Coronavirus outbreak: Death toll outside China passes 1,000

Poultry industry experts say chicken sales have declined by nearly 35 per cent in recent weeks even as the government mounts efforts to counter rumours that deadly coronavirus can be transmitted by consuming it.

Barcelona's Champions League round of 16 return match against Napoli scheduled for March 18 has been ordered to be played behind closed doors because of the coronavirus outbreak, both clubs announced Tuesday.

Kazakhstan has barred entry to travellers from Italy over coronavirus and is adding France, Germany, and Spain to the list from March 12, chief sanitary doctor Zhandarbek Bekshin said on Tuesday.

South Korea, one of the worst-affected countries in the coronavirus epidemic outside China, on Tuesday reported fewer than 150 new cases for the first time in two weeks.

Lebanon recorded its first death from coronavirus on Tuesday, local broadcasters said, adding that the patient had been in quarantine since returning from Egypt.

Kerala government has come out with massive restrictions and regulations to check the spread of Covid-19 in the state. In all 15 cases have been reported from the state and the affected persons have been put under isolation wards of different hospitals. Three Wuhan returned students, who were tested positive for the virus were discharged earlier. Read full story

In Kerala, four positive cases have been reported in Kottayam and two in Pathanmathiita. In total, 12 cases have been reported in the state so far. Parents of the Italy returned person who a re-admitted at Kottayam medical college who are 90 and 85 years old have been tested positive. The two people who had gone to pick the people from airport who had come from Italy have also been tested positive. In Karnataka, three new cases have been reported.

Italy imposed unprecedented national restrictions on its 60 million people to control the deadly coronavirus, as China signalled major progress in its own battle against the global epidemic, news agency AFP reported.

The coronavirus outbreak could cost the global economy up to $2 trillion this year, the UN's trade and development agency said, warning that shock from the epidemic will cause a recession in some countries and depress global annual growth to below 2.5 per cent.

Oil prices bounced 8% from the biggest one-day rout in nearly 30 years, as investors eyed the possibility of economic stimulus amid a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia and as new virus cases slowed in China. Oil rates plunged 25% on Monday, dropping to their lowest since February 2016 and recording their biggest one-day percentage declines since January 17, 1991, when the prices fell at the outset of the US Gulf War.

Cyprus' largest medical facility suspended most services, authorities said, after a medical doctor heading the heart surgical ward tested positive for coronavirus.

Canada has recorded its first death from the new coronavirus, health officials in the westernmost province of British Columbia have announced. The victim, a man living at an elderly care facility, "was infected with COVID-19 (and) passed away last night," the province's health officer Bonnie Henry said.

Remdesivir, a drug developed for use against Ebola, a viral illness that caused major outbreaks in remote villages in Central Africa in 2014, may be world’s best hope to treat persons suffering from Covid-19. Read full story

There is widespread panic across the world about Covid-19 caused by the novel coronavirus. But what does this insidious infection agent do to the human body? There are some answers after a review of nearly 56,000 Covid-19 cases from China, the country of origin of the perilous spread. Read full story

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Wuhan on Tuesday for his first visit to the epicentre of the country's coronavirus epidemic since the crisis erupted in January, news agency AFP reported.

Qantas announced it was grounding most of its Airbus A380 fleet and its CEO would forgo his salary as the airline slashed international flights in response to the coronavirus epidemic.