NE NEWS SERVICE
ROME. FEB 27
Coronavirus cases spread beyond the outbreak’s European hotspot Italy – where 12 people have died so far – on Wednesday, as the European Union and the world scrambled to contain the deadly epidemic that is fast growing outside China’s borders.
New cases linked to Italy – the hardest hit European country – have emerged in several countries in Europe and beyond, amid warnings from health experts that nations are not ready to contain a global outbreak.
Italy’s financial hub Milan grappled on Wednesday with a worsening of the coronavirus outbreak, as business events including the annual Salone del Mobile design fair were delayed or cancelled.
The novel coronavirus has killed over 2,700 people and infected more than 80,000, the vast majority in China. But on Wednesday the World Health Organisation said more new cases were now being clocked outside China than inside the country.
Greece confirmed its first case Wednesday, a woman who had recently travelled to northern Italy.
Italians or people who had recently visited the north of the country have tested positive in Greece, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Croatia and France since the weekend, showing how fast the illness could spread.
Six schools were closed in the UK while others asked pupils or staff members who had visited northern Italy to remain at home.
Croatia has cancelled all school trips for the coming 30 days.
Around a dozen people are under quarantine in Romania after having travelled to one or other of the 11 sealed-off Italian towns.
Brazil confirms first case
Brazil’s health ministry on Wednesday said a Sao Paulo resident has been diagnosed with coronavirus, the first such case recorded in Latin America.
Nations ‘simply not ready’
A World Health Organisation official warned that nations were “simply not ready” to contain the outbreak.
“You have to be ready to manage this at a larger scale… and it has to be done fast,” said WHO’s Bruce Aylward, who headed an international expert mission to China to assess containment measures.
In Asia, South Korea remains the worst-affected country after China, with the outbreak traced to a religious sect in the southern city of Daegu. South Korea reported 284 new infections Wednesday – its largest daily increase to date – taking the overall national tally to 1,261, with the death toll rising to 12.
A 23-year-old US soldier stationed at Camp Carroll in Daegu was also infected. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans to prepare, saying that while the immediate risk there was low the global situation suggested a pandemic was likely. Japan reported two more deaths linked to the coronavirus Wednesday. The news came as dozens of passengers allowed off a virus-stricken cruise ship were reported to have developed symptoms including fever, and will be asked to be retested for the virus. AGENCIES
