US strengthens travel advice, raising Iran and Italy to a level three, advising people to ‘avoid nonessential travel’. Follow live news
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In the few minutes since I last posted, I have already had a number of emails from readers about the essentials they are stocking up their cupboards with in the event that the coronavirus outbreak leads to a major public health crisis in the UK.
Many of those who have written have said they are getting in provisions because they live alone and so if they have to self-isolate they will not be able to send anyone else out to the shops in their behalf. Others have pre-existing health issues and so they are preparing for the potential of extended periods away from human contact, in order to avoid contracting Covid-19.
As someone who works in local govt, the emergency preparedness plans being put in place and resilience forum talk terrify me, as well as having friends in the NHS that know full well they wouldn’t cope ...
So my purchasing is for -
I don’t think you could call it panic buying. I did augment my hard Brexit stocks in January when the first reports came from China. Now it’s just a case of stock control and eating according to expiry date if shops run out. I thought we should do this ahead of time, so that we wouldn’t add to the problem by competing for items at the last minute.
We also had seasonal flu jabs - not because we thought it would protect us from Covid-19, but because a) we didn’t want to have to contend with two viruses, either together or consecutively b) in the event of a bad case of flu, we didn’t want to inflict a preventable burden on an over-stretched NHS.
@damiengayle Panic buyer here ♂️ Hope I'm wrong but can't see it subsiding anytime soon. Stocked up on all essentials and sold majority of shares. Good to be prepared.
With the number of confirmed coronavirus infections rising in the UK, and quarantine zones springing up across Europe, are people in Britain beginning to panic buy groceries?
This customer circular email from Ocado, the online retailer, suggests they are. Ocado says it is “experiencing exceptionally high demand” from customers who “seem to be placing particularly large orders.” Here is the email:
Dear xxx
We want to let you know that we’re experiencing exceptionally high demand at the moment. More people than usual seem to be placing particularly large orders. As a result, delivery slots are selling out quicker than expected.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Ocado Customer Service team
The Paris half-marathon, which was scheduled for Sunday with 44,000 registered runners, has been cancelled over fears of coronavirus, French news agency AFP reports.
The announcement came after the French government ordered the cancellation of “gatherings of more than 5,000 people” in enclosed areas as well as some external events.
French Health Minister Olivier Veran said the cancellations of external events would affect gatherings in open areas where there would be “intermingling with populations from areas affected by the virus”.
The number of people tested for coronavirus in Scotland has risen by more than 100 in a day, with no confirmed cases, PA reports.
A total of 630 tests had been carried out by Saturday in Scotland, up from 500 on Friday. All have so far proved negative.
On Friday, NHS Lothian announced it has introduced a “drive-through” testing centre for the virus.
Three more patients have tested positive for coronavirus in the UK, bringing the total here to 23. Two of the latest diagnosed patients had just returned from Italy, and the third from Asia, according to the Department of Health and Social Care.
Included in the above figures are three further patients in England who have tested positive for #COVID19, bringing the total number of UK cases to 23.
Two have recently returned from Italy and the other from Asia.
Further details pic.twitter.com/2OotIPRLk5
The French government banned public gatherings with more than 5,000 people on Saturday due to the coronavirus outbreak as France reported 16 new cases, Reuters reports.
“All public gatherings of more than 5,000 people in a confined space are temporarily banned across France,” Health Minister Olivier Veran told journalists. He also that the number of confirmed cases had risen to 73 and that there had been no new deaths.
Health officials are tracing anyone who has been in contact with a coronavirus patient who became the first to catch the illness within the UK, PA News Agency reports.
Chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said it was not clear if the patient had contracted the virus “directly or indirectly” from somebody who had recently travelled abroad.
The new diagnosis brought the total number of UK cases to 20 on Friday, while a man who had been on a quarantined cruise ship became the first Briton to die from the virus.
Reuters is reporting that the French health minister has said the number of confirmed coronavirus-infected patients in the country has risen to 73.
Chevron Corp said on Saturday that an employee in its Canary Wharf office in London who reported a flu-like illness, prompting the oil firm to send its staff home, has tested negative for the coronavirus, Reuters reports.
On Tuesday Chevron asked about 300 British employees to work temporarily from home after an employee in its Canary Wharf office in London developed flu symptoms after returning from Northern Italy.
Switzerland is up to 17 cases of coronavirus infection - 12 confirmed and five awaiting confirmation - according to local media.
Several areas, including the canton of Bern, have tightened preventive measures first announced on Friday, including a ban on public assemblies of more than 1,000 people, RTS reports.
A major real estate exhibition in Cannes has delayed for three months due to growing concern over the spread of the coronavirus.
MIPIM, which describes itself as the world’s leading property market, was expected to take place between March 10-13 dates, but it has been pushed back to early June in the hope the threat posed by the coronavirus will have reduced.
The well-being of our clients and staff is our priority. Given the evolving context, the best course of action is to postpone MIPIM to June.
This is not a decision we have taken lightly. We believe these new dates will provide the international MIPIM community with the opportunity to achieve their business objectives.
Italy’s tourism industry has been dealt its final blow, the head of its hotel federation has lamented, after the US advised its citizens to reconsider travelling to the country.
Hotel reservation cancellations have already reached about 90% in Rome, while Venice has seen bookings plummet after regional officials cancelled the final two days of carnival celebrations this week in an unprecedented move in modern times.
World stock markets are expected to fall further next week after the first surveys of China’s economic health since the coronavirus outbreak showed factory output plunged and the country’s service sectors contracted.
Illustrating how the virus could wreck the economic forecasts of other affected countries, the world’s second largest economy reported that manufacturing production levels dropped to record lows this month.
The Qatari national who is the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in the Gulf state is a 36 year-old who returned recently from Iran and is in a stable condition, the country’s health ministry has said.
The UAE education ministry also announced the suspension of nursery school classes, as the regional business hub and major transit point for air travellers stepped up its contingency plans. Saudi Arabia is now the only Gulf country not to have signalled any cases of the coronavirus.
Iran is preparing for the possibility of testing tens of thousands of people for the coronavirus as the number of confirmed cases in the country spiked once again, according to an official quoted by the Associated Press.
The virus and the COVID-19 illness it causes have killed 43 people out of 593 confirmed cases in Iran, health ministry spokesperson Kianoush Jahanpour said, disputing reports that four times as many people have died.
Qatar’s health ministry reported on Saturday the first case of coronavirus infection in the country, Reuters reports the state-run Qatar News Agency as saying.
More than 85,000 people around the world have been confirmed to have been infected with coronavirus according to the latest figures, based on World Health Organisation and national counts:
The latest patient to be diagnosed with the virus and the GP who is feared to have it were both detected because the surgery where the doctor works is one of 100 practices where patients with breathing problems are now being routinely screened for Covid-19, the Guardian has been told.
They were identified as a result of mouth and nasal swabs that were being taken from every patient attending the surgery with flu-like symptoms by staff from Surrey University who specialise in the spread and epidemiology of influenza.
The northern Japanese island of Hokkaido has declared a three-week state of emergency, urging residents to stay home as much as possible until 19 March, NHK News reports.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, [Hokkaido governor] Naomichi Suzuki said the situation is getting more serious.
He urged residents to refrain from going out until March 19, and especially over this weekend.
Pope Francis has cancelled official engagements for a third day in a row, the Associated Press reports. He last appeared in public on Wednesday, when he was seen coughing and blowing his nose. According to AP:
The 83-year-old pope, who lost part of a lung to a respiratory illness as a young man, has never cancelled so many official audiences or events in his seven-year papacy.
Francis is, however, continuing to work from his residence at the Vatican’s Santa Marta hotel and is receiving people in private, the Vatican press office said. On Saturday, those private meetings were with the head of the Vatican’s bishops’ office, Francis’ ambassadors to Lebanon and France and a Ukrainian archbishop.
Cancelled were his two planned official audiences formal affairs in the Apostolic Palace where Francis would have delivered a speech and greeted a great number of people at the end. Those were to include an audience with an international bioethics organisation and with members of the scandal-marred Legion of Christ religious order.
On Sunday, Francis is expected to leave the Vatican with top Holy See bureaucrats for a week of spiritual exercises in the Roman countryside, an annual retreat that the pope attends at the start of each Lent.
The official death toll from coronavirus in Iran has reached 43, Reuters reports. There have been unofficial claims that the true figure is much higher. Reuters quoted a health official, Kianush Jahanpur, as telling state TV:
Unfortunately nine people died of the virus in the last 24 hours. The death toll is 43 now. The new confirmed infected cases since yesterday is 205 that makes the total number of confirmed infected people 593.
Iran, which has the highest death toll outside China, has ordered the shutting of schools until Tuesday and the government has extended the closure of universities and a ban on concerts and sports events for a week.
Several high-ranking officials, including a vice-minister, deputy health minister and five lawmakers, have tested positive for the coronavirus as the rapid spread of the outbreak forced the government to call on people to stay at home.
Iranian media reported on Saturday that one lawmaker, elected in Iran’s 21 Februaru polls, had died of the coronavirus.
Iran’s government spokesman will hold his weekly news conference online due to the outbreak, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
The Chinese laboratory that first sequenced and shared the coronavirus genome publicly has been closed down by the authorities for “rectification”, the South China Morning Post reports.
On 12 January, a day after the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre’s laboratory shared the information online – a move that helped companies to devise new diagnostic kits for the virulent respiratory illness – officials from the Shanghai Health Commission ordered it to close.
The centre was not given any specific reasons why the laboratory was closed for rectification. [We have submitted] four reports [asking for permission] to reopen but we have not received any replies.
The closure has greatly affected the scientists and their research when they should be racing against the clock to find the means to help put the novel coronavirus outbreak under control.
An entire Italian Serie C football team is in quarantine after three players and an official tested positive for coronavirus.
Players from Pianese, a side based in Tuscany, began to exhibit symptoms last Saturday, while the team played away against Allesandria. The Siena-based club said in a statement:
At the moment those infected are four – three players and a team official.
The first is a young player who had started to experience a slight rise in temperature and headache last Saturday, when the team was away to Alessandria to play a championship game.
Vietnam has announced that all 16 infected coronavirus patients detected in the country have been discharged from hospital and declared cured, Al Jazeera reports.
According to the broadcaster, the Vietnamese government has detected no new cases of coronavirus for the past 15 days.
Ho Chi Minh officials in Vietnam have announced they are closing the schools for another two weeks, after already being closed for the month of February. Kindergartens and younger levels will not return until the 15th [of March] whilst secondary students can return on the 8th.
Hanoi have also announced another week off school for all levels until the 8th.
The health minister Edward Argar has said the UK continues to be in a “containment phase” of coronavirus spread, and said cancelling events would not be considered unless the outbreak worsened. He told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4:
We’re still in the containment phase of this disease. We have been pretty good at containing it thus far. And the chief medical officer has been very clear that there is no reason to think that we shouldn’t be able to continue containing it, so that’s what our focus is on.
[Whitty] said decisions on large events and whether they should go ahead will be taken at the time on the basis of the evidence. He’s not saying there is a need for that now.
Similarly, with school closures. He’s been clear there is no reason or need for schools en masse to close. If there are particular incidents, Public Health England and local teams will give advice.
I’m aware of the Guardian report, but I’m going on the basis of what I’ve been told.
I haven’t had any details of that and I think it would be wrong to comment on speculation in the press without that detailed advice from the chief medical officer.
South Korea has reported 219 new coronavirus cases, bringing the country’s total infections to 3,150, the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Saturday, Reuters reports.
The new cases are in addition to the 594 confirmed earlier in the day. Together they logged a record daily increase in infections since South Korea confirmed its first patient on 20 January.
Health officials in the US have identified four “presumptive” coronavirus cases believed to have been infected within the country, in a turning point in efforts to contain Covid-19 there, Reuters is reporting.
Three new cases of apparent community transmission, plus the one identified earlier this week in California, are a sign the virus is now spreading within at least four separate locations up and down the US west coast.
Hello, this is Damien Gayle in London, taking the reins of the live blog. As usual, as well as contributions from the Guardian’s network of correspondents, the news wires and social media, I will be relying on your input to help report the global developments in the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. If you have any information, ideas or questions, then contact me at damien.gayle@theguardian.com or via my Twitter profile @damiengayle.
You can read a wrap of these developments here.
Related: Coronavirus: South Korea cases surge as Australia bans Iran arrivals
Some Australians have begun stockpiling food and medication in anticipation of a coronavirus outbreak.
Theme parks and sports stadiums in Japan have been closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The Australian government has issued a statement on the travel ban to Iran, saying it is “part of our ongoing strategy of containment and minimising risk to the Australian community as detailed in our pandemic preparedness plan.”
As of 1 March 2020:
Related: 'Very high risk': Australia adds Iran to coronavirus travel ban
The United States has updated its travel advice for Iran and Italy, warning people to “avoid nonessential travel” due to the increased spread of coronavirus.
It comes as Australia placed a travel ban on Iran, putting it on the same restrictions as China.
Health officials in the US are reportedly worried that the novel coronavirus is spreading through communities on the west coast, after three patients — one in Oregon, one in California and one in Washington — were infected through unknown means.
The new coronavirus cases of unknown origin marks an escalation of the worldwide outbreak in the U.S. because it means the virus could spread beyond the reach of preventative measures like quarantines, though state health officials said that was inevitable and that the risk of widespread transmission remains low.
California public health officials on Friday said more than 9,380 people are self-monitoring after arriving on commercial flights from China through Los Angeles and San Francisco. That’s up from the 8,400 that Gov. Gavin Newsom cited on Thursday, though officials said the number increases daily as more flights arrive.
Cherry blossom festivals in Japan have been cancelled due to fears around the coronavirus.
From AFP:
The traditional spring celebrations in Tokyo and Osaka, which attract millions of people wanting to seeing the white and pink flowers, will not go ahead as planned in April.
“We are sincerely sorry for those who were looking forward to the viewing ... but please give us your understanding,” the Japan Mint in Osaka said Friday.
Tiger Ye, a 21-year-old student in Wuhan, contracted the novel coronavirus. He wrote about the experience in The Guardian.
By 26 January getting up had become extremely difficult and I was shivering with cold. I felt I was having a high fever, and I was: 39C. Reports later said that the situation could develop extremely fast in the middle stage, but before I knew it, by that evening the fever was gone. It felt like having been to hell and back. That period from 21 January to the 26th was the worst time. I coughed so bad my stomach was hurting and my back ached. Those were some of the worst days in my life.
Related: ‘To hell and back’: my three weeks suffering from coronavirus
Australia’s chief medical officer, Prof Brendan Murphy, says people should not stockpile face masks.
We know that people stockpiling masks has caused an issue with mask supply around Australia, and we don’t support that.
Australia has implemented a travel ban against Iran, placing it under the same restrictions as China, because of an increased risk of coronavirus.
It follows the first case in Australia of a person who had travelled to Iran.
They [Iran] have the highest death rate, I think the latest advice we have is 34 deaths, outside of Hubei.
There is likely at this stage a high level of undetected cases and therefore those cases . won’t be intercepted or detected on departure from Iran.
Thailand has reported one new case of coronavirus, bringing its total to 42, Reuters reports.
South Korean authorities have asked residents to stay at home this weekend to help contain the spread of the coronavirus, and it seems that advice has been heeded. This shopping area in Seoul is usually busy. Today it was empty.
Just to recap on the situation as it currently stands in Australia: the total number of cases confirmed in Australia is 25. Fifteen of these people are reported to have recovered and the remaining are in a stable condition.
South Korea has urged its citizens to stay indoors and warned it is facing a “critical moment” in its battle against the coronavirus, Reuters reports.
It comes as the country records its biggest daily jump in the number of cases reported since it reported its first case on 20 January, with 594 new cases reported on Saturday. The total number of cases is 2,931. Another person is confirmed to have died from the virus bringing the death toll to 17.
We have asked you to refrain from taking part in public events, including a religious gathering or protest, this weekend.
Please stay at home and refrain from going outside and minimise contact with other people.
As many as 476 of the new cases were from southeastern Daegu city, the site of a church at the centre of the outbreak, and 60 from the nearby province of North Gyeongsang, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.
Health authorities have run tests on more than 210,000 members and 65,000 trainees of the church linked to a majority of cases after a 61-year-old woman known as “Patient 31” attended religious services there before testing positive.
Speaking of airports — Guardian Australian news editor Mike Ticher reports that about 50% of all passengers and staff at Singapore airport are wearing masks, despite the Singapore government’s instruction that there is no need to do so unless people are feeling unwell.
Health checks in place for coronavirus at Singapore’s Changi airport this morning. It’s pretty quiet, and lots of people in masks, as you might expect. Traffic here was 25% down in first two weeks of Feb, per @STcom. pic.twitter.com/oMnefWDri1
There are few outward signs of unease about coronavirus at Singapore airport, although the waiting areas seem sparsely populated on Saturday morning. Traffic at the airport was reported to be 25% down in the first two weeks of February.
Singapore is one of the countries identified by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee where the coronavirus situation is of particular concern.
In LAX, the flight crews are wearing masks.
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has recommended that ministers and diplomats skip travelling to a meeting in New York of the Commission on the Status of Women due to the coronavirus outbreak, Reuters reports.
More than 7,000 people usually attend the annual meeting, officials said, which is dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. It is due to be held from March 9 to 20.
However, in a letter to UN member states from the chair of the commission, Armenia’s UN Ambassador Mher Margaryan said Guterres had recommended that member states “shorten and scale down the session” and cancel dozens of side events.
BREAKING (AP): Health officials in Washington state announce two new coronavirus cases. One in Everett, one in Federal Way.
The most recent coronavirus case in the United States has led to the temporary closure of an elementary school in Portland after authorities confirmed that the infected person worked at the school.
The new case in Oregon — the first in that state — was reported on Friday. It’s the third case of unknown origin in the US.
“The case was not a person under monitoring or a person under investigation. The individual had neither a history of travel to a country where the virus was circulating, nor is believed to have had a close contact with another confirmed case the two most common sources of exposure,” the Oregon Health Authority said in a statement.
The Lake Oswego School District sent a robocall to parents saying that Forest Hills Elementary will be closed until Wednesday so it can be deep-cleaned by maintenance workers.
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, held a meeting of party officials on Friday calling for stronger efforts to control the novel coronavirus, saying there would be serious consequences if it spread into his country.
South Korea has the second highest number of infections outside mainland China, but North Korea is yet to report a confirmed case. This image was released by Korea’s Central News Agency, showing Kim Jong Un observing a Korean People’s Army joint strike drill at an undisclosed location.
Only one of the 61 (or 62, the numbers are unclear) confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States represents a patient who is still in hospital, vice president Mike Pence said on Friday.
There have been 15 confirmed cases in the US and 46 — or 47, according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention — cases among people who returned to the country from overseas and were quarantined. Reuters says a CDC spokeswoman was not able to explain the difference in the numbers.
Fairview Developmental Center in Costa Mesa apparently no longer being considered by feds as a place to house people infected with the #coronavirus This is news release from county. @KTLA pic.twitter.com/6G82FTWwwW
There has been another case of unknown origin reported in the United States, bringing the total number of cases of unknown origin to three.
According to the statement, the infected individual identified as a resident of Washington County neither had history of travel to a country where the virus was circulating, nor is believed to have had a close contact with another confirmed case.
Public health officials are considering it a likely community-transmitted case, which means that the origin of the infection is unknown, the statement added.
Queensland Health has just sent through a press statement with a few more details on that Gold Coast case.
The beauty salon was Hair Plus at the Australia Fair shopping centre. But the woman in question did facials and other beauty treatments — not haircuts. That’s significant because beauty treatments, in this salon, were much shorter appointments.
Health minister Steven Miles said the risk of the virus spreading in Queensland remained very low.
There are nine confirmed cases in Queensland. This latest case brings the number of confirmed cases in Australia to 25.
We know we will be seeing an epidemic here in Queensland eventually. We would like to contain that as much as possible, as we have been.
I am very very confident here in Queensland, because of the. warning that we have been given.... that we will see [mortality] rates even lower than that.
We are doing everything we can from a health perspective to contain the virus but it is impacting on business, it is impacting on the economy.... in the same way that a disaster does.
The Queensland health minister, Steven Miles, spoke just now in Brisbane now about the latest coronavirus case in Australia, which is a 63-year-old woman who recently returned from Iran.
The woman flew back on Monday 24 February, and was not unwell on the flight. She began to feel unwell on Thursday 27 February, and authorities are trying to trace anyone who may have come into contact with the woman while she was working as a beautician on the Gold Coast on Thursday.
It’s a very brief interaction so the risk is very low.
If you didn’t go to that salon then there is no need to have any concern at all.
If you are unsure about the seriousness of the coronavirus — and there has been some fairly confused information about this — science correspondent Hannah Devlin has busted some of the most common myths.
For one, she writes that while we do not know a precise fatality rate for Covid-19, current estimates are a fatality rate of about 1%.
This would make Covid-19 about 10 times more deadly than seasonal flu, which is estimated to kill between 290,000 and 650,000 people a year globally.
Related: Yes, it is worse than the flu: busting the coronavirus myths
Here is a bit more on that announcement from the United States to delay a regional ASEAN summit scheduled to take place in Las Vegas in two weeks time.
The United States has delayed a regional ASEAN summit scheduled to take place in Las Vegas next month due to fears of the coronavirus, a senior administration official said Friday.
“As the international community works together to defeat the novel coronavirus, the United States, in consultation with ASEAN partners, has made the difficult decision to postpone the ASEAN leaders meeting,” said the official on condition of not being named.
Trump had skipped an ASEAN summit and parallel East Asia Summit last year in Bangkok.
He instead sent his national security advisor Robert O’Brien, in the lowest-level participation ever by the United States in the East Asia Summit.
Hello and welcome to our continued live coverage of the coronavirus outbreak.
This is where the situation stands: