February, 2020) South Korean health authorities have registered 219 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday bringing the total number of those infected in the country to 3,150
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th February, 2020) South Korean health authorities have registered 219 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday bringing the total number of those infected in the country to 3,150.
According to the South Korean Health Ministry's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), the coronavirus death toll in the country stands at 17. Twenty-seven people have recovered.
South Korea previously raised the level of the epidemiological threat alert from "orange" to "red." The authorities have called on nationals to stay at home this weekend and avoid participating in mass events, including visiting churches.
The situation also continues to deteriorate in neighboring Japan, where coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the half of 47 country's prefectures
The total number of those infected in the country has reached 945 people, including 705 people from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was placed under quarantine off the Japanese coast nearly a month ago. According to doctors, 11 people died from the disease and about 50 more are in serious condition.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on local governments to close all state educational institutions, from kindergartens to high schools, until the spring holidays in March. Local authorities urged nationals to take maximum efforts to prevent children from leaving home. Abe said on Saturday that the next two weeks will become crucial to contain the spread of the coronavirus, officially dubbed as COVID-19, in the country.
Iran is among the countries that are most affected by the novel coronavirus outbreak with 593 confirmed cases and 43 deaths. A total of 123 people have recovered so far. As of Friday, there were 388 confirmed cases of the disease in the country.
According to the spokesman of the presidium of the Iranian legislative body, Asadullah Abbasi, five members of the Iranian parliament tested positive for COVID-19 out of 100 lawmakers, who underwent medical checking. Other lawmakers are expected to undergo tests.
On Friday, Abbasi said that the parliament had suspended work over the spread of the epidemic.
The Australian authorities have decided to ban entry to the country to all foreigners coming from Iran.
"Iran has very specific characteristics, unfortunately ... They have the highest death rate ... outside of Hubei [a province in China]. There is likely at this stage a high level of undetected cases, and therefore those cases won't be intercepted or identified on departure from Iran," Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said as quoted by ABC broadcaster.
The authorities of El Salvador earlier in the day imposed a ban on the entry of citizens from Iran because of the novel coronavirus.
Over the past 24 hours, new cases of the coronavirus infection were registered in Canada and Georgia among other countries, bringing the total number of cases of the disease in these states to 16 and three respectively.
The spread of the epidemic has also reportedly forced the White House to postpone the meeting of President Donald Trump and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz for an unknown period of time. Kurz planned to leave for Washington on Monday and hold talks with Trump on Tuesday.
