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SUVA, Fiji (AFP) — Fiji confirmed its first coronavirus case Thursday, sparking panic buying in major centers on the Pacific island nation. The announcement followed rampant speculation across the country of 930,000 that the global pandemic had arrived on its shores. “There is a single confirmed case of COVID-19 in Lautoka that was imported from a patient who had recently traveled abroad,” Health Minister Ifereimi Waqainabete said on Twitter. “He was immediately isolated, where he […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — New York is to get a 1,000-room hospital ship that will dock in the city’s harbor to fight coronavirus, state Governor Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday. Cuomo said US President Donald Trump would dispatch the USNS Comfort to America’s financial capital immediately. “It’s an extraordinary step. It’s literally a floating hospital, which will add capacity,” Cuomo told reporters. “It has about a 1,000 rooms on it. It has operating rooms.” […]
(Eagle News) — Another employee of the Government Service Insurance System has tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019, bringing the total number of cases there to two. According to GSIS president and general manager Rolando Macasaet, the new case was a male employee from the main office in Pasay. He said the patient was now confined in the Las Pinas General Hospital. The GSIS’ first case was a female employee who had a travel history […]
MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — Philippine shares plunged by nearly 25 percent on Thursday only moments after the Manila stock exchange resumed trade following a two-day trading suspension prompted by the coronavirus pandemic. The Southeast Asian nation was the first in the world to indefinitely suspend trading after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered more than half of its population to stay home for the next month. Manila’s bourse had suspended operations “until further notice” in response but […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States is suspending routine visa services in most countries because of the coronavirus pandemic, the State Department announced late Wednesday. It said embassies and consulates in “most countries worldwide… will cancel all routine immigrant and nonimmigrant visa appointments as of March 18, 2020.” It did not specify which countries would be exempted from the suspension, which was in response to “worldwide challenges” related to the deadly pandemic. © […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia on Thursday unveiled an unprecedented ban on any non-residents arriving into the country, ratcheting up efforts to seal the country off from transborder coronavirus infections. “A travel ban will be placed on all non-residents, non-Australian citizens coming to Australia, and that will be in place from 9:00 pm tomorrow evening,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced. © Agence France-Presse
(Eagle News) — Health Secretary Francisco Duque III is on self-quarantine for coronavirus disease 2019. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Duque was tested for the disease even if he was asymptomatic because he was “asthmatic and hypertensive.” The results are expected in a few days. Duque , Vergeire said, is working from home. Earlier, the Department of Health said one of its directors had tested positive for COVID-19. The agency gave the assurance its […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Two US lawmakers including a Florida representative on Wednesday became the first members of Congress to announce they have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart’s office said in a statement that “just a short while ago, he was notified that he has tested positive for COVID-19.” The Republican who represents part of Miami follows that city’s Mayor Francis Suarez, who announced that he had tested positive for […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The EU Commission chief said Wednesday that China will send Europe 50,000 coronavirus testing kits and two million surgical masks, as the continent battles to contain the pandemic. In a phone conversation, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said China was also ready to provide 200,000 respirator masks for more serious cases, Ursula von der Leyen said in a video statement. “We are ramping up our production, we are converting our production lines, […]
by Armel Baily with David Esnault in Abidjan Agence France-Presse OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AFP) —Sub-Saharan Africa has recorded its first COVID-19 death, a high-ranking politician in Burkina Faso, as the head of the World Health Organization urged the continent to “prepare for the worst”. “Africa should wake up,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Geneva on Wednesday, pointing out that “in other countries, we have seen how the virus actually accelerates after a certain […]
(Eagle News)–There are now 11 Filipinos who tested positive for the 2019 coronavirus disease in Singapore, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. The DFA said this was after a Filipino national tested positive for COVID-19 on March 17. The patient is currently confined in a hospital and is in isolation, the DFA said. Of the 11, the DFA said two have recovered, which means nine are COVID-19 active cases. One of them was discharged on […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — The city of Venice is enjoying crystal clear waters in its world-famous canals due to a lack of debris from tourists and near-zero boat traffic under Italy’s ongoing coronavirus lockdown. The clear waters are a tiny bright spot in the beleaguered but beautiful city, whose economy has been virtually wiped out since tourists fled the area beginning last month, spooked by the spread of coronavirus in the country’s north. Since March […]
