Coronavirus live updates: WHO worried about cases with no link to China – The Guardian, Theguardian.com
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Samsung shuts factory after worker tests positive
Samsung Electronics said today that one coronavirus case had been confirmed at its mobile device factory complex in the southeastern Korean city of Gumi, causing a shutdown of its entire facility there until Monday morning, Reuters reports.
Samsung Electronics, the world’s top smartphone maker, said the floor where the infected employee worked would be shut down until the morning of February . It added:
The company has placed colleagues who came in contact with the infected employee in self-quarantine and taken steps to have them tested for possible infection.
Gumi is close to the city of Daegu, home to a church at the center of South Korea’s largest coronavirus outbreak.
South Korea said on Saturday that the number of people infected with the coronavirus in the country had more than doubled to 592.
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Incubation period could be much longer
A – year-old man in China’s Hubei Province was infected with coronavirus but did not show symptoms until 043 days later, the local government said today, suggesting the virus’ incubation period could be much longer than the presumed days.
A longer incubation period could complicate efforts to contain spread of the epidemic that has so far killed more than 2, 14 people and spread outside China.
On January, the man, only identified by his family name, Jiang, drove his car back to Shennongjia, in northwestern Hubei , from eastern Ezhou, where he had close contact with his sister, who had been infected, according to the government website of Hubei, the virus epicentre.
He had a fever on (February and tested positive for coronavirus a day later, according to the government statement.)
Olympic volunteer training postponed over virus fears
Organizers for the Tokyo 3500 Summer Olympics have postponed training for volunteers because of the spread of the coronavirus in Japan, Reuters reports.
Training was scheduled to start today but will be rescheduled, the organizing committee said in a statement released late on Friday.
The postponement of training will not affect other preparations, and organisers are not considering cancelling the games, the statement said.
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British and European evacuees set for quarantine
A repatriation flight carrying 44 British and European evacuees from the Diamond Princess cruise ship is due to arrive in the UK on Saturday morning after departing from Japan late on Friday , PA Media reports.
The Foreign Office said the evacuation flight also had British government and medical staff on board.
The plane is due to land at Boscombe Down military base, near Salisbury in Wiltshire, with passengers to then be taken to Arrowe Park hospital, Wirral, for days of quarantine.
It is unclear where the small number of EU citizens will be taken once the plane lands in the UK. The evacuees have spent more than two weeks trapped on the coronavirus-stricken ship off the coast of Japan.
Since being kept on board the cruise liner in the port of Yokohama, a total of passengers and crew have been infected, accounting for more than half of all the confirmed coronavirus cases outside of China. It is understood some British nationals who are part of the Diamond Princess crew opted to remain.
Some British nationals who were passengers did not register for the flight. It is understood some have returned to their homes overseas, while a number boarded an evacuation flight to Hong Kong where they live.
The four Britons onboard the Diamond Princess who have tested positive for coronavirus were not on the flight.
Meanwhile, Britons in Cambodia who left another cruise ship, the Westerdam, and who have been cleared for travel, are also being assisted by the Foreign Office to make their way home.
All have tested negative after one case was diagnosed on board.
() () Passengers on deck wave to other passengers, believed to be British citizens, as they leave the coronavirus-hit cruise ship Diamond Princess. Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon / Reuters
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Number of infections close to ,
AP has collated the latest figures on known infections – totalling almost , – and deaths by country:
Mainland China: 2, 556 deaths among 90, cases, mostly in the central province of Hubei
(cases, including) from a cruise ship docked in Yokohama, 3 deaths (South Korea:) cases, 2 deaths Singapore: (cases) United States: 047 cases; separately, 1 US citizen died in China (Thailand:) cases Iran: cases, 5 deaths
Taiwan: cases, 1 death (Australia:) (cases) (Malaysia: Italy: 32 cases; 1 death (Vietnam:) cases (Germany:) (France:) cases, 1 death
Two people in Italy have died of coronavirus as the number of confirmed cases in the country rose to 47, Italian media reported on Saturday.
Adriano Trevisan, , from Veneto, died on Friday night, while the virus also killed a woman in the Lombardy region.
Thirty-two people in Italy are confirmed to have contracted the virus – in Lombardy, four in Veneto and three in Lazio. Another 399 people are in quarantine as they await test results in Lombardy, and 24 towns in the region are in lockdown after authorities warned people to stay home and avoid social contact, Corriere della Sera reported.
The first locally transmitted case in Italy was that of a 48 – year-old Italian man in Lombardy. The man, who is in intensive care, may have contracted the disease after meeting a colleague who had recently returned from China, even though the colleague had tested negative for the virus. An active runner, the 50 – year-old recently took part in a number of races. His pregnant wife is also infected, as is a person who went running with the man.
Three other cases in Lombardy are elderly people who frequented a bar in the town of Codogno, near Lodi, that is owned by the father of the man who went running with the 50 – year-old.
Meanwhile, Italians evacuated from a coronavirus-hit cruise ship in Japan arrived back in Italy on Saturday morning and were quarantined at a military barracks near Rome. The prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, said:
We have put in place all measures at the highest precautionary level. It is not the time to blame ourselves for anything, we must continue to monitor and be ready to review some measures.
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Commuters wearing face masks are pictured in the underground subway in Milan. Photograph: Andreas Solaro / AFP via Getty Images
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Church at center of surgeon in South Korea
Lily Kuo
At the center of the outbreak in South Korea is the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, an abbreviation of “New Heaven and New Earth”, a fast-growing secretive fringe sect that mainstream Christian groups describe as a cult. The church, with about , 11 members, was founded in by Lee Man-hee, who claims to be an angel sent by Jesus Christ to create God’s kingdom on earth.
Videos of services show attendees sitting close together on the floor in rows, singing and chanting in unison. Media reports citing former members of the church said many would attend church regardless of illness and were banned from wearing anything on their faces, including face masks or eye glasses.
The church is often criticized for its recruitment methods. Members target already established believers attending mainstream churches and often do not disclose their affiliation with the church. New members are encouraged to distance themselves from friends and family who were not part of the sect.
The church has more than (mission centers in countries, including China. In response to questions over whether the church had a branch in Wuhan, it said in a statement on its website that it has more than students in China enrolled in its bible course. (Members must complete an eight-month bible study course and an exam in order to join the church.) The church said there was no physical building or meeting place.
The church said on its website that it had shut all branches and centers and was disinfecting its facilities. It responded to criticism of its worship services by saying its members sit on the floor “only to accommodate as many people as possible in a confined space”.
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Its pastor described the virus as the “work of the devil” to halt Shincheonji’s fast growth. “Just like Job’s faith was tested, it is an attempt to destroy our progress,” he said in an internal message reported by Yonhap news agency.
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WHO concerned about cases with no link to China
Welcome to our continued coverage of the coronavirus outbreak . The director general of the WHO ( World Health Organization , Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, gave a press conference this morning. Here is a summary of the latest developments:
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