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SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi health authorities announced on Wednesday the country’s first two deaths from the new coronavirus, one in the capital Baghdad and the other in the autonomous Kurdish region. A 70-year-old Muslim cleric died on Wednesday from the virus, the first death from the outbreak in a country where 31 people have been infected. The Iraqi preacher had been quarantined in the northeastern city of Sulaimaniyah before his death, a spokesman for […]
by Dmitry ZAKS ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy on Wednesday closed all schools and universities until March 15 as the number of deaths from the new coronavirus in the Mediterranean country hit 107. The measure is the most restrictive response to COVID-19 of any European nation and tougher than the closure of schools — but not universities — taken by fellow Group of Seven (G7) member Japan. Italy reported 28 more deaths on Wednesday — […]
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany (AFP) — German airline giant Lufthansa said Wednesday it would ground 150 of its more than 750 planes worldwide, days after announcing a slimmed-down timetable over the effects of the novel coronavirus. “25 long-haul aircraft and 125 short- and medium-haul aircraft” will no longer fly, a spokesman for the group also including carriers Eurowings, Austrian and Swiss told AFP. Shares in Lufthansa have plunged in recent days as the likely impact […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — At least two staff working for the EU administration in Brussels have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and are receiving treatment, European officials said Wednesday. One case, a man working at the European Defence Agency (EDA), had returned from Italy on February 23. The second, who works in security for the European Council, is thought to have been infected in Brussels after having contact with the first man. Meetings at […]
WARSAW, Poland (AFP) — Poland on Wednesday announced its first case of coronavirus while adding that nearly 70 people were being tested for the disease. The man, who had visited Germany, is “not part of a risk group” and his life is not in danger, Health Minister Lukasz Szumowski told a news conference. He indicated the man was not elderly, whose lives are at greater risk. He was hospitalized in the western city of Zielona […]
by Amir Havasi TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Coronavirus has killed 92 people in Iran, officials said Wednesday, as the world’s deadliest outbreak outside China spread to all but one of the country’s provinces. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani meanwhile dismissed a US offer to help it fight the novel coronavirus outbreak, charging that Washington hides behind a “mask of sympathy” while sanctions are depriving the country of medicine. The Islamic republic reported 15 new deaths from […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The death toll in the United States from the new coronavirus rose to 11 on Wednesday, as lawmakers in Congress reached a deal to provide more than $8 billion to fight the outbreak. Governor Gavin Newsom reported the first fatality in California from the COVID-19 illness while health officials in nearby Washington state said a 10th person had died there. Newsom gave no details about the person who had […]
by Françoise KADRI ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy, which does not make face masks, is getting 800,000 of them from South Africa but needs at least 10 million more, a top Italian civil protection official told AFP on Tuesday. “We received 400,000 from South Africa (on Monday) and will receive as many” on Wednesday, Civil Protection Department director Luigi D’Angelo said in a telephone interview. He said the supplies are being delivered to Rome’s Fiumicino […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy on Tuesday reported a jump in the number of deaths from the novel coronavirus to 79, with more than 2,500 people infected — the most of any country in Europe. The civil protection agency said 27 people had died since Monday. The number was up on the 18 deaths reported over the preceding 24-hour span, from Sunday to Monday. Most of the deaths — 55 — have been recorded in […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea reported 142 more novel coronavirus cases Wednesday, a significantly lower increase than the day before, taking its total to 5,328 — the largest in the world outside China. Seoul had reported 851 new cases on Tuesday, its biggest daily case increase to date, with South Korean President Moon Jae-in declaring “war” against the deadly virus. Four more people had died, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spanish officials reported the country’s first coronavirus death on Tuesday, a man who died last month in the eastern region of Valencia. “It is a patient who died on February 13,” regional health officer Ana Barcelo Chico told journalists, adding that post-mortem analysis had come back “positive”. © Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The World Bank unveiled a $12 billion aid package on Tuesday that will provide fast-track funds to help countries combat the coronavirus outbreak. “The goal is to provide fast, effective action that responds to country needs,” World Bank President David Malpass told reporters. He said it is critical to “recognize the extra burden on poor countries” least equipped in the struggle to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The […]
