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by Ella IDE / Alexandria SAGE ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy urged tourists spooked by the new coronavirus Thursday not to stay away, but efforts to reassure the world it was managing the outbreak were overshadowed by a sharp rise in case numbers. Hotel bookings have slumped and nearly a dozen cities in the north are in lockdown as the number of infections reached 650 and deaths hit 17 — by far the highest in […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — K-pop megastars BTS on Friday canceled four concerts they were due to hold in Seoul in April, their agency said, as the coronavirus outbreak spreads in South Korea. The country has so far confirmed more than 2,000 cases of the novel coronavirus, by far the largest national total outside China, the origin of the disease. “We regret to announce” that the Seoul concerts have been canceled, BTS agency Big Hit […]
LAGOS, Nigeria (AFP) — Nigeria on Friday announced the first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus in sub-Saharan Africa. “The case is an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria and returned from Milan, Italy to Lagos, Nigeria on the 25th of February 2020,” Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said in a statement on Twitter. “The patient is clinically stable, with no serious symptoms, and is being managed at the Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba, Lagos.” Prior […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea reported 256 new coronavirus cases on Friday, taking its total — the highest in the world outside China — to 2,022, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. More than 90 percent of the new cases were in Daegu — the city at the epicenter of the outbreak in South Korea — and the neighboring North Gyeongsang province, it added, with no further deaths keeping the […]
by Sara HUSSEIN TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan is at a “crossroads” in its bid to prevent a major coronavirus outbreak and may need to reconsider the Olympics if domestic transmissions are not brought under control, an expert advising the government has warned. Norio Ohmagari, an infectious disease specialist, told AFP in an interview he believes measures being taken by the government can still prevent the virus from spreading more widely, but that the next […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — The coronavirus epidemic in Iran has cost 26 lives, the health ministry announced Thursday, with a vice president becoming the latest top official to be infected as the spread appeared to accelerate. Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour told a news conference that the tally of infections had risen to 245 with 106 more cases confirmed — the highest number for a single day since Iran announced its first infections on February […]
by Susan NJANJI with African bureaux JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — The coronavirus is spreading fast beyond its China birthplace but sub-Saharan Africa, one of the world’s most vulnerable regions, has so far been almost spared — and experts want to know why. More than 2,760 people worldwide have died of COVID-19 and almost 81,000 infected in over 45 countries. Most of these have been in China, but cases are now rising fast in parts […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — California said Thursday it was monitoring some 8,400 people for the new coronavirus, after officials confirmed a woman had contracted the disease without traveling to outbreak-hit regions. Governor Gavin Newsom said travelers arriving from affected areas were being monitored and sought to reassure the public that the risk of contracting the virus remains low. He said authorities were not surprised on learning about the woman who contracted the virus […]
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — The first case of coronavirus in the Netherlands was detected on Thursday, in a patient who had traveled to northern Italy, the worst-hit area in Europe, the national public health institute announced. All those who have been in “close contact” with the person involved have been checked out and the patient placed in isolation said the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). The public health body advised […]
WASHINGTON, February 27 (Sputnik) – All 93 public labs in the United States will be ready to run diagnostic tests for coronavirus by the weekend, Health Secretary Alex Azar said on Thursday. “The FDA [Food & Drug Administration] authorized the use of those tests by using just the first and second step to provide a definitive diagnostic,” Azar told a congressional hearing on US preparedness to deal with the virus. “So, 40 labs are […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called Thursday on schools to close nationwide from March 2 for several weeks to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. “The government considers the health and safety of children above anything else,” Abe said. “We request all primary, junior high and high schools… across the nation to close temporarily from March 2 next week until their spring break.” The spring break for public schools […]
TALLINN, Estonia (AFP) — Estonia reported its first coronavirus case on Thursday, a day after the man returned to the Baltic nation from a business trip in his homeland Iran. Social Affairs Minister Tanel Kiik told public broadcaster ERR that the Iranian citizen is currently hospitalised. “The person, a permanent resident of Estonia who is not a citizen, arrived in Estonia on Wednesday evening,” Kiik said. Local media said the man contacted the health […]
