China has reported 42 new fatalities, taking the death toll in the country to 2,912, Chinese health officials said on Monday, as the rapid spread of the epidemic wreaks havoc globally causing 3,046 deaths and infecting 89,068 people
A display with graphic updates shows COVID-19 outbreak around the world, in Brussels, on Monday. Pic/AFP
The United States has reported its second death from novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), involving a male patient in his 70s with underlying health conditions. The patient died on Saturday, according to Seattle and King County Department of Public Health. Meanwhile, New York reported its first case of coronavirus, involving a woman in her late 30s who contracted the virus in Iran.
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42 more die in China
China has reported 42 new fatalities, taking the death toll in the country to 2,912, Chinese health officials said on Monday, as the rapid spread of the epidemic wreaks havoc globally causing 3,046 deaths and infecting 89,068 people.
The deadly virus that first emerged in China in December last year has spread to 67 countries and has infected 80,026 in China. Forty-two deaths were reported on Sunday in the virus-hit Hubei province and its capital Wuhan, the National Health Commssion said.
EU raises risk level to 'high'
The European Union's disease control agency has increased its risk level for the novel coronavirus COVID-19 from moderate to high, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday. "The ECDC has announced today that the risk level has risen from moderate to high for people in the European Union. In other words, the virus continues to spread," she said.
500 new cases in S Korea
South Korea reported nearly 500 new Coronavirus cases Monday, sending the largest national total in the world outside China past 4,000. Four more people had died, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, taking the toll to 22.
Infection numbers have surged in the world's 12th-largest economy in recent days and the country's central bank has warned of negative growth in the first quarter, noting the epidemic will hit both consumption and exports, while scores of events have been cancelled or postponed over the contagion. The figures are expected to rise further as authorities carry out checks on more than 260,000 people associated with the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a religious group often condemned as a cult that is linked to more than half the cases.
A 61-year-old female member developed a fever on February 10 but attended at least four church services in Daegu -- the country's fourth-largest city with a population of 2.5 million and the centre of the outbreak — before being diagnosed. Of the 476 new cases announced Monday — taking the total to 4,212 — more than 90 percent were in Daegu and the neighbouring province of North Gyeongsang.
Iran council member dies
A member of a council that advises Iran's supreme leader died on Monday after falling sick from the new coronavirus, state radio reported, becoming the first top official to succumb to the illness that is affecting members of the Islamic Republic's leadership.
The death of Expediency Council member Mohammad Mirmohammadi came as Iran announced the virus had killed 66 people among 1,501 confirmed cases in the country. Iran has the highest death toll in the world after China, the epicenter of the outbreak. Mirmohammadi died at a north Tehran hospital of the virus, state radio said. He was 71. The council advises Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as settles disputes between the top cleric and parliament. His death comes as other top officials have contracted the virus in Iran.
WHO sends supplies to Iran
The World Health Organisation on Monday sent its first planeload of assistance to Iran to help fight coronavirus, dispatching six medics with tonnes of medical equipment and test kits aboard a UAE military aircraft.
"Today's flight will carry 7.5 tonnes of medical equipment and supplies, primarily the critical items needed for infection prevention and control to support health care workers in Iran," said Robert Blanchard from the WHO in Dubai.
As the supplies worth over $3,00,000 — including gloves, surgical masks and respirators — were loaded onto the UAE military transport plane in Dubai, Blanchard warned that global supplies were running low. Some 129 cases have been confirmed across the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar, many of them pilgrims returning from Iran.
67
No. of nations virus has spread to
Indonesia reports first cases
Indonesia on Monday reported its first confirmed cases of the novel Coronavirus. A 64-year-old woman and her daughter, 31, tested positive for the virus at a Jakarta hospital, said health minister Terawan Agus Putranto. "Both are in good condition...they don't have serious breathing difficulties," he said. Officials said the pair may have been in close contact with a Japanese national who has since tested positive after returning to neighbouring Malaysia.
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