This was published 6 years ago
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Seoul: South Korean officials have warned against prematurely calling the peak of the coronavirus outbreak while expressing hope the country is nearing a "turning point" in the crisis as the pace of new infections slowed.
The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 69 new coronavirus cases on Monday. The new cases brought South Korea's total infections to 7382, while the death toll rose by one to 51, the KCDC said. The rate of increase in new infections fell to its lowest level in 10 days.
"I'm still extremely cautious but there's hope we can reach a turning point in the near future," Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said on Monday before returning to Seoul from the hard-hit southeastern city of Daegu.
Health authorities say the number of new infections being identified has dwindled as most of the roughly 200,000 followers of a fringe Christian church at the centre of the epidemic in Daegu have now been tested.
The Roosters have swapped hand shakes for fist bumps at their Moore Park headquarters as the coronavirus threat starts to play on the minds of NRL clubs.
Roosters players greeted reporters on Monday with fist bumps instead of handshakes and co-captain Jake Friend revealed the back-to-back premiers had started taking additional precautions in recent days.
Singapore will allow cruise ship Costa Fortuna to dock in the city-state after it was turned away from ports in Malaysia and Thailand over coronavirus fears.
Costa Fortuna departed from Singapore, where it is home-ported, on March 3.
Italian cruise line Costa Crociere says there are no suspected virus cases among its guests, which includes Italians. Italy has the largest number of cases of the virus outside China, with 7375 infections.
The operator says the ship was not allowed to enter Penang port in Malaysia due to restrictions on Italian travellers and it was not allowed to stop in Thailand due to unspecified travel restrictions.
"Defence can confirm that it was advised, at 11.00am 9 March 2020, of a third positive case of COVID-19. Having tested positive to COVID-19, the member has been isolated,” a statement read.
“The member was being managed as a close contact of a known positive COVID-19 case external to Defence."
The ADF said the new case is a member of a naval ship’s company that was in port in Sydney.
“Defence is cooperating with NSW Health authorities to contact, isolate, test and support those involved," the statement read.
Now that we know that it's bad to touch our faces, how do we break a habit that most of us didn't know we had?
Throughout the day, we touch a lot of surfaces — doorknobs, elevator buttons, subway poles — where viruses, including the new coronavirus, can linger for days. From there, microbes can piggyback on our fingertips to our noses, mouths or eyes, all of which are entry portals for the coronavirus, as well as other viruses and germs.
The US Surgeon General Jerome Adams has begged people to stay away from work, and for employers to offer paid sick leave and flexibility to employees.
"Americans: if you are sick with fever/cough/ flu symptoms, please don’t go to work!" he wrote on Twitter.
"Employers: PLEASE understand giving your employees flexibility and (paid) sick leave will save you money in the long run- it’s much cheaper than shutting down because everyone else gets sick!"
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard warned students against taking the risk of coronavirus too lightly since young people tend to exhibit less severe symptoms, such as a runny nose or cough.
"This particular virus impacts generally young people in a very, very light way. The symptoms are not profound," he said.
"But it's not a joking matter. I have heard of students thinking it's a joke and they can perhaps cough and splutter on each other ... While you may be lucky enough to be in a group that's unlikely to have a serious consequence, your mums, your dads, your grandparents, aunties and uncles may be in a different position."
Mr Scott said the education department was translating health messages into community languages and disseminating them to families."
The advice we have heard from NSW Health has been quite clear. If your child has a heavy cold, a sore throat, a cough, has flu-like symptoms or is running a fever, then we don't want those children at school at the moment," he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday Israel might broaden its entry restrictions over coronavirus fears to include visitors from all countries.
Israel already requires travellers arriving from more than a dozen countries and territories in Europe and Asia to go into home quarantine for 14 days.
The measure has effectively cut off tourism from those countries and led some foreign airlines to suspend flights to Israel. Earlier, the Prime Minister was quoted as saying "This is a global pandemic, whether the CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) calls it such or not."
The number of coronavirus cases in Israel rose to 39 from 25 on Sunday, with no deaths so far, the Health Ministry said. Some 80,000 Israelis are in self-quarantine after returning from travel abroad.
The British comedian, who is in the middle of an Australian tour, announced this afternoon that his Perth show which was scheduled for Monday night would not go ahead.
Mr Brand said that someone who attended a recent show at Perth Concert Hall was confirmed to have tested positive for coronavirus.
The 44-year-old star of Forgetting Sarah Marshall already performed in Brisbane, Canberra, Newcastle, Sydney, and Melbourne over the past fortnight.
His last two shows were set to be tonight in Perth and on Wednesday in Adelaide.
"I am not happy with risk for me or for any of you. My apologies, I hope I see you soon," he wrote on Twitter.