GLOBAL IMAGES: COVID19 PANDEMIC- 12.01.2019 -Day 87- Virus spreads far, wide; 2,600 dead Outbreaks fanning fears of pandemic

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Coronavirus can still be beaten, too early to declare pandemic: WHO chief Tedros

World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference on the coronavirus in Geneva, Switzerland, on Feb 24, 2020.
World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference on the coronavirus in Geneva, Switzerland, on Feb 24, 2020.PHOTO: REUTERS

GENEVA (REUTERS) – The coronavirus outbreak can still be beaten, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday (Feb 24), insisting it was premature to declare it a pandemic even though it had the potential to reach that level.

“The key message that should give all countries hope, courage and confidence is that this virus can be contained, indeed there are many countries that have done exactly that,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Geneva.

“Using the word ‘pandemic’ now does not fit the facts but may certainly cause fear,” he added as the number of cases continued to mount internationally and financial markets spun lower.

READ MORE:  https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/coronavirus-can-still-be-beaten-too-early-to-declare-pandemic-who-chief-tedros

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THE EPICENTER: CHINA

Virus spreads far, wide; 2,600 dead

Outbreaks fanning fears of pandemic

Virus spreads far, wide; 2,600 dead

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The deadly new coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic spread further outside China on Monday with a surge of infections in South Korea making it the biggest hotspot abroad, while authorities in Europe and the Middle East battled worsening outbreaks.

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The number of fatalities in China also continued to soar, with 150 more confirmed deaths taking the official death toll to nearly 2,600.Chinese authorities insist they are making progress in containing the virus, citing slowing infection rates thanks to unprecedented travel lockdowns and quarantines in or near the outbreak’s epicenter.

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But a rising number of new cases and deaths in other parts of the world have deepened fears about a potential pandemic, with South Korea, Italy and Iran emerging over the past week on the frontlines.

READ MORE: https://manilastandard.net/news/top-stories/318149/virus-spreads-far-wide-2-600-dead.html

China’s Hubei province revises up toll, adds 220 cases after prison outbreak

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ASEAN

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PHNOM PENH, Cambodia- Health Minister thanks US-CDC for confirming the 83-year-old American woman never had Covid-19

Passengers onboard the Westerdam waiting to disembark on 14 February. All have returned home. Fresh News

The Cambodian Minister of Health Dr Mam Bun Heng, on Sunday, thanked the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US-CDC), for confirming that the 83-year old Westerdam passenger never had coronavirus.

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“I would like to thank Richard Quartarone, spokeswoman for the US Centers for Disease Control (US-CDC), for saying that an 83-year-old American never had coronavirus,” Mam Bun Heng said.

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VIENTIANE, Laos- Visit or numbers slump in Vangvieng

 

The number of people holidaying in Vangvieng district, Vientiane province, has dropped in recent weeks due to the coronavirus outbreak, which has had a particular impact on the number of Chinese and Korean tourists.
Head of the district Information, Culture and Tourism Office, Mr Bounmy Phommavongsa, told Vientiane Times on Friday that tourist numbers were down because some governments had instructed their citizens not to travel, in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus.

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KUALA LUMPUR- COVID-19: Two more patients recovered, discharged

KUALA LUMPUR (BERNAMA) – Two more COVID-19 patients have fully recovered and were allowed to return home on Monday, bringing the cumulative total of people who have been cured to 20.

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MANILA- Pinoys cautioned against travel to South Korea; infections rising

NOT YET OFF THE HOOK. This photo, taken last Saturday, shows a man (left) who has recovered from the COVID-19 coronavirus infection being disinfected by a medical staff before leaving the hospital in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province. On Monday, Chinese authorities slightly relaxed their month-long quarantine measures in Wuhan, allowing some people to leave the epicenter of China’s virus epidemic under certain conditions. AFP
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The Department of Foreign Affairs said on Monday that there is no travel ban imposed on Filipinos traveling to South Korea but it advised Filipino travelers to delay non-essential travel to the country as cases of the potentially fatal novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continued to rise there.
“Currently, there is no travel ban imposed on Filipinos traveling to South Korea but travelers are cautioned to delay non-essential travel to the country as a precaution,” the DFA said, in an advisory issued Sunday.South Korea raised its alert on the coronavirus to the highest level on Sunday after reporting three more deaths and 169 new infections. /  byRey E. Requejo and Macon Ramos-Araneta, MJ Blancaflor

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SINGAPORE- Coronavirus: 1 new case in S’pore, a 75-year-old woman linked to Life Church and Missions; 2 others discharged

The Ace Building along Paya Lebar Road where The Life Church and Missions is located, on the second floor. The Life Church and Missions Singapore now has seven confirmed cases.
The Ace Building along Paya Lebar Road where The Life Church and Missions is located, on the second floor. The Life Church and Missions Singapore now has seven confirmed cases.ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO / Tee Zhuo / Timothy Goh

SINGAPORE – Two more people with the coronavirus disease were discharged and one new case was confirmed by the Health Ministry (MOH) on Monday (Feb 24).

This brings the total number of cases to 90, of which 53 have fully recovered.

MOH said most of the 37 still in hospital are stable or improving. Seven are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

The new case, a 75-year-old Singaporean woman, is linked to the cluster at The Life Church and Missions Singapore, which now has seven confirmed cases. She has no recent travel history to China and lives in Bishan Street 12.

READ MORE: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/coronavirus-1-new-case-in-spore-a-75-year-old-woman-linked-to-life-church-and

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BANGKOK- Airlines scramble to slash ticket prices

No passengers are seen at check-in counters of Thai AirAsia at 4pm on Thursday at Don Mueang airport as the coronavirus outbreak affects air travel. (Photo by Pornprom Satrabhaya)
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No passengers are seen at check-in counters of Thai AirAsia at 4pm on Thursday at Don Mueang airport as the coronavirus outbreak affects air travel. (Photo by Pornprom Satrabhaya)

The unease caused by Covid-19 is expected to drag down Thai tourism for more than six months, triggering airlines to slash ticket prices to steer the market, while Nok Air and Nokscoot cut pilots and cabin crew to save cost.

Thai Airways International (THAI) is partnering with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to offer discounts such as free domestic tickets to international tourists. Low-cost carriers plan to focus on local tourists opting for domestic travel as there is a limited number of outbound choices free from the virus.

Thai AirAsia is providing 100-baht discounts for any domestic routes within a designated period, while Nok Air is offering one-way ticket prices for domestic routes starting from 680 baht this month. Vietjet Air has marked down all routes across Thailand by 50%.

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HÀ NỘI —Travellers from Korea’s outbreak zones quarantined after entering VN: ministry.

Twenty Vietnamese and more than 60 South Korean passengers on a flight from the virus-hit Daegu City in South Korea landed in Đà Nẵng on Monday morning from where they were immediately transported by ambulances to quarantine sites following the increase in COVID-19 cases in the East Asian country in recent days. VNA/VNS Photo Văn Dũng

HÀ NỘI — Travellers from South Korea’s Daegu and North Gyeongsang will be quarantined for 14 days upon arrival in Việt Nam, the Ministry of Health announced on Monday.

The decision was made at a Government meeting to weigh up the risks of the coronavirus spreading into Việt Nam from South Korea.

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ASIA-AUSTRALIA

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Asia’s big economies already feeling the coronavirus impact

Australian university offers Chinese students $1,400 to return via third country

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TOKYO- EAST ASIA BATTLES CORONAVIRUS

With new clusters in Japan and South Korea and an alarming number of infections still in China, concerns were mounting that the outbreak could be entering a new phase – with infections spreading now more rapidly in other Asian countries, beyond China. South Korea has now reported over 200 cases and designated the cities of Daegu and Cheongdo as “special care zones” to contain the spread of the disease. In Japan some public gatherings were being scrapped to contain the spread of the virus. Meanwhile, China’s central province Hubei updated the death toll to 2,144, at the end of Thursday.

As Japan coronavirus concerns grow, hundreds to leave quarantined cruise ship

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SEOUL- Coronavirus: Panic buying in Seoul as cases grow

People waiting to buy masks at a market in Daegu, South Korea, yesterday. South Korea has raised its virus alert to the highest red as the number of cases continues to spike, hitting 833 yesterday, with more than half linked to a cluster of infection
People waiting to buy masks at a market in Daegu, South Korea, yesterday. South Korea has raised its virus alert to the highest red as the number of cases continues to spike, hitting 833 yesterday, with more than half linked to a cluster of infections in a secretive church in Daegu.PHOTO: REUTERS

Housewife Catalina Yu got a shock when she popped into the grocery store near her house in southern Seoul on Sunday.

“All the food was gone and I thought a war had broken out. But it appeared that people were just stocking up,” she told The Straits Times. Ms Yu, 47, lives in the upscale Seocho district, where three cases of coronavirus sparked panic buying over the weekend. / Chang May Choon- South Korea Correspondent

 READ MORE: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/panic-buying-in-seoul-as-cases-grow
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KUWAIT/ CAIRO, Egypt- Kuwait suspends flights to and from Thailand over coronavirus fears / Flights to and from South Korea, Italy banned.

Kuwaiti women wear protective masks at the Mubarakiya Market in Kuwait City on Monday. (AFP photo)

Kuwaiti women wear protective masks at the Mubarakiya Market in Kuwait City on Monday. (AFP photo)

CAIRO: Kuwait’s civil aviation authority announced on Monday it had suspended all its flights to and from Thailand, South Korea and Italy after reports of an outbreak of coronavirus in the countries, state news agency KUNA reported, saying this came in accordance with the Kuwaiti Health Ministry instructions.

Earlier, Kuwait had suspended all its flights to and from Iraq over fears about the coronavirus.

The total number of people infected in Kuwait has reached five, while South Korea reported 763 cases, and seven people have died and more than 220 have come down with the virus in Italy.

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NEW YORK, USA- Wall Street plunges in global rout on fears of coronavirus pandemic

A screen shows the Dow Jones industrial average on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Feb 24, 2020.
A screen shows the Dow Jones industrial average on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Feb 24, 2020.PHOTO: EPA-EFE

NEW YORK (REUTERS) – US stocks joined a global rout with the Dow index plunging over 1,000 points or 3.6 per cent on Monday (Feb 24) as investors ran for safety after a surge in coronavirus cases outside China fanned worries about the economic impact of a potential pandemic.

Investors sold riskier assets and rushed to traditionally safer bets such as gold and US Treasuries after countries including Iran, Italy and South Korea reported a rise in virus cases over the weekend even as China eased curbs with no new cases reported in Beijing and other cities.

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