Coronavirus news – live: PM says virus likely to 'spread a bit more' after twelve new cases reported in UK
Boris Johnson has said the coronavirus will “likely spread a bit more” after the UK saw its highest daily leap in new cases, with 13 people testing positive.
Speaking at a public health facility in north London, he refused to be drawn on specific measures that could be necessary, but said there would “be questions we’ll need to consider about very big public events – that kind of thing”.
It came after reports emerged of the government’s contingency proposals, which could see Britons being urged to work from home to prevent the spread of the virus.
As part of the PM’s so-called “battle plan”, recently-retired doctors and nurses could be asked to return to work in the NHS if the coronavirus outbreak worsens.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has admitted more cases are “likely” in the US after the country recorded its first death from the outbreak in the state of Washington, and officials scrambled to find the source of the transmission.
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Israel has confirmed three more cases of the coronavirus, bringing the total number of patients who have been diagnosed the country to 10, Reuters reports.
Israel's health ministry said two of the people had brought the virus back after a trip to Italy and a third caught it locally. All three have light symptoms, the ministry said.
Nigerian authorities contact 100 people amid exposure fears
Nigerian authorities have contacted around 100 people who may have been exposed to an Italian man who is the country's first coronavirus patient, in a bid to stop an outbreak in Africa's most populous country, Reuters reports.
The case, the first in sub-Saharan Africa, has prompted fears the virus could spread quickly in Lagos. The densely populated commercial capital of 20 million people is the biggest city in a country of some 200 million inhabitants.
Health experts are concerned about an outbreak in a region where health systems are already overburdened with cases of malaria, measles, Ebola and other infectious diseases.
The Italian man arrived in Lagos on 24 February from Milan on a Turkish Airlines flight that had a connection in Istanbul. The following day he travelled to neighbouring Ogun state and was in the country for almost two full days before being isolated.
Asked about the number of people Nigerian authorities had been in touch with who may have had contact with the man, Lagos state Health Commissioner Akin Abayomi said: "It is around 100 people but that number is increasing every minute."
Nicola Sturgeon has released a statement on Scotland's first case, saying: "Our first thoughts must be with the patient diagnosed with coronavirus, I wish them a speedy recovery."
All four countries in the UK have now confirmed cases of the virus.
The patient is a resident of the Tayside area - in the country's centre - and has recently travelled from northern Italy, the government said in a statement.
The patient is being transferred to hospital and clinicians have already begun contact tracing. Nicola Sturgeon has chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government Resilience Committee this evening and will be taking part in UK's Cobra meeting tomorrow.
Scotland was the first UK country to suspect cases, in Edinburgh, but those potential patients, and since then nearly 700 others, have tested negative.
Official Iran death toll climbs as UK announces embassy withdrawal
54 people have now died after contracting the virus, a health ministry spokesperson told state TV, adding the number of people infected had reached 978.
Iran has had the highest number of deaths from the coronavirus outside of China, although on Friday health workers told BBC Persia that the true death toll may actually total more than 200. The government accused the broadcaster of spreading lies.
Meanwhile, the UK has announced a withdrawal of all non-essential embassy staff and their families, warning it will have limited ability to help Britons in the country if the outbreak deteriorates.
The decision comes after the husband of detained British-Iranian Naznin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, implored Boris Johnson to ensure UK nationals held in the prison were protected, as she shared concerns that she had caught the virus.
At least eight Iranian MPs - including the minister in charge of overseeing the outbreak - have been infected, with one having died as a result.
School closes in Ireland after contact with first confirmed case
A secondary school has been closed after its pupils and teachers were confirmed as having been in contact with Ireland's first coronavirus patient.
The closure comes less than 24 hours after authorities confirmed a man living in the east of the country had contracted the virus in northern Italy.
Chief medical officer Dr Holohan said the male had subsequently been in the school, which is also in the east of the country. It will close for 14 days, and all pupils and teachers are being asked to restrict their movements.
UK to withdraw all non-essential embassy staff from Iran as FCO warns ability to help Britons in country could become 'limited'
The Foreign Office has confirmed that non-essential staff, and their families, are to be pulled out of the British Embassy in Tehran.
In updated travel advice for Iran, the Whitehall department said: "As of March 1, dependants and some staff from the British Embassy are being withdrawn from Iran due to the ongoing coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.
"Essential staff needed to continue critical work will remain. In the event that the situation deteriorates further, the ability of the British Embassy to provide assistance to British nationals from within Iran may be limited."
Yesterday, it emerged that a British-Iranian detained in Iran, Naznin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, feared she had caught the virus. A campaign to free her, led by her husband, implored Boris Johnson to ensure UK nationals held in the prison were protected.
Louvre closure due to 'almost unanimous' staff vote, union member says
Visitors hoping to enter the legendary Paris museum were left disappointed today as an emergency meeting was held to discuss the building's operational status, after the government announced a ban on gatherings of more than 5,000 people.
Staff voted "almost unanimously" to close the museum - which admits more than 5,000 visitors a day - a labour union official, Christian Galani, told AFP.
Workers are demanding increased protective measures, including widely available hand sanitising gel and window barriers to separate cashiers from the public, the French news agency reported.
Our correspondent, Ashley Cowburn, is at the public health centre where Boris Johnson is speaking. He reports:
Asked whether Monday’s emergency meeting of the government’s Cobra meeting – to be chaired by Mr Johnson – was “soon enough”, he replied: “Well, as you know, there have been many, many Corba meetings in the course of the last few days, since the outbreak began. I’m very confident that this country has the capacity to deal with it.
“We will be setting out various measures as the disease progresses, if it progresses in the way that we think it may. We will be setting out the various measures that we think the public bodies should be responding.”
Pressed on what tactics the government may use to contain the spread of Covid-19, the PM added: “Well I don’t want to go now into the kind of things that might be necessary. But you can imagine that obviously they’ll be questions we’ll need to consider about very big public events – that kind of thing.
“The crucial thing for the public to understand is coronavirus is of concern. It’s a novel illness but it’s something that this country really, amply has the resources to deal with. We have state of the art testing facilities. We will have to get through this, but believe me we are going to beat it.”
PM says virus will likely 'spread a bit more' after UK records largest jump in new cases
"We've found about 35 people in this country have, or have had, the illness," Boris Johnson said during a visit to PHE's National Infection Service in Colindale, north London.
"Clearly there may be more, that's likely to spread a bit more, and it's vital therefore that people understand that we do have a great plan, a plan to tackle the spread of coronavirus."
"And I am very, very confident that in the NHS we have the professionals who will be well able to cope with it."
Boris Johnson visits a laboratory at the PHE National Infection Service in Colindale, north London. Credit: Henry Nicholls/PA Wire
Italy death toll reaches 34 as cases soar by 40 per cent
Five people have died the past 24 hours after contracting the virus, Italy's Civil Protection Agency, with some 1,694 people found to be infected – a spike of 40 per cent.
Of those infected, 83 people had recovered. The contagion came to light 10 days ago and is focused on a handful of hotspots in the north of Italy with isolated cases reported in many other regions.
A 62-year-old Italian citizen has is the first person discovered to be suffering with the virus in the Caribbean nation, which shares an island with Haiti.
The man arrived in the country on 22 February without showing symptoms, public health minister Rafael Sanchez Cardenas said. He was being treated in isolation at a military hospital and "has not shown serious complications".
The announcement came shortly before the Braemar cruise ship that had been denied entry to the Dominican Republic due to the virus fears apparently at last found a place to dock — the Dutch territory of St. Maarten.
Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines said at least some of the passengers would be flown to Britain aboard chartered airliners.
Still unclear how first US person to die from coronavirus contracted disease, senior official admits
The US health secretary has admitted it is unclear how the first American to die from coronavirus contracted the disease as there is no evidence he had a connection to someone who had travelled to an outbreak area.
Federal and state officials are continuing to investigate the case, Alex Azar told CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday.
However, Mr Azar has insisted that the risk to average Americans remains low and aggressive containment measures are in place – although more cases are likely.
New cases in Bahrain and Iraq as coronavirus spreads through Middle East
New cases of coronavirus linked to Iran have been reported in Bahrain and Iraq as the Middle East continued to grapple with one of the world’s worst outbreaks on Sunday.
Bahrain's ministry of health has confirmed six new cases, raising the country’s total number to 47 cases, according to the state news agency.
The six cases were five Bahraini citizens and a Saudi national who arrived in Bahrain on indirect flights from Iran.
Iraq has also reported six new cases, bringing its total number of cases to 19, the country’s health ministry said.
The ministry said two of the six cases were in Baghdad, while the other four were in Sulaimaniya, and all the patients had recently returned from Iran.
South Korean sect leader could face homicide investigation over outbreak
The leader of a religious sect connected to South Korea’s coronavirus outbreak could face a homicide investigation over deaths from the disease, reports say.
Officials in the capital of Seoul have asked prosecutors to charge Lee Man-hee, the founder of the Shincheonji Church, and 11 other people who are accused of failing to provide accurate information for members who are linked to outbreak.
More than half of all infections in South Korea are believed to involve members of the Shincheonji Church, which is a fringe Christian group, or people who came into contact with them.
Park Won-soon, the mayor of Seoul, wrote in a Facebook post that the church’s behaviour was tantamount to “murder through to wilful negligence”, the New York Times reported.
The church has said it is fully cooperating with the government as health officials attempt to trace infected people.
South Korea has 3,736 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with 20 deaths, according to the WHO’s latest figures.Source: AP
US health secretary defends Trump’s ‘hoax’ comment about coronavirus
The US health secretary has defended Donald Trump after the president referred to coronavirus as a “new hoax” by his opponents to undermine him.
The president has complained about Democrats who have criticised his administration’s response to the outbreak and accused them of “politicising” the issue.
On ABC’s This Week, George Stephanopoulos asked the health secretary, Alex Azar, if it was appropriate “in any way” for Mr Trump to use the word “hoax” in connection to the outbreak.
“He’s talking about the partisan sniping that we’re seeing,” Mr Azar replied, without saying if he thought it was appropriate for the president to use the word.
“It’s unnecessary, we don’t need to have this made into a political issue. We’re in a public health crisis here.”
The Czech Republic’s health minister has confirmed his country’s first three cases of coronavirus.
Health officials said at a news conference on Sunday that the three patients showed mild symptoms and had travelled from places in northern Italy, which currently has the worst outbreak in Europe.
All results negative after nearly 700 people tested for coronavirus in Scotland
Nearly 700 people have been tested for coronavirus in Scotland, with all results coming back negative so far, as 12 new cases were identified in England on Sunday.
The Scottish government has said 698 tests have been carried out, up from 630 on Saturday.
Although there have been no confirmed cases yet, health officials in Scotland have decided to begin testing some people with flu-like symptoms for the virus even if they have not visited affected areas.
“Scotland is well-prepared for a significant outbreak of coronavirus but there is currently no treatment or vaccine,” Dr Catherine Calderwood, Scotland’s chief medical officer, said.
“Early detection measures will be vital in helping to prevent the spread of the virus in the event of an outbreak.
“Hospitals and GP surgeries will now conduct tests on some patients with coughs, fevers or shortness of breath - regardless of whether they have travelled to a place where the virus is known to be spreading.”
Dr Calderwood has also urged members of the public to follow basic hygiene precautions, such as washing hands frequently, to prevent the spread of the virus.Source: PA
Three more people have tested positive for coronavirus in Lebanon after arriving from Iran, the country’s health ministry has said.
The new cases bring the total in the country to 10.
The three patients, who had been in isolation at home, were quarantined at a Beirut hospital after showing symptoms, the ministry said in a statement.
Lebanon is one of a number of countries which have closed schools this week and halted flights for non-residents from countries with major outbreaks, such as China, Iran, Italy and South Korea.
