Live Reporting
- Germany has confirmed its first two deaths from the coronavirus outbreak.The deaths were in the city of Essen and district of Heinsberg, both in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, health authorities said on Monday.In Essen, the person who died was an 89-year-old woman who had been diagnosed with the virus on 3 March.Germany has so far reported more than 1,000 cases of the coronavirus nationwide.Around half of those have been reported in North Rhine-Westphalia.The first death of a German national from the coronavirus was reported on Sunday evening.The 60-year-old man had tested positive for the virus after he was hospitalised in Egypt.
- According to Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York State now has a total of 142 confirmed cases of Covid-19.Many are the result of large public gatherings, he said on Monday.Eight of these cases - 6% - have required hospital care.The western state of Washington previously had the most cases in the US, with 136 confirmed according to its health department, but New York saw a rise in new patients over the weekend.Mr Cuomo also said he would be proposing a bill on Monday regarding paid sick leave.
- World Health Organization (WHO) boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been trying to be reassuring in his daily briefing."Now that the #coronavirus has a foothold in so many countries, the threat of a pandemic has become very real. But it would be the first pandemic in history that could be controlled. The bottom line is: we are not at the mercy of this virus."We need to remember that with decisive, early action, we can slow down the #coronavirus and prevent infections. Among those who are infected, most will recover."He also reminded people that most cases were concentrated in a handful of countries:
- Barbara Chiesa, 61, lives in Cava Manara, a village just outside Pavia, an area currently in Italy's red zone."I am disabled and I have several medical conditions," she says. "One of them is quite urgent. It’s a rare form of fibrous dysplasia, it’s like a benign bone tumour affecting my skull."I had surgery three years ago and I need more soon. I am in huge pain and I am losing my sight because of it."Hospitals in the red zone are struggling. They've shut down most of the clinics and stopped providing routine services to avoid further contagion."I had a crucial appointment scheduled for this week, but it was cancelled last minute," Barbara says, "and now I am left here, waiting. I am quite worried: lots of lives are put at risk because of Coronavirus."Public offices like banks and post offices also remain open. Clients are asked to wait for their turn outside. A bank worker who prefers to remain anonymous says precautions have been taken, but it was too little too late."A few days after the crisis exploded, they gave us masks, gloves and wipes to clean the surfaces," the worker says. "But lattice gloves are not great when you need to count money. And people in Italy, especially elderly people, use cash a lot."The worker is currently running a temperature. They have been in touch with the emergency services, and were advised to self-isolate."I am a bit worried because I work with the public," they say. "And even if there’s a screen protecting us, we still exchange cash and documents."
- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has confirmed that the executive director of the New York and New Jersey Port Authority is among more than 100 individuals with the virus in the state.Director Rick Cotton had been overseeing international arrivals at New York City area airports but will now be working from home, Mr Cuomo announced on Monday, according to NBC New York.The governor declared a state of emergency in New York over the weekend as the number of cases surged.
- Professor Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, said the patient had been treated at the Royal Wolverhampton Hospital.The patient, in their 70s, had had underlying health conditions."It appears the virus was acquired in the UK and full contact tracing has begun," Mr Whitty said.Health Minister Matt Hancock confirmed on Monday that there were 319 cases in the UK.
- Sweden appears to have its first case of coronavirus in which the patient has no apparent link to other infected victims and has not travelled overseas, the BBC's Maddy Savage reports from Stockholm.The person tested positive for the virus at a major hospital in the Swedish capital on Sunday evening, officials announced at a news conference.A second patient with no connection to the first was also diagnosed over the weekend.There are now 252 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Sweden, which has a population of about 10 million.
- A fourth person in the UK has died from coronavirus, Health Minister Matt Hancock has confirmed.
- The Grand Princess, which has 21 confirmed cases among passengers on board, is due to dock in San Francisco after four days of being held off the coast near the city.Nineteen crew members and two passengers on the ship have tested positive for Covid-19.The vessel, which is carrying about 3,500 people from 54 countries, is due to dock in Oakland after five days stuck offshore.The US has reported more than 560 coronavirus cases and 24 deaths.
- In Russia, infections have now been confirmed not only in Moscow and St Petersburg - but in Nizhny Novgorod, east of the capital, and also in the southern city of Lipetsk.Russia now has nearly 20 confirmed cases.A quarantine zone has been set up at Moscow's Vnukovo international airport. Everyone arriving from China and Italy has to register and self-isolate afterwards.
- Two members of President Trump's Republican party, Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, said on Sunday they would self-quarantine as they were both exposed to an infected person at a recent conservative political event.Neither lawmaker has been confirmed to have Covid-19, but they both spoke and shook hands with the affected individual (who is now in hospital) at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the end of last month.President Trump and Vice-President Pence also both attended the conference, but neither interacted with the infected person.However, at CPAC, the president shook hands with the chairman of the American Conservative Union who did have direct contact with the individual, putting Mr Trump two degrees of separation away from the coronavirus.
- As we have reported, UK shoppers are emptying shelves of toilet paper, pasta, hand sanitiser and tinned foods as fears grow over the spread of the coronavirus.It has led retailers like Tesco to limit the sale of goods such as pasta and long-life milk, with others restricting the number of hand sanitiser gels that can be bought.Environment Secretary George Eustice will meet retailers this afternoon to discuss how to support vulnerable groups who may have to self-isolate, amid widespread stockpiling.It follows talks he had on Friday with supermarket and trade body bosses over food supply contingencies, after which the government pledged the public would continue to have "the food and supplies they need".The government has told shoppers there is no need to panic-buy as the UK has a "resilient supply chain".
- US President Donald Trump has his own take on the current outbreak, downplaying the effect of the virus as compared to that of the flu.
- In India, health officials in a number of cities have been demonstrating to the public how to properly wash hands using sanitisers.This is part of an awareness campaign across the vast country to try to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus.India, where about 1.35 billion people live, currently has more than 40 confirmed cases.
- Dublin has cancelled its annual St Patrick's Day parade amid fears about the spread of coronavirus, Irish broadcaster RTÉ reports. The holiday falls on 17 March.
- Measures to keep people at arm's length from each other inside Italy's quarantined regions are running into difficulties, according to Serena Stefanello, a dentistry student from locked down Padua.“Supermarkets are only letting in a limited number of people at a time to make sure that they stay one metre away from each other but outside people are waiting closely together in crowds," she told us at the BBC.“People are still moving normally with their cars and there weren't a lot of police this morning. I can see on social media that many people are going out for drinks, going to the beach or the mountains.But she said it was impossible to move from one district to another within the lockdown zone, and schools, cinemas, museums and other venues remained shut.
- Dozens of foreign tourists and their Egyptian crew remain quarantined onboard a Nile river cruise ship from which 45 suspected coronavirus cases have been evacuated.US, French and Indian nationals were among those stranded on the A-Sara docked near the southern tourist city of Luxor, people on the ship have told AFP news agency.On Saturday Egyptian authorities reported moving 45 suspected cases - 33 passengers and 12 crew - into isolation on land, without saying what would happen to the others aboard the ship."There are about 80 people on board, crew members and travellers, confined in quarantine for 14 days," Philippe Gruwe, 54, a member of a French tour group, told AFP by phone on Monday."We are worried - people here would prefer to be quarantined at home" in France, he added.
- A fifth member of the French National Assembly has now been confirmed positive for the virus.Asked about her condition, Michèle Victory said: "I am hospitalised in the Ardèche [region]. I'm as well as I would be if I had the flu," she told French TV.
- The first confirmed case of coronavirus in the US capital is a church rector in his 50s, prompting DC officials to urge a congregation of several hundred to self-quarantine.Mayor Muriel Bowser on Monday called on congregants of Christ Church Georgetown to voluntarily self-quarantine for at least 14 days since last attending church services, even if they didn't currently feel ill.Ms Bowser also indicated she was considering whether to declare a public emergency in the district, which currently has a total of two confirmed cases (the second is a man who stayed in DC for one night but tested positive at a hospital in Maryland on Sunday).DC's senior health director, Dr Anjali Talwalker, said there was a "medium risk" for churchgoers who came within six feet of the rector in the past week.NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly noted the church had cancelled services on Sunday for the first time since the 19th Century due to coronavirus.
- Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has called the coronavirus outbreak Italy's "darkest hour" but said the country would overcome it if people followed the rules."These days, I have been thinking about the old speeches of Churchill - it is our darkest hour, but we will make it," he told La Repubblica newspaper.British leader Winston Churchill used the phrase during World War Two.He said he himself had had the virus test which had come out negative, Ansa news agency reports.
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