Coronavirus outbreak: Death toll outside China passes 1,000

The global death toll from the new coronavirus passed 4,000 on Tuesday, according to AFP figures, as China reported 17 new deaths. The toll reached 4,011 in the outbreak that has spread to over 100 countries with more than 110,000 cases of infection.

The number of novel coronavirus cases in India touched 46 on Monday with seven more persons testing positive since Sunday — two in Pune and one each from Kerala’s Ernakulam, Delhi, UP, Amritsar and Jammu. A 3-year-old child in Kerala, who had returned from Italy, was among those infected. The count rose late on Monday after a Pune couple, who had returned from Dubai on March 1, tested positive. Read full story

External affairs minister S Jaishankar arrived on a surprise visit to Kashmir on Monday and met the relatives of those people, including students, who are stranded in Iran amidst coronavirus scare. Over 100 relatives of those stranded had gathered to meet the minister and they demanded that the Centre airlift them from Iran immediately. Read full story

The govt has directed 20 key ministries and departments to identify facilities that can be used as quarantine centres and converted to temporary hospitals with isolation facilities. The armed forces as well as central paramilitary forces have also been asked to prepare quarantine facilities at their hospitals and health centres with a bed capacity to admit over 5,400 people at 37 locations. Read full story

The number of novel coronavirus cases in India reached 44 on Monday with five more persons testing positive since Sunday — one each from Kerala’s Ernakulam, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Amritsar and Jammu. The new cases included a three-year-old child in Kerala who had returned from Italy. A total of 41 cases are currently active while three have been discharged.

A prominent Conservative leader who shook hands with an individual subsequently diagnosed with coronavirus then went on to shake hands with US President Donald Trump and his family members, triggering concerns among Washington’s political elite about how close the virus has gotten to the center of power. Read full story

The new virus, to which no one has immunity, causes more severe diseases than the seasonal flu, WHO said indicating that more people are susceptible to infection than was estimated and some will suffer severe disease. “Globally about 3.4% of reported Covid-19 cases have died. By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. Read full story