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by Cécile FEUILLATRE MILAN, Italy (AFP) — The sweeping measures taken in northern Italy to try to contain Europe’s worst outbreak of the novel coronavirus is starting to take more than just a physical toll, with mental health professionals reporting some residents falling victim to anxiety. As 50,000 people stay in lockdown in infection hotspots and tens of millions are affected by the closure of schools and other institutions, psychologists and psychiatrists say there have […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Stock markets and oil prices slid again Wednesday, as major companies began to count the financial cost of the spreading coronavirus. Heavy selling followed another rout Tuesday on Wall Street where all three main indices lost around three percent after officials said COVID-19 would likely take hold in the United States. With cases being reported in more countries — and lockdowns in nations including Austria, Italy and Spain — […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — The novel coronavirus is concerning for Europe but there is no reason for alarm, the EU’s health commissioner said on Wednesday as Italy battles the world’s third-biggest outbreak. “This is a situation of concern but we must not give in to panic,” Stella Kyriakides told reporters in Rome after meeting Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza. “In the EU we are still in containment phase, it is important to underline this,” she […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump announced a news conference from the White House on the coronavirus epidemic Wednesday, with experts warning they expect it to spread in the United States. “I will be having a News Conference at the White House, on this subject, today at 6:00 P.M.” Trump tweeted, adding that officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would attend. Officials have urged Americans to develop plans […]
ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — Greece on Wednesday reported its first coronavirus case, a woman who had recently traveled to northern Italy. A health ministry spokesman said the 38-year-old woman was in a Thessaloniki hospital and in good condition. “She is in good health and being monitored by a team of excellent colleagues in Thessaloniki,” said the ministry’s spokesman Sotiris Tsiodras, a leading expert on infectious diseases. “Her contacts are being tracked. Close contacts will be […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — There are now more new cases of the coronavirus reported each day outside China than inside the hardest-hit country, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday. “Yesterday, the number of new cases reported outside China exceeded the number of new cases in China for the first time,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told diplomats in Geneva, according to a written version of his speech. The UN health agency put the number […]
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 […]
