TheItaly has exceeded a thousand cases of contamination with the new coronavirus and recorded 29 deaths, including eight in 24 hours, in three regions of the north of the country, announced the Civil Protection on Saturday. Since the start of the epidemic a week ago, 1,128 people have tested positive for the virus. But 52% of them show little or no symptoms of this viral pneumonia, according to the Civil Protection.
France has announced the cancellation of all closed gatherings of more than 5,000 people in an attempt to halt the spread of the coronavirus, which has further intensified in South Korea and is shaking the international economy.
The epidemic, which is approaching 3,000 dead for more than 85,900 cases – including some 79,000 cases for 2,838 deaths in China – now affects 61 countries and territories. 1,802 new contaminations have been identified in 24 hours since Friday spo
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The most affected countries after China are South Korea (3,150 cases including 813 new, 17 deaths), Italy (1,128 cases including 240 new, 29 deaths), Iran (593 cases including 205 new, 43 deaths) ) and Japan (230 cases including 20 new, 11 deaths). Japan has also recorded more than 700 cases on the cruise ship Diamond Princess moored off Yokohama.
Serial cancellations
From the Geneva Motor Show to the Barcelona mobile world, to the annual Facebook developer conference: the Covid-19 epidemic has caused the cancellation or postponement of many trade fairs and other economic meetings International.
In Europe, France, bordering Italy, the main focus of the epidemic on the continent, has canceled all “gatherings of more than 5,000 people” in a closed environment, like the last day of the Agricultural Show on Sunday. The decision also applies to certain outdoor events, such as the Paris half-marathon on the same day, but not to football matches.
Italy has taken even more drastic measures, such as closing schools, canceling sporting or cultural events, including the postponement of five football championship matches this weekend, and quarantining for one week of 11 northern municipalities, the country’s economic lung.
In Geneva, the Motor Show, a major meeting in the sector, was canceled, then the annual symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) planned in Lausanne. In Berlin, the International Tourism Fair scheduled for March 4 to 8 has also been canceled.
All affected continents
The World Health Organization (WHO) raised the threat level to “very high” on Friday and called on all countries still spared to prepare for the arrival of Covid-19, warning: believe they are safe of the disease would be a “fatal error”.
A warning reinforced by the daily announcements of new countries or regions affected. After Brazil, a second Latin American country was hit on Friday: Mexico with the first three cases of coronavirus, three people having traveled to Italy. Ecuador announced its first case on Saturday: it is an Ecuadorian septuagenarian returning from Spain.
Nigeria also became the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to be officially reached, with an initial case, an Italian who returned from Milan (northern Italy) on February 25.
First case of recontamination
South Korea, the second most affected country, after China, where the epidemic broke out in December, recorded 813 additional cases on Saturday, the largest daily increase so far, for a total of 3,150 infections, including 16 dead. Another worrying sign is that the country has registered its first case of recontamination: a 73-year-old woman tested positive for the virus after having recovered from it.
If the number of contaminations in China continues to decrease thanks to quarantine measures targeting more than 50 million people, other countries in turn become regional sources of spread of Covid-19, foremost among them South Korea , Italy and Iran.
Cases of unknown origin
In the United States, four separate cases of Covid-19 contamination of unknown origin have been confirmed. More than 60 infected patients have been identified there with no deaths to be deplored. Washington postponed sine die a summit with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) due to be held in Las Vegas in March for fear of the epidemic.
In New York, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said it was “not the time to panic but to fully prepare” to contain the spread of the coronavirus. In this uncertainty, the New York Stock Exchange experienced a dark week, with a Dow Jones down more than 12% over the past five days. Manufacturing activity in China fell to an all-time low in February.
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