A 60-year-old German tourist has died in Egypt, becoming Africa’s first fatality from the coronavirus (COVID-19) that has the world on tenterhooks.
The man was taken to hospital with a fever after arriving in Hurghada from Luxor on Friday.
He was placed in intensive care, but refused to be transferred to a designated isolation hospital. The number of people infected with coronavirus has topped 106 000 across the world. This as the outbreak reaches more countries and causes more economic damage.
Mainland China, where the outbreak began, has seen at least 3 097 deaths.
However, the epidemic is now spreading faster elsewhere with Italy’s death toll leaping by 133 to 366 in the past 24 hours. This is by far the largest daily rise in fatalities since the outbreak came to light.
Epidemic continues unabated
The total number of countries and regions affected by the coronavirus outside China has reached 101, according to the daily situation report on COVID-19 released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday evening.
The symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, cough and shortness of breath #CoronavirusOutbreak #CoronaVirusUpdate pic.twitter.com/nPoJAXEVJB
— Department of Health (@HealthZA) March 5, 2020
As of Sunday morning, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Faroe Islands, French Guiana, Maldives, Malta, Martinique and Republic of Moldova have reported cases of COVID-19 for the first time in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of countries and regions affected by the coronavirus outside China to 101.
A total of 105 586 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported worldwide as of 10:00 CET on Sunday, an increase of 3 656 infections from the previous day, including 3 610 new cases outside China.
Among 24 727 confirmed cases outside China, 484 people have died of COVID-19, which marked an increase of 71 deaths compared to the previous day.
South Korea confirmed 179 more cases of the COVID-19 on Sunday, raising the total number of infections to 7 313.
As of 16:00 local time, the number of infected patients totalled 7 313, up 179 from the previous announcement as of midnight. The death toll was unchanged at 50.
The number of new confirmed cases in South Korea has been on a daily decline. However, government believes it cannot afford to be complacent just yet.
In the video below, is an update on the situation in South Korea:
Efforts to contain the virus
Japan is stepping up efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 as the number of confirmed cases rose to 494 as of 22:00 local time Sunday. Among the confirmed cases, 14 are returnees by chartered flights, according to data from public broadcaster NHK. Besides, there are also 696 cases from the Diamond Princess cruise ship moored in the port city of Yokohama.
This figure does not include cases confirmed after the government has taken them back, nor does it include Japanese people who were confirmed when they returned home after a period of quarantine on board. The tally is based on data compiled by the health ministry and local governments. Among them, 14 people have died, seven of them from the virus-hit cruise ship.
As of Sunday morning local time, 743 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the past 24 hours in Iran, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 6 566. There was an increase of 49 deaths, bringing the total number of deaths to 194, according to Iran’s Ministry of Health.
Italy is closing theatres, cinemas and museums across the country as the COVID-19 outbreak continues, according to a decree signed Sunday by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. The drastic new measures will be in place until April 3 and will affect some 16 million people in the country’s north, including the Lombardy region and about 14 provinces in neighbouring regions.
People will be barred from entering or leaving northern Italy without work-related or health-related reasons, or unless there are emergencies, Conte said.
The total number of confirmed cases in Italy rose to 7 375 as of 18:00 local time, 1 492 more than the previous day. The death toll now stands at 366, which is 133 more than the previous day. Among the confirmed cases, 622 people have been cured, while 650 others are seriously ill.
In video below, is the coronavirus update in Europe:
Saudi Arabia reported four new coronavirus cases on Monday, bringing the total of registered cases to 15, its health ministry said in a statement. The ministry added that new cases include 1 Saudi national, 2 Bahrainis and 1 American.
Earlier on Monday, Saudi Arabia suspended travel to nine countries for its citizens and residents amid coronavirus fears and suspended the entry of people from those countries or anyone who has been there in the past 14 days.
The nine countries are the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, South Korea, Egypt, Italy and Iraq.
