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PARIS, France (AFP) — When does an epidemic become a pandemic? As the novel coronavirus continues its spread across the globe, what does the designation mean to world healthcare systems as they try to rein in the deadly disease? The World Health Organization has yet to declare the current outbreak, which originated in central China last month, a pandemic. It has indicated however that we should prepare ourselves for one. The WHO defines a pandemic […]
by Kang Jin-kyu Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — More than 200,000 members of a religious sect were being checked for coronavirus symptoms by South Korean authorities Wednesday, as US commanders reported the first case among American forces in the country. Most of South Korea’s novel coronavirus are linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, an entity often accused of being a cult. After days of mounting public anger, the secretive Shincheonji […]
SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — A Chinese man infected with coronavirus and his wife have been charged in Singapore for lying to health authorities investigating whether they had passed the illness to others, officials said Wednesday. Singapore has recorded nearly 100 cases of the COVID-19 infection since the illness first originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December. With nearly 2,800 confirmed deaths and more than 81,000 cases worldwide, Singapore has banned the entry of […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran on Wednesday reported four more novel coronavirus deaths among 44 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of fatalities to 19 and infections to 139. Fifteen new COVID-19 cases surfaced in the Shiite holy city of Qom, nine in Gilan, four in Tehran, three in Khuzestan, two each in Sistan and Baluchistan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyerahmad, and Fars, and one in Markazi, Kermanshah, Ardebil, Mazandaran, Lorestan, Semnan […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — A 60-year-old man has become the first French victim of the coronavirus in the country, the health ministry announced Wednesday. The man died overnight after being rushed to a Paris hospital in serious condition on Tuesday evening, bringing the death toll in the country to two, said the ministry’s deputy head Jerome Salomon. The first victim was an 80-year-old Chinese tourist, who died in hospital in mid-February. France has reported four […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — A sea of red washed across Asian markets on Wednesday, with the coronavirus spreading rapidly around the world and health chiefs warning that governments were not prepared for the outbreak. The heavy selling, after a day of relative calm caused by bargain-buying, followed another rout on Wall Street where all three main indexes lost around three percent after officials said COVID-19 would likely take hold in the United States. With […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Dozens of passengers who were allowed off a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship have developed symptoms including fever and will be asked to take tests for the virus, Japan’s health minister said Wednesday. The government has contacted 813 former passengers of the Diamond Princess. Around 970 were allowed off the boat last week after testing negative for the virus, but several have subsequently been found to be carrying the disease. The ministry found […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China quarantined 94 air passengers arriving from Seoul after three people on the flight were discovered to have fevers, state media reported Wednesday. The three passengers, all Chinese, arrived in the city of Nanjing on Tuesday morning and were discovered after customs personnel boarded the aircraft on the landing to screen passengers for symptoms, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said. The three were immediately sent by ambulance to a hospital for isolation […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea’s coronavirus case total jumped well into four figures Wednesday as authorities reported 169 new infections, taking the overall tally to 1,146, by far the largest outside China. An 11th person had died of the disease, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) added in a statement on its website — a Mongolian man in his 30s who became the first foreign national to fall victim to […]
by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — Nearly 90 percent of the 200 cities beset by the world’s highest levels of deadly micro-pollution are in China and India, with most of the rest in Pakistan and Indonesia, researchers reported Tuesday. Taking population into account, Bangladesh emerged as the country with the worst so-called PM2.5 pollution, followed by Pakistan, Mongolia, Afghanistan, and India, according to the 2019 World Air Quality Report, jointly released by IQAir Group […]
by Lajla VESELICA ZAGREB, Croatia (AFP) — Croatia reported the first known case of the new coronavirus in the Balkans region on Tuesday after a man who recently returned from Italy was found to be infected. The announcement comes as Italy battles an outbreak of the virus, named COVID-19, with infections surging to nearly 300 in a matter of days, making it the hardest-hit country in Europe. “It has been confirmed that the first patient […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Switzerland reported its first case of new coronavirus on Tuesday after outbreaks were identified in its main neighbors Austria, France, Germany, and Italy. The case is a man in his 70s who was infected near Milan where he attended an event on February 15, federal health office chief Pascal Strupler told reporters. The man is from the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino on the border with Italy and has been with his […]
