More than 900 people have now died in mainland China from the coronavirus that emerged in the central city of Wuhan at the end of last year as the World Health Organization (WHO) deployed an expert team to the country to investigate the outbreak.
China’s National Health Commission reported there were 97 new fatalities from the virus on February 9, making Sunday the deadliest day so far.
The new fatalities brought the death toll on the mainland to 908, most of them in Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei province.
A total of 40,171 infections have been confirmed nationwide. At least 25 countries have confirmed cases and several nations have evacuated their citizens from Hubei. Major airlines have suspended flights to and from China in an attempt to stop the spread.
With more cases being discovered across the world WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, also noted there were “concerning instances” of the spread of the virus among people with no travel history to China. He urged countries to prepare for the possible arrival of the infection, but stressed people should remain calm.
Two deaths have been recorded outside mainland China – one in Hong Kong and one in the Philippines.
Here are the latest updates:
Monday, February 10
Sixty more people confirmed with coronavirus on cruise ship in Japan – TBS TV
Testing aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan has found 60 more confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, domestic broadcaster TBS TV said via Twitter.
That brings total cases on the ship docked in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, to 130, according to TBS.
The liner was placed on a two-week quarantine after arriving at Yokohama on Feb. 3.Coronavirus sends China prices higher
Consumer prices in China rose the fastest in more than eight years in January, official data showed on Monday.
The consumer price index (CPI), a key gauge of retail inflation, came in at 5.4 percent in January, up from 4.5 percent in December as prices of pork and fresh vegetables rose.
Food prices spiked 20.6 percent.
The new coronavirus has disrupted businesses, travel and supply chains and is already affecting Hong Kong’s economy.
Southeast Asian countries popular with tourists from mainland China are also feeling the pinch.
Golf: LPGA cancels Thailand, Singapore events due to coronavirus
The LPGA Tour, the elite women’s professional golf circuit, said on Monday it was cancelling tournaments in Thailand and Singapore that were supposed to take place later this month because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The LGPA said it would not hold the Honda LPGA Thailand event in Pattaya, which was scheduled for February 20-23, or the HSBC Women’s World Championship, which was supposed to take place in Singapore from February 27 – March 1.
“It is always a difficult decision to cancel events and the LPGA greatly appreciates the understanding and all the efforts made by our title sponsors as well as IMG to host incredible events for our players,” it said.
“The health and safety of our players, fans and everyone working on the event is always our highest priority.”
WHO expresses concern about virus among people with no China travel history
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there had been “concerning instances” of coronavirus among people who had no history of travelling to China and urged all countries to prepare for the possible arrival of the virus.
“The detection of a small number of cases may indicate more widespread transmission in other countries; in short, we may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg,” Tedros said in a series of tweets on Monday morning.
Announcing an advance team for a WHO-led international expert mission to China led by Dr Bruce Aylward, a “veteran of past public health emergencies” was on its way to the country, he urged countries to share their knowledge about the virus with the agency in real-time and to remain calm.
Source: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
