Tag: Virus

EU to use ‘all tools’ to protect economy from virus impact

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday pledged to mobilize “all the tools” available to the bloc to lessen the economic impact of the coronavirus epidemic, which has roiled markets across the globe. After EU leaders held crisis talks by videoconference to try to coordinate their response to the epidemic, Von der Leyen sought to reassure businesses and governments spooked by the spread of the disease. Among the measures is […]

Contact tracing for those who had interaction with UK health official begins after positive COVID-19 test

(Eagle News) — Health officials in the UK are now tracing all those who may have had interacted with British MP Nadine Dorries, a minister in the health department, who has tested positive for coronavirus and is currently on self quarantine. Dorries herself confirmed in a statement released on Tuesday that she had tested positive for the highly infectious coronavirus. “I can confirm I have tested positive for coronavirus… and have been self-isolating at home,” […]

UK health official tests positive for coronavirus

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British MP Nadine Dorries, a minister in the health department, has tested positive for coronavirus, she said in a statement on Tuesday, raising concerns about whether senior government figures have been infected. “I can confirm I have tested positive for coronavirus… and have been self-isolating at home,” said the Conservative MP. Health officials are now trying to trace where she contracted the virus and who she has been in contact […]

Turkey announces first coronavirus case

  ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — Turkey announced Wednesday, March 11, its first coronavirus case, a man who had recently travelled to Europe and is in good health. “The test of a patient suspected of carrying the coronavirus returned positive,” Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a television broadcast. He added that the man was likely to have contracted COVID-19 while travelling in Europe, but declined to say which country or where in Turkey the patient […]

Cyprus shutters schools, locks down hospitals over coronavirus

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 […]

Pace of evacuation from virus-hit ship ‘to increase’ at California port

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 […]

25 virus cases on Egypt Nile cruise boat test negative

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 […]

Seaman from Imus, Cavite tests positive for COVID-19; another female resident being tested for virus

  (Eagle News) — A returning seaman from Imus, Cavite who had passed through Narita Airport in Japan had tested positive for the novel 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The 48-year old seaman is among the 33 confirmed cases in the Philippines. He is now confined at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, according to Cavite Governor, Jonvic Remulla. The seaman is the first coronavirus case in Cavite. But Remulla said that another Cavite resident, a […]

Mongolia locks down cities after reporting first virus case

  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 […]

China quarantine hotel collapse toll jumps to 20

  BEIJING, China (AFP) — The death toll from the collapse of a hotel used as a coronavirus quarantine facility in eastern China has risen to 20, authorities said Tuesday, with 10 others still feared trapped in the rubble. Forty-one survivors pulled from the wreckage are injured, the Ministry of Emergency Management said at a press conference Tuesday. The building in the coastal city of Quanzhou had been repurposed to house people who had recently […]

China’s Xi pays first visit to virus epicentre Wuhan

  by Noel CELIS / and Laurie Chen in Beijing Agence France Presse WUHAN, China (AFP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan Tuesday for the first time since the city emerged as the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic in January — a major sign that officials believe the outbreak is under control. Xi’s visit came as unprecedented quarantine measures that have sealed off Wuhan and the rest of central Hubei province since late January […]

First coronavirus death recorded in Canada

  MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — Canada has recorded its first death from the new coronavirus, health officials in the westernmost province of British Columbia announced Monday. The victim, a man living at an elderly care facility, “was infected with COVID-19 (and) passed away last night,” the province’s health officer Bonnie Henry told reporters. Officials have not released the victim’s age. Henry said he had been a resident of the Lynn Valley Care Centre in North […]