▶️ The mayor of San Antonio, Texas, declared a “public health emergency” from coronavirus in the second-most populous city in Texas on Monday, days after a woman who had been quarantined and then released into the city later tested positive. A request by the US city of San Antonio for a restraining order to keep Diamond Princess cruise ship evacuees in quarantine has been denied by a federal judge.
▶️ The novel coronavirus has killed more than 3,100 people, the vast majority in mainland China. There are over 90,000 global cases, with infections in more than 70 countries and territories.
▶️ WHO is concerned about epidemics in four countries: South Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan. “In the last 24 hours, there were almost nine times more cases reported outside China than inside China”.
▶️ Five Dallas police officers sent home after arresting man now being watched for symptoms of coronavirus. Five officers who came in contact with the 24-year-old will return to work, police say.
▶️ Six people have died in the United States, including residents of a nursing care facility. American authorities have reported 102 cases nationwide, and infected patients have been treated in 14 states. But a genetic analysis of the virus in Washington State, where the deaths occurred, suggested that the illness could have been spreading within the community for as long as six weeks before the first case was detected. Spread in New York is likely, officials warn after first case.
▶️ There are two suspected cases of COVID-19, the coronavirus, in Ciudad Juarez, according to officials with the El Paso Public Health Department.
▶️ The death toll in mainland China is now 2,943. At least 172 deaths have been reported outside mainland China.
▶️ Here are the other countries that have reported coronavirus deaths: Iran: 66 deaths; Italy: 52; South Korea: 28; Japan: 12; United States: 6; Hong Kong: 2; France: 2. The Philippines, Taiwan, Australia, and Thailand have each have reported 1 death from the coronavirus.
▶️ 600 new infections pushed South Korea total past 4,800, including 29 deaths – the biggest outbreak outside mainland China. Church leader at the center of South Korea’s epidemic offers an apology.
▶️ The director general of the World Health Organization has warned that the virus has brought the world into “unchartered territory.” Countries should not give up on containing the virus, W.H.O. says.
▶️ Japan currently has 268 patients who were infected by the coronavirus, says the country’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. The figure does not include passengers and crew from the Diamond Princess cruise ship. One of the hardest-hit areas is the northern prefecture of Hokkaido, which has at least 72 cases.
▶️ Italy now has 1,835 coronavirus cases, including more than 1,200 in the Lombardy region, which includes Milan. Italy’s Health Ministry says 52 people have died after developing COVID-19. Nearly 1,000 people are currently living in isolation in their homes, and 742 people are hospitalized — including 166 who are in intensive care.
▶️ Iran is reporting 1,501 cases, including 54 deaths, according to the WHO’s regional office in the eastern Mediterranean. That total represents a significant spike: Iran’s deputy health minister, Ali-Reza Raeesi, said 523 new cases had been added to the total since Sunday, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. Coronavirus kills an adviser to Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei.
▶️ U.S. imposes stricter screening on travelers from South Korea and Italy. Vice President Pence had announced that the State Department would issue its highest-level warning, a “do not travel” alert, for areas of Italy and South Korea most affected by the virus. President Trump says his job is to protect American patients.
▶️ The European Union raised its alert level from moderate to high on Monday as the number of cases continued to soar and infections cropped up in more places across the Continent. The coronavirus has now spread to 18 of the 27 member states, with more than 2,200 confirmed cases of infection, according to bloc officials, costing member states about $1 billion a month in lost tourism revenues.
▶️ Facebook will skip one of the tech industry’s biggest annual events as companies restrict travel over fears about the novel coronavirus. The company has decided not to attend this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas, it confirmed on Monday.
▶️ Twitter encourages all employees to work from home.
▶️ US officials press airlines to collect more traveler data to aid coronavirus response.
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