CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK Coronavirus spreads in 56 countries

China reported 44 more deaths from the novel coronavirus epidemic on Friday and 327 fresh cases, the lowest daily figure for new infections in more than a month.

The death toll now stands at 2,788 in mainland China, 2,873 worldwide.

56 countries were affected. The most affected countries after China are - South Korea (2,337 cases, 13 deaths, 571 new cases), Italy (650 cases, 17 deaths, 122 new cases), Iran (388 cases, 34 deaths, 143 new cases) and Japan (210 cases, 8 deaths, 23 new cases).

Meanwhile, Beijing-based internet search giant Baidu has warned revenue collapse due to the deadly coronavirus outbreak.

Residents of Nigeria’s economic hub Lagos scrambled for hygiene products Friday, after the chaotic megacity of 20 million announced the first confirmed case of new coronavirus in sub-Saharan Africa.

Health minister Osagie Ehanire said in a statement  overnight that the infected person was an Italian citizen who flew in from Milan, at the heart of Europe’s largest outbreak, earlier this week. 

‘The patient is clinically stable, with no serious symptoms,’ Ehanire said, adding that he was being treated at a hospital for infectious diseases in Lagos.

The low number of cases so far across Africa, which has close economic ties with China, the epicentre of the deadly outbreak, has puzzled health specialists.

Prior to the case in Nigeria, there had been just two cases on the continent — in Egypt and Algeria.

Iran on Friday reported eight new deaths from coronavirus, taking its overall toll to 34, as the number of infections jumped again in the Islamic republic, among the worst-hit countries.

An additional 143 cases have been detected over the past 24 hours, raising the total number of confirmed infections to 388, health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said.

It is the highest number of new cases for a single day since Iran announced its first confirmed infections on February 19 in the Shiite shrine city of Qom.

Among the new cases, 64 were in the capital Tehran, while the number of provinces hit by the outbreak rose to 24, Jahanpour said.

Iran has the highest death toll from the virus outside China, where COVID-19 first emerged.

One of Iran’s seven vice presidents, Massoumeh Ebtekar, and deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi are among several senior officials who have been infected.

Pakistan has suspended all flights to Iran and closed land borders with its neighbour, officials confirmed on Friday, after Islamabad detected its first two coronavirus cases, both people who had recently travelled to the Islamic Republic.

Flights to and from China, the epicentre of the deadly outbreak, and Afghanistan, which also detected its first case this week, were still operating, however, and their land borders with Pakistan were also open.

‘Aviation Divison has decided to cease all direct flights between Pakistan and Iran,’ civil aviation authority spokesman Abdul Sattar Khokhar said.

No Pakistani airlines were operating between the two countries, meaning the move hits three Iranian carriers — Iran Air, Mahan Air and Taban Air.

New Zealand confirmed its first coronavirus case Friday, saying a recent arrival from Iran who travelled to Auckland via Bali had tested positive.

Health officials said the person, aged in their 60s, was being treated in Auckland City Hospital.

Belarus reported Friday its first coronavirus case, an Iranian student who arrived in the country from Azerbaijan last week.

The health ministry said the patient was in a ‘satisfactory’ condition.

The first case of the novel coronavirus in the Netherlands was detected on Thursday, in a patient who had travelled to northern Italy, the worst hit area in Europe, the national public health institute announced.

Individuals who have been in ‘close contact’ with the man have been tested and the patient placed in isolation in a hospital in the southern town of Tilburg, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment said.

Lithuania confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus in a woman who returned from Italy, the government said on Friday.

The 39-year-old, who returned from Verona on Monday and immediately went on sick leave, has been isolated in hospital in the Baltic state’s northern city of Siauliai and has mild symptoms. Her family members are being monitored.

Around 1,000 people were in quarantine in Germany’s most populous state Friday, as the number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in Europe’s biggest economy rose above 50.

The district of Heinsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia said it had to take the step of keeping around 1,000 home as an infected couple had participated in carnival celebrations in mid-February.

Schools and kindergartens were also shut in the district until Monday as the number of cases linked to the cluster reached 20.

In Hamburg, parents and children who were in contact with an infected employee at a university clinic have also been ordered to stay home for 14 days.

With cases now detected across several further German states including Hesse, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bavaria, Health Minister Jens Spahn said this week that Europe’s biggest country was ‘at the beginning of a coronavirus epidemic’.

The government has ordered local authorities in the country’s 16 states to update their pandemic readiness plans.

It also from Thursday began requiring travellers arriving from China, South Korea, Japan, Iran and Italy to provide contact details in case their movements had to be traced over possible infections.

Authorities are also poised to decide if international travel fair ITB is to be cancelled days before its scheduled opening in Berlin.

The Swiss government on Friday said it was suspending all events in the country involving more than 1,000 participants until March 15 in a bid to stop new coronavirus contagion.

‘Large-scale events involving more than 1,000 people are to be banned. The ban comes into immediate effect and will apply at least until 15 March,’ the government said in a statement after the country registered 15 cases.

‘In the case of public or private events at which fewer than 1,000 people would gather, event organisers must carry out a risk assessment in conjunction with the competent cantonal authorities to decide whether or not the event can be held.’

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net