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by Charlie Charalambous NICOSIA, Cyprus (AFP) — Cyprus said Tuesday it was closing schools in the capital, banning mass gatherings and locking down two major hospitals to combat novel coronavirus, after three people on the Mediterranean island tested positive for the illness. The Republic of Cyprus had on Monday reported its first two cases of the disease, including the chief heart surgeon at its biggest hospital. And on Tuesday, the Turkish-controlled north of the island […]
by Sébastien VUAGNAT / with Andrew MARSZAL in Los Angeles OAKLAND, United States (AFP) — The pace of evacuation from a coronavirus-hit cruise ship was expected to increase Tuesday in California, as US President Donald Trump said the operation was “going along incredibly well” despite slow initial progress. The Grand Princess arrived at a sealed-off wharf at the port of Oakland in San Francisco Bay on Monday after days stranded at sea with 21 confirmed […]
LUXOR, Egypt (AFP) — Egyptian authorities said Tuesday that 25 people who had intially tested positive for the novel coronavirus during a Nile River cruise had since tested negative. Health Minister Hala Zayed told journalists in Cairo that tests for a total of 26 people had “changed from positive to negative” for the COVID-19 illness, including “25 who had been on the A-Sara boat”. They would however have to complete a quarantine before leaving the […]
ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AFP) — Mongolia on Tuesday barred anyone from entering or leaving its cities for six days after the country reported its first coronavirus case — a French energy company employee who flew in from Moscow. Mongolia had already sealed its border with neighbouring China and banned flights from South Korea in an effort to keep the deadly virus out of the landlocked country of three million people. “The capital Ulaanbaatar and all […]
by Andrew MARSZAL LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The number of US coronavirus cases soared past 500 Sunday, including two further deaths, as California braced for the arrival of infected cruise ship passengers and saw a major tennis event canceled. The surge came as President Donald Trump defended his administration’s “perfectly coordinated” response to the epidemic, after heavy criticism over health cuts and strategic blunders that have failed to stem its rapid spread. Some […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China has closed most of the makeshift hospitals open to receive coronavirus patients in the epidemic’s epicenter as the number of new infections in the country hit a record low. There were 40 new cases nationwide, the National Health Commission said Monday, the lowest number of fresh cases since it started reporting the data in January. Most of the new cases, as well as 22 new deaths, were in Hubei, the […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea, which has one of the world’s largest coronavirus totals outside China, on Monday reported its smallest daily rise in cases for two weeks. A total of 248 cases were confirmed on Sunday, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said. The increase took its total to 7,382. Each morning, the South announces how many cases were diagnosed the previous day, and gives an update every afternoon […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Several embassies in North Korea closed Monday as many diplomats were flown out following weeks of tight quarantine restrictions imposed by Pyongyang over the spread of the novel coronavirus. North Korea has not confirmed a single infection but has imposed strict rules, including closing its borders and putting thousands of its own people into isolation. It has also subjected hundreds of foreigners — including diplomats — to a virtual lockdown […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran’s health ministry on Sunday reported 49 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, the highest toll within 24 hours since the start of the outbreak in the country. “At least 194 of our compatriots who fell sick with the COVID-19 illness have passed away,” health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said in a televised news conference. The outbreak of the virus in Iran is one of the deadliest outsides of China, where […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — At least ten people were killed in the collapse of a hotel used as a coronavirus quarantine facility in eastern China, authorities said Sunday, with 23 others still feared trapped in the rubble. Rescuers pulled 48 people from the wreckage, of whom 38 are still alive, the Ministry of Emergency Management said on social media. The building in the coastal city of Quanzhou had been repurposed to house people who recently […]
by Frankie TAGGART WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump defended the “perfectly coordinated” US response to the coronavirus epidemic Sunday amid heavy criticism over health cuts and strategic blunders that have failed to stem its rapid spread. The virus has reached 30 US states, with Oregon the latest to declare a state of emergency Sunday, and 60 million people in California and New York states under crisis measures. Two more deaths were reported […]
CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — A German tourist died Sunday of the novel coronavirus in a Sinai resort of eastern Egypt, the health ministry announced, the first death from the epidemic recorded in Africa. “The 60-year-old German citizen showed symptoms of a fever (and) checked into Hurghada hospital on 6 March,” before testing positive for COVID-19, it said in a statement. The tourist, who arrived from Germany a week ago, died after having refused to be […]
