Asia

COVID-19 spreading fast outside China, airports to increase screenings

adminMarch 3, 20202 Mins read94 Views

BEIJING: The novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, appears to now be spreading much more rapidly outside China than within, and airports in hard-hit countries were ramping up screening of travellers.

World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said almost eight times as many cases had been reported outside China as inside in the previous 24 hours, adding that the risk of coronavirus spreading was now very high at a global level.

At a briefing in Geneva, he said outbreaks in South Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan were the greatest concern, but that there was evidence that close surveillance was working in South Korea, the worst affected country outside China, and the epidemic could be contained there.

READ: COVID-19 death toll tops 3,000 as WHO warns of global spread

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said that within 12 hours, airports across South Korea and Italy will screen all travellers for COVID-19. Pence, who has been put in charge of the U.S. response to the outbreak, also said U.S. travel restrictions may expand.

The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said U.S. industry expects to have the capacity to perform 1 million COVID-19 tests by the end of the week.

The global death toll exceeded 3,000, with the number of dead in Italy jumping by 18 to 52. Latvia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal and Morocco reported cases for the first time, bringing the total to more than 60 countries with COVID-19.

READ: Health authorities expect COVID-19 community spread on US soil

But equity markets surged after their worst plunge since the 2008 financial crisis last week, encouraged by the prospect of government action to stem the economic impact. In the United States, the Dow jumped nearly 1,300 points, or 5 per cent, while the S&P 500 closed 4.6 per cent higher.

Finance ministers of the G7 group of leading industrialised democracies were expected to discuss measures in a conference call on Tuesday (Mar 3), sources told Reuters.

Oil prices jumped 4 per cent amid hopes of a deeper output cut by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Volunteers wearing face masks stand in a line to pass down groceries to residents inside a residential compound, in Yichang city of Hubei, the province hit hardest by the novel coronavirus outbreak, China March 1, 2020. Picture taken March 1, 2020. China Daily via REUTERS

MORE THAN PREDICTED

A senior U.S. official said he was concerned about a likely jump in the number of cases in the United States, which has had more than 90, with six deaths. More testing will almost surely lead to more confirmed cases.

"When you have a number of cases that you've identified and they've been in the community for a while, you're going to wind up seeing a lot more cases than you would have predicted," Dr Anthony Fauci, head of the infectious diseases unit at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, told CNN.

READ: WHO medics, aid flown into Iran as virus toll jumps to 66

South Korea has had 26 deaths and reported another 599 infections on Monday, taking its tally to 4,335.

Of the new cases in South Korea, 377 were from the city of Daegu. That is home to a branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, to which most of South Korea's cases have been traced after some members visited the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the disease emerged.

The Seoul government asked prosecutors to launch a murder investigation into leaders of the church. Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said that if founder Lee Man-hee and other heads of the church had cooperated, fatalities could have been prevented.

Lee knelt and apologised to the country, saying that one church member had infected many others and calling the epidemic a "great calamity".

It was not immediately known how many of South Korea's dead were members of the church.