many people, especially the elderly. Though the continent survived the 2014 Ebola virus attack that killed thousands, there is no telling if the Ebola eradication plan can still work against the Coronavirus that is sending shivers down the spine of many people around the world.

No country is safe. As people continue to travel around the world, the chances of this virus extending its reach are significant. This is exactly what happened in Cameroon, a small Central African country with an unreliable healthcare system, when a Franco-Cameroonian flew into Yaounde, Cameroon’s capital, on February 24, 2020. He made his way to the city and even attended a funeral in a small community some 30 miles from the nation’s capital.

He was later confirmed as the country’s first case on March 4, 2020, and this has struck fear in many Cameroonian minds, especially as the first victim of the virus was not detected until after two weeks of his arrival in the country. Two weeks are long enough for the visitor to share the virus with other members of his family and even with friends.

Social life on the continent is different from what obtains in other parts of the world. The African is a social animal. Hugging and kissing are just normal components of the continent’s exciting social life, but those aspects of life that make life interesting in Africa will surely come back to bite the population in this era of the deadly Coronavirus, if care is not taken.

Cameroon has reported two cases and it has urged its citizens to remain calm. The second victim is the wife of the first victim and there are fears that some of those who got into close contact with the first and second victims might be bearing the virus without knowing. Fear is spreading across the country not just because the country does not have a sophisticated healthcare system, but because the contact tracing methods used in the country might not be effective.

Many of those who came in contact with the first victim might have already carried the virus to their homes and offices and this might trigger a massive health disaster in a country that lacks resources and is caught up in many conflicts that are robbing it of the little resources it could have used to fight this new insidious enemy – the Coronavirus – that respects nobody.

Cameroon’s announcement of the arrival of the Coronavirus comes a few hours after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that it would make available about USD 50 billion through its rapid-disbursing emergency financing facilities for low income and emerging market countries that could potentially seek support. Of this, USD 10 billion will be available at zero interest for the poorest members of the IMF through the Rapid Credit Facility.

Cameroonians do not trust their leaders and they think the government’s announcement of the arrival of the virus on their shores is a gimmick to attract IMF interest-free money. But the Coronavirus is not something that can be hidden. It is like a corpse. You hide it, it will decompose and the smell will rent the air. The Coronavirus is invisible, but it is capable of bringing down an entire city in a few hours. China and Italy have more experience in this regard and they will be very glad to share that experience with anybody who still thinks the Coronavirus is a joke.

An entire economy can be disrupted and millions killed if proper measures are not taken. Cameroonian authorities therefore have an interest to be upfront with their citizens when it comes to the Coronavirus that is already threatening the country’s organization of the CHAN, a continental football jamboree designed for football players plying their trade on the continent.

The IMF is a global body and it understands that the economic and financial impact of the virus’ spread will be felt globally, creating uncertainty and damaging near-term prospects. In this regard, the IMF has reiterated its determination to provide the necessary support to mitigate the impact, especially on the most vulnerable people and countries. IMF member countries have called upon it to use all its available financing instruments to help member countries in need.

But IMF money has never come without conditionalities. The IMF is a well-oiled machine that will never let itself to be used as an ATM by any country. The global body has already indicated that the number one priority in terms of fiscal response is ensuring front-line health-related spending to protect people’s wellbeing, take care of the sick, and slow the spread of the virus. It is also emphasizing that the focus will be on stepping up health-related measures and ensuring that the production of medical supplies is at par with demand.

The IMF will surely channel its money towards the design of macro-financial policy actions that may be required to tackle the supply and demand shocks that may be brought about by the disruptive virus. Those actions should be timely and targeted to the sectors, businesses and households hardest hit by the virus.

The money will not be shared for some government officials in any country to line their pockets. The Coronavirus threat is real. The people and leaders of Cameroon must work together to ensure that their country is rid of this virus that is capable of taking up residence in the country because of the way Cameroonians have lived their lives over the last couple of centuries.

Whether genuine or not, the reported cases should be viewed as alarm bells that should jog Cameroonians out of their legendary indifference even in the face of the worst pandemic. They must understand that unlike HIV/AIDS, the Coronavirus has the potential to kill an entire family if heath advice provided by health professionals across the world is not respected and taken seriously.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey in Canada

US President Donald Trump has signaled that he does not plan to stop campaign rallies in spite of the increasing number of people diagnosed with the coronavirus.

Speaking on Saturday night at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump said his campaign events would continue even as a case was confirmed for the first time within miles of the White House.

“We will have tremendous rallies and we’re doing very well, and we’ve done a fantastic job with respect to that subject,” Trump said when asked whether there will be more “Keep America Great” campaign events.

Asked if he was worried about the first case of the coronavirus near the White House, the president said, “No, I’m not concerned at all.”

The remarks by Trump come as over half of all US states have reported cases of the coronavirus, with the number of Americans tested positive standing at around 425, according to a case count by Johns Hopkins.

So far, nineteen people have succumbed to the virus nationwide after two more died in Washington state.

A state of emergency was declared in New York on Saturday after the number of confirmed cases there rose to 89.

While visiting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on Friday, Trump had warned about the quickly spreading coronavirus.

Hours later, however, Vice President Mike Pence walked back some of those comments, saying, “The president’s exactly right that for the state laboratories, for the communities that have been impacted, that have concerns about the coronavirus, we have been able to respond to requests for tests.”

Meanwhile, a leaked document published in media revealed US hospitals were preparing for a major coronavirus outbreak with unprecedented scale. The document estimates a death toll of 480,000 from 96 million coronavirus infections in the US.

According to media reports, hospitals and healthcare workers were already starting to feel the impact of the outbreak as it hits the cities across the US.

Source: Presstv

Italy has placed entire areas — including the financial capital, Milan — under forced quarantine in an attempt to contain an already widespread outbreak of the new coronavirus.

The new measures, announced by Italian Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte early on Sunday and taking immediate effect, imposed a lockdown on Lombardy, Italy’s northern rich region, as well as 14 provinces in four other of the country’s 19 regions. Some of the major cities included are Milan, Venice, Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia and Rimini.

“We are facing an emergency, a national emergency. We have been applying precautionary measures from the beginning and we are facing the situation with awareness and without underestimating it,” Conte said in a televised speech as he announced the draconian measures.

The measures included the closure of all museums, cultural centers, cinemas, theaters, and other public venues and events in the affected areas, impacting a total of 16 million people in the country of 60 million.

“We want to guarantee the health of our citizens. We understand that all these measures will create inconveniences… But this is a time when we must take responsibility for ourselves. We need to understand that all of us need to adhere to the measures. We need to protect our own health, the health of our dear ones,” the Italian prime minister added.

The decree also banned city commute within the designated areas other than for emergencies or “essential work reasons.”

“There will be no movement in or out of these areas, or within them, unless for proven, work-related reasons, emergencies or health reasons,” Conte said.

Italy’s Civil Protection Agency announced in a statement that the number of coronavirus cases in the country reached 5,883 on Saturday, the biggest daily rise since the epidemic began just over two weeks ago.

Angelo Borrelli, the head of the agency, also told a news conference that the number of fatalities had risen to 233 people, up by 36.

Italy is now the country with the highest deaths after China, where the virus first emerged.

The measures taken by the Italian government on Sunday are similar to those adopted in China’s central Hubei Province, whose nearly 60-million-strong population has been kept under quarantine since late January.

The total number of the people diagnosed with the coronavirus, known as COVID-19, has passed 100,000 worldwide, while 3,500 people have lost their lives across 95 countries and territories.

China quarantine hotel collapse claims six lives

Meanwhile, six people were confirmed dead on Sunday following the collapse of a hotel used as a coronavirus quarantine facility in the eastern Chinese city of Quanzhou.

The Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management said rescuers had also retrieved 38 survivors from the rubble — with five in critical or serious condition — out of the 71 people initially trapped in the building.

The hotel’s first floor had been under renovation before the collapse of the building in the coastal city on Saturday evening.

Over 3,600 released from quarantine in North Korea: Reports

Also on Sunday, media reports said North Korea had released some 3,650 people quarantined over the new coronavirus after imposing strict restrictions and closing its borders in order to prevent the outbreak.

The individuals had been kept under quarantine in Kangwon and Chagang provinces, North Korea’s state radio reported, according to Yonhap news agency.

North Korea’s official KCNA news agency also announced on Friday that 221 out of the 380 foreigners who were under “strict medical monitoring” had been discharged from isolation.

Pyongyang has banned tourists and suspended international trains and flights to and from the country.

Maldives reports first coronavirus cases

In a related development, the Maldives reported its first two cases of the coronavirus infection on Sunday.

Local authorities said the two infected individuals — both of them staffers at a Kuredu Island resort facility — had tested positive late on Saturday and were suspected to have contracted the disease from an Italian tourist who had also tested positive after returning to his home country.

The Maldives restricted movement on Kuredu and several other resort islands.

Ali Waheed, the tourism minister of the country, said the two individuals had been quarantined.

“The period for the temporary restrictions will be decided by the medical teams. Right now, we have identified people who were in contact with the patients and they are in self-isolation along with secondary contacts. At this time we can say that these individuals will be monitored for 14 days,” he added.

The Maldives had already suspended direct air links with China, the epicenter of the virus.

Source: Presstv

Cameroon confirmed the central African state’s first case of COVID-19 on its territory Friday. Officials say it was discovered in a French citizen who arrived in Cameroon on Feb. 24. 

Cameroon Health Minister Manaouda Malachie says the 58-year-old man was immediately placed in solitary confinement in a special hospital in. Malachie credited surveillance measures put in place by Cameroon after COVID-19 appeared in China with detecting the case and called on Cameroon’s population to be calm.

He said shortly after it was suspected the man was a carrier of the virus, he was immediately confined to avoid contact with others. Malachie said health officials started tracing the people the infected man contacted from the airport of departure through the plane’s arrival in Cameroon, as well as taxis or cars he used.  They also disinfected places he visited. 

Malachie said this wasn’t the first case in which COVID-19 was suspected, but previous cases were found to be negative after thorough investigations.

Malachie called on citizens to be calm and vigilant, saying that medical staff in the country has been advised on how to handle coronavirus cases. 

But news of the first coronavirus in Cameroon has scared people. Some rushed to hospitals and pharmacies to ask for advice or buy medical facemasks. 

Forty-three-year-old Isaac Dufe, who bought three masks for his wife and two-year-old baby, said he doesn’t have confidence that the Cameroon government will be able to control the virus’s spread should many more people be found with it. 

“Cases of diseases have been recorded in this country, for instance, a case like cholera,” he said. “When there is an outbreak of cholera, in many situations in claims a lot of lives. But now we are talking about a very complicated disease like Coronavirus, so I am so scared that if adequate health measures are not taken, then the situation might be very difficult in Cameroon.”

Phanuel Habimana, a World Health Organization representative for Cameroon, said it is following up on the case. He says Cameroonians should not panic, but must make sure they respect basic hygiene norms.

“Cameroonians should remain calm,” Habimana said. “Cameroonians should not rush to pharmacies to try to get masks. Cameroonians should abide to the measures that the minister [of health] has been repeatedly mentioning. Personal hygiene, washing hands several times a day, when someone is coughing, cover the mouth and nose with handkerchiefs and also make sure that people do not get in contact closely with people who are suspected to be sick.”

Last January, Cameroon health officials announced they had improved checkpoints around airports as they feared the virus could be brought into the country by travelers from China and other countries.

Health Minister Malachie said as part of epidemiological surveillance, measures had been put in place to prevent any possible importation of the deadly virus, which he said was an epidemic that causes diseases in mammals and birds and that in humans, the virus causes respiratory infections, which are typically mild but, in rare cases, can be lethal. 

Symptoms include running nose, headache, cough, sore throat, fever and the feeling of being unwell. B There is no vaccine for this virus and the only way to protect oneself is through prevention, health officials in Cameroon say.

Source: VOA

The first case of Coronavirus has  been recorded in Cameroon. The Minister of Public Health confirmed the information earlier today.

According to the minister, a case of Coronavirus was confirmed at the Centre Pasteur laboratory in Yaoundé after a sampling carried out Thursday at the Cathedral Clinic on a French citizen who arrived in Cameroon since February 24.

“The Minister of Public Health, announced the confirmation of a case of Corvid-19, on Cameroonian territory. It is a 58-year-old French citizen who arrived in Yaounde on February 24, 2020″, says the press release of Dr. Manaouda Malachie.

“He has been placed in isolation in the care centre of the Yaounde Central Hospital for appropriate care,” the statement said.

Contacted by telephone, a doctor from the central hospital who requested anonymity confirmed that the patient had been placed in isolation.

By Rita Akana

A former American counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer of the CIA has said that the “Coronavirus did not occur naturally through mutation but rather was produced in a laboratory, possibly as a biological warfare agent.”

Since the novel coronavirus outbreak began in China last December, it has infected more than 90,000 people globally and killed more than 3,000. The majority of cases and deaths remain in mainland China.

The death toll from the coronavirus in Iran, which has one of the highest numbers outside China, stood at 107, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said Thursday.

“Several reports suggest that there are components of the virus that are related to HIV that could not have occurred naturally. If it is correct that the virus had either been developed or even produced to be weaponized it would further suggest that its escape from the Wuhan Institute of Virology Lab and into the animal and human population could have been accidental. Technicians who work in such environments are aware that “leaks” from laboratories occur frequently,” Philip Giraldi wrote in an article published by the Strategic Culture Foundation on Thursday.

“There is, of course and inevitably, another theory. There has been some speculation that as the Trump Administration has been constantly raising the issue of growing Chinese global competitiveness as a direct threat to American national security and economic dominance, it might be possible that Washington has created and unleashed the virus in a bid to bring Beijing’s growing economy and military might down a few notches. It is, to be sure, hard to believe that even the Trump White House would do something so reckless, but there are precedents for that type of behavior,” he said.

“In 2005-9 the American and Israeli governments secretly developed a computer virus called Stuxnet, which was intended to damage the control and operating systems of Iranian computers being used in that country’s nuclear research program. Admittedly Stuxnet was intended to damage computers, not to infect or kill human beings, but concerns that it would propagate and move to infect computers outside Iran proved to be accurate as it spread to thousands of PCs outside Iran, in countries as far flung as China, Germany, Kazakhstan and Indonesia,” he added.

“If one even considers it possible that the United States had a hand in creating the coronavirus at what remains of its once extensive biological weapons research center in Ft Detrick Maryland, it is very likely that Israel was a partner in the project. Helping to develop the virus would also explain how Israeli scientists have been able to claim success at creating a vaccine so quickly, possibly because the virus and a treatment for it were developed simultaneously,” he noted.

Israeli scientists have claimed to be close to developing a vaccine for coronavirus that could be available in about 90 days, saying they have developed an effective vaccine against avian coronavirus Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV), which is to be adapted soon and create a human vaccine against COVID-19.

Source: Presstv

US Vice President Mike Pence has admitted that the country does not have enough coronavirus tests available to satisfy the demand despite previously saying that everyone can be tested.

On Tuesday, Pence said that any American could be tested for the virus if a doctor deemed it necessary.

“We’re issuing new guidance, effective immediately, from the CDC that will make it clear that any clinician on health authority can administer the test,” said Pence.

The Health and Human Services Department “has designated the coronavirus test as an essential health benefit,” he added, noting, “That means by definition, it’s covered in the private health insurance of every American as well as covered by Medicare and Medicaid.”

However, he told reporters on Thursday that “we don’t have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate will be the demand going forward.”

This comes as the death toll in the country rose to 12 late in the day when King County in Washington state reported the latest fatality, according to Reuters news agency.

Eleven have died in the state of Washington, while one death was reported in California.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 53 new cases across the country, striking for the first time in Colorado, Tennessee, Texas and San Francisco.

The CDC report brings the number of the total cases to at least 99 cases nationally, but reports by other websites put the figure at over 110.

Pence, who is leading the US response, called on Americans not to buy masks unless they need so that there are enough masks for healthcare workers and people who are sick.

“Unless you are ill, you have no need to buy a mask,” Pence said on a visit to Minnesota’s 3M Co, which has ramped up production of masks.

The US Senate on Thursday passed and sent to President Donald Trump an $8.3 billion funding bill to help state and local governments combat the spreading coronavirus.

Also on Thursday, the US Senate passed and sent to President Donald Trump an $8.3 billion funding bill to help state and local governments combat the spreading coronavirus.

Source: Presstv

More than 290 million students worldwide faced weeks at home on Thursday 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 has now reached some 80 countries and territories.

The vast majority of global deaths and infections are in China, where the virus first emerged late last year, prompting the country to quarantine entire cities, temporarily shut factories and close schools indefinitely.

As the virus spread, other countries have also implemented extraordinary measures, with UNESCO saying Wednesday that 13 countries have closed schools, affecting 290.5 million children, while nine others have implemented localised closures.

While temporary school closures during crises are not new, UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay said, “the global scale and speed of the current educational disruption is unparalleled and, if prolonged, could threaten the right to education.”

Italy on Wednesday ordered schools and universities shuttered until March 15, ramping up its response as the national death toll rose to 107, the deadliest outbreak outside China.

South Korea – the country with the largest number of cases outside China with nearly 6,000 – has postponed the start of the current term until March 23.

In Japan, nearly all schools are closed after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for classes to be cancelled through March and spring break, slated for late March through early April.

Some 120 schools closed in France this week in areas with the largest numbers of infections.

Economic threat

The German health minister said the outbreak was now a “global pandemic” – a term the World Health Organization has stopped short of using, meaning the virus is spreading in several regions through local transmission.

Infections are now rising faster abroad than they are in China, where 31 more deaths and 139 new cases were reported Thursday. China’s death toll now stands at 3,012, with over 80,000 infections.

From western Europe to eastern Asia, supermarket shelves have been stripped of supplies in recent weeks, including toilet paper and hand sanitiser.

American businesses are increasingly concerned over access to goods and the overall economic outlook is more uncertain, the US Federal Reserve said in its beige book survey released on Wednesday.

With the US toll rising to 11 on Wednesday, lawmakers in Congress reached a deal to provide more than $8 billion to fight the outbreak.

The virus impact has spread beyond supply chains – stock markets have rumbled as warnings from financial bodies mount that countries could be pushed into recession.

The IMF said the epidemic posed a “serious threat” and would slow global growth to below last year’s 2.9 percent.

“At a time of uncertainty… it is better to do more than to do not enough,” IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said.

The epidemic “is a global problem calling for global response,” she said.

Eurozone ministers agreed after a meeting that they were ready to “use all appropriate policy tools to achieve strong, sustainable growth”.

No kissing

As the virus continues its march across the world, governments are scrambling to tighten prevention efforts.

Italy has seen its outbreak swell despite tough measures, including a quarantine of 11 towns with 50,000 people.

New measures include a month-long nationwide ban on fan attendance at sports events, as well as advising people to avoid greetings like kissing on the cheek or shaking hands.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conti said the country could tackle the outbreak as long as it remained contained.

“But in case of exponential growth, not just Italy but any other country in the world would not be able to manage the situation,” he said.

In Iran, where 92 people have died from the disease, schools have been shut and major cultural and sporting events suspended.

Saudi Arabia has suspended the year-round “umrah” pilgrimage, an unprecedented move that raises fresh uncertainty over the annual hajj.

Countries also continue to crack down on international travel.

Israel extended its mandatory quarantine measures – already in place for travellers from Italy and some Asian countries – to cover people from France, Germany, Spain, Austria and Switzerland.

Even cinemagoers were not immune from the effects of the virus – the producers of the latest James Bond film pushed back the release of the forthcoming “No Time To Die” from April to November.

(AFP)

The new coronavirus that causes an illness similar to the flu continues to afflict more people around the globe, with large numbers of new cases emerging in South Korea and Iran, even as death tallies increase at lower paces.

South Korea announced 516 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, most of them in and around the city of Daegu, where a secretive religious sect has been at the center of the outbreak in the country.

The new cases reported by the South Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bring the national tally to 5,328,with at least 32 deaths.

The flu-like virus has spread rapidly among the members of the Shincheonji religious group in South Korea, particularly in Daegu, the country’s fourth-biggest city, with a population of more than 2.5 million.

Health officials expect the number of cases to increase for the next days as they complete the testing of more than 200,000 members of the religious sect, as well as thousands of other suspected cases from smaller clusters.

Hospitals in South Korea’s hardest hit areas are scrambling to accommodate the surge in new patients. Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip said 2,300 people were waiting to be admitted to hospitals and temporary medical facilities in Daegu.

South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said during a special cabinet meeting that “special measures” to cope with the emergency.

The new coronavirus, recently named COVID-19, can cause various symptoms ranging from those of the common cold to more severe diseases such as pneumonia. Common signs include fever, cough, shortness of breath, and other respiratory complications.

The virus, which emerged in central China in late December last year, has so far claimed more than 3,000 lives worldwide.

Over 90,000 people have been infected across 68 countries and territories. While the majority of the deaths have occurred in mainland China, tallies there are slowing down, and other countries are registering cases at a higher pace.

Iran’s death rate now matching that of other countries

Meanwhile, the latest tallies from Iran showed 586 new infections and 15 new deaths on Wednesday.

The new figures announced by the Iranian Health Ministry raised the number of the overall infections in the country to 2,922, and the deaths to 92.

The new figures also reversed a previous trend of a higher death-to-infection rate than other afflicted countries. 

WHO updates coronavirus death rate

The World Health Organization (WHO) says about 3.4% of confirmed cases of COVID-19 have died, up from a previous 2% and far above seasonal flu’s fatality rate of under 1%.

But WHO also insists that the virus can be contained.

Speaking at a news conference in Geneva on Tuesday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the organization, said, “To summarize, COVID-19 spreads less efficiently than flu, transmission does not appear to be driven by people who are not sick, it causes more severe illness than flu, there are not yet any vaccines or therapeutics, and it can be contained.”

But the world’s supplies of protective gear — masks, gloves, and goggles — need to be increased by an estimated 40%, he said, adding, “We continue to call on manufacturers to urgently increase production to meet this demand and guarantee supplies.”

Tunisia reports first coronavirus case

Tunisia has set up two hotlines after a first confirmed case of the new coronavirus was detected in the North African country. People work the phones and prepare information documents at the Tunisian Ministry of Health’s Crisis Center.

The coronavirus has spread to all continents except Antarctica. But the WHO is yet to declare a global pandemic.

17 Italians test positive in India

Meanwhile, 17 Italian nationals have tested positive for the new coronavirus in India.

An anonymous source told AFP on Wednesday that out of the 21 Italian tourists who have been put under quarantine in a special facility in New Delhi, 17 tested positive for the coronavirus.

“We are awaiting test results of the others,” the source added.

Twenty three Italian tourists who arrived in the country’s western state of Rajasthan last month were put under quarantine in New Delhi after two of them tested positive for the virus.

The total number of cases in India now stands at 29.

Italy has the third highest number of cases worldwide, namely 2,500 cases. Its death toll from the epidemic stands at 79.

Germany reports 44 new cases

In Germany, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased to 240 on Wednesday, up from 196 on Tuesday afternoon.

Fifteen of Germany’s 16 federal states have now reported cases of the novel coronavirus, with the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia being the most affected, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).

Germany has not reported a fatality from the disease so far.

Iraq reports its first coronavirus death, in Kurdish region

Meanwhile, Iraq has reported its first death from the coronavirus. The Health Ministry of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said in a statement on Wednesday that a 63-year-old man, who had tested positive for the coronavirus in Sulaymaniyah Province, had died.

Iraq has so far recorded 31 cases of the new coronavirus, including one Iranian student who has since been sent home.

Source: Presstv