Tag: health

Google cancels developers gathering due to coronavirus

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Google on Tuesday canceled its major annual gathering of software developers amid concerns over the deadly coronavirus. The internet giant said it nixed the festival-like event Google I/O event scheduled for May a short distance from the “Googleplex” in the Silicon Valley city of Mountain View. “Due to concerns around the coronavirus (COVID-19), we’ve decided to cancel this year’s physical event at Shoreline Amphitheatre,” a Google statement said. A […]

Twitter staff told to work from home over virus fears

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Twitter staff across the world were asked to work from home starting Monday in an effort to stop the spread of the deadly new coronavirus epidemic. At the same time, thousands of staff at Google’s European headquarters in Ireland were told to stay away for the day after one employee reported flu-like symptoms. The outbreak has spread across the world since emerging in central China late last year, killing […]

Iran says, 77 now dead from coronavirus

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran’s health ministry announced on Tuesday that 11 more people had died from the new coronavirus in the past day, bringing the Islamic republic’s overall death toll to 77. In all, 2,336 people have been infected, including 835 new cases — the biggest increase in a single day since the COVID-19 outbreak began in the country nearly two weeks ago. “According to the latest figures, 835 new patients have been added” […]

France shuts dozens of schools in bid to contain coronavirus

PARIS, France (AFP) — French officials have closed about 120 schools in areas that have reported the largest numbers of coronavirus infections, and more could be shuttered in the coming days, Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said Tuesday. Both primary and secondary schools have been shut in the Oise department north of Paris, where the main cluster of French cases has emerged, and where two people who have died of the virus lived. Officials have reported […]

South Korea declares ‘war’ on coronavirus as cases exceed 5,000

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in declared “war” against the coronavirus on Tuesday, as the country reported its biggest daily case increase to date, sending its total past 5,000 — the largest in the world outside China. South Korea has seen a rapid rise in infections in recent days and scores of events — from K-pop concerts to sports seasons — have been canceled or postponed over the contagion, with school […]

G7 gears up to tackle coronavirus economic impact

by Richard LEIN PARIS, France (AFP) — Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank chiefs were set to hold coronavirus talks Tuesday as concern mounts the epidemic could imperil the health of the global economy. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell “will lead a call with their G7 counterparts” on Tuesday, the department confirmed in a statement late on Monday. Governments have been scrambling to respond to the outbreak […]

Senegal confirms first coronavirus case

DAKAR, Senegal (AFP) — Senegal confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus on Monday, marking just the second infection in sub-Saharan Africa amid concerns over the continent’s vulnerability to outbreaks of contagious diseases. A French man who lives in Senegal visited France in mid-February, contracting the virus before returning to the West African country and being quarantined in the capital Dakar, Senegal’s Health Minister Diouf Sarr said. “The results of the tests carried out […]

WHO says, world in uncharted territory as US virus toll rises

by Laurent Thomet with Issam Ahmed in Washington PEQUIM, China (AFP) — The world has entered uncharted territory in its battle against the deadly coronavirus, the UN health agency warned, as new infections dropped dramatically in China on Tuesday but surged abroad with the US death toll rising to six. Globally, the virus has killed more than 3,100 people and infected over 90,000 even as a clear shift in the crisis emerges, with nine times […]

Italy faces recession as coronavirus hits economy

by Céline CORNU MILAN, Italy (AFP) — Italy’s economy performed woefully in 2019 and is set to do even worse this year due to the coronavirus, with the threat of recession looming large, experts said Monday. “In the best scenario for Italy, we expect zero growth (in 2020) with a negative first quarter followed by a slow recovery,” OECD chief economist Laurence Boone said. The economy expanded last year by just 0.3 percent — its […]

OPEC to try to stem oil price plunge amid coronavirus slowdown

by Benoît PELEGRIN LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The OPEC club of oil-producing countries meets Thursday in Vienna as they weigh how to react to a sharp drop in global oil demand due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus. The extraordinary two-day meeting will see OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, and its allies in the so-called OPEC+ group — foremost among them Russia — discuss how to halt the sharp fall in oil prices […]

S. Korea coronavirus cases approach 5,000

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea’s coronavirus case total — the largest in the world outside China — approached 5,000 Tuesday as authorities reported 477 new cases. Two more people had died, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, taking the toll to 28. South Korea has seen a rapid rise in infections in recent days as authorities carry out checks on more than 260,000 people associated with the Shincheonji Church of […]

Global sport heavily disrupted by coronavirus

by Guy JACKSON PARIS, France (AFP) — The coronavirus is disrupting sport around the world with the MotoGP races in Qatar and Thailand postponed, a host of football matches put off to a later date and increasing concerns surrounding the Tokyo Olympics later this year. The virus has already cast a long shadow over the start of the MotoGP season with this Sunday’s curtain-raising Qatar Grand Prix called off, followed by the March 22 race […]