Chinese President Xi Jinping has called the coronavirus the ‘largest public health emergency’ since the founding of communist China, as the death toll in the mainland reached 2,442 with 76,936 infections reported as of Sunday.
“It has the fastest transmission, widest range of infection and has been the most difficult to prevent and control,” Xi said at a meeting on curbing the epidemic, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
He added it was necessary to learn from “obvious shortcomings exposed” during China’s response, a rare acknowledgement by a Chinese leader.
Meanwhile, Fears are mounting over the rise of cases outside of China, with South Korea reporting a surge in new infections and Iran recording an eighth death from COVID-19, as the disease is known.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was concerned about the jump in cases with no clear link to China, where the virus was first detected in late December, and called for urgent funding to support countries with weaker health systems.
In Italy, the worst-affected country in Europe, the virus has killed two people – a man and a woman in their 70s – and infected another 113.
According to available data, the disease remains mild in 80 percent of patients and severe or critical in 20 percent. The virus has been fatal in 2 per cent of reported cases.
Here are some of the latest updates:
Third passenger on cruise ship in Japan port dies
A Third passenger from the quarantined Diamond Princess has died after contracting the coronavirus, the national broadcaster NHK has reported, citing the health ministry.
A man in his 80s became infected on the cruise ship and was treated at a hospital, according to NHK. A man and a woman in their 80s, who had both been passengers on the ship, died last Thursday.
Number of infections jump to 602 in South Korea, with five deaths
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in South Korea jumped to 602 and the death toll rose to five, authorities said.
More than half the new cases are linked to a church in the southeastern city of Daegu after a 61-year-old woman known as “Patient 31” who attended services there tested positive for the virus last week. The woman had no recent record of overseas travel.
Israel may quarantine 200 South Korean visitors in army base: Report
Israel may quarantine some 200 visitors from South Korea in a military base south of Jerusalem over coronavirus worries, Israel’s Ynet news site reported on Sunday.
Israeli officials had no immediate comment on the report. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said separately on Sunday that he had ordered South Korea and Japan to be added to a list of Asian countries to which travel to and from Israel was being barred.
Authorities to suspend Venice Carnival
Venice’s famous carnival is going to be suspended due to the new coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy, the President of the Veneto Region Luca Zaia has said.
“We have to adopt drastic measures,” Zaia told reporters. When asked if that included calling off the carnival in Venice, which runs until Tuesday, he replied that measures about to be announced will cover that “and even more.”
Iran says 43 infected, with eight deaths
Iran has confirmed 15 new cases of the new coronavirus, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said on state TV, adding that the death toll has reached eight in the country.
“So far, we have 43 infected cases and the death toll is eight,” said Kianush Jahanpur.
Iran’s health minister has said that travel from China brought the coronavirus to the Middle Eastern country, where it has killed at least seven.
Saeed Namaki told state TV that the virus came from China to the holy city of Qom in central Iran. He said that one the Iranian dead from the virus was a merchant who regularly shuttled between the two countries using indirect flights in recent weeks, after Iran stopped direct passenger flights to China.
Italy coronavirus cases rise to more than 100
The number of cases of COVID-19 in Italy’s Lombardy region has risen to 89, the governor of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana said on Sunday.
That brings the total number of cases in the country to more than 100, Fontana said, speaking on Sky TV.
Iran confirms another death
Iran has confirmed a seventh coronavirus death, the head of the Medical Science University in the Mazandaran province, was quoted as saying.
“An Iranian who traveled from Tehran to Tonekabon has died of the new coronavirus,” Abbas Mousavi said, according to Iranian state media.
Israel quarantines pupils who met South Korean tourists
Nearly 200 Israeli pupils were ordered to begin a two-week quarantine after having come into contact with South Korean tourists who contracted the coronavirus, the education ministry has said.
Israeli authorities urged people who might have encountered the tourists to self-quarantine, including 180 pupils and 19 staff from three separate schools who it said they had had close contact. Eighteen members of the tour group, who visited Israel and the Occupied West Bank from February 8 to 15, tested positive for the virus after returning home, according to the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
South Korea raises disease alert to highest level
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in has said that the government will raise the country’s disease alert by one notch to the highest level in a bid to contain a surge in new coronavirus cases.
New coronavirus cases in the country jumped by 123 to 556 on Sunday and the death toll rose to five, according to the Korea Centres for Disease and Control and Prevention.
Iran accuses foreign media of using virus to ‘discourage’ voters
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused foreign media of trying to use a deadly outbreak of coronavirus in Iran to “discourage” people from voting in a general election.
“This negative propaganda began a few months ago and grew larger approaching the election and in the past two days, under the pretext of an illness and a virus, their media did not miss the slightest opportunity to discourage people from voting,” said Khamenei on his official website. “(Our enemies) are even opposed to any election by the Iranian people”.
South Koreans who visited Israel, Occupied Palestinian territories test positive
Nine South Korean nationals who visited Israel and the Occupied West Bank from February 8 to 15 have tested positive for coronavirus, prompting Israeli and Palestinian authorities to order those who came in contact with the tour group to self quarantine for two weeks.
“All the test results of the workers in restaurants that were frequented by Korean tourists in Jericho were negative – that is, they do not carry the virus. We ask anyone that has interacted with the South Korean tourist group to quarantine themselves at home for 14 days, and not use any public transportation and avoid being in public places,” the Palestinian ministry of health said in a statement.
Aljazeera
