The death toll from the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 in China rose to 2, 663 as of Tuesday, February 25 after 71 new deaths were reported in mainland China. Of this total deaths, 68 deaths were reported from Wuhan city in China’s Hubei province, the epicentre of the virus outbreak.
The World Health Organisation(WHO) has said that it is too early to declare the novel virus a pandemic. However, it said that the countries must be “in a phase of preparedness.” A pandemic refers to a situation when an infectious disease spreads easily from person to person across the world.
“Using the word pandemic now does not fit the facts, but it may certainly cause fear.We do not live in a binary, black-and-white world.It’s not either-or.We must focus on containment, while doing everything we can to prepare for a potential pandemic”-@DrTedros#COVID19
At present, China has 77,658 confirmed cases of the virus. Globally, the virus has infected more than 80,000 people. Meanwhile, with 60 more cases reported in South Korea on Tuesday taking the total number of cases to 893. South Korea now has the most number of cases after China and has so far registered eight deaths due to the virus.
Japan has reported the fourth death of a passenger from the quarantine Diamond Princess ship. At present, the ship has 691 people infected due to the virus.
REPORTS SO FAR TODAYTHAILAND 2 new casesJAPAN 1 new caseSPAIN 1 new caseSOUTH KOREA 60 new casesCHINA 508 new cases 71 DeathsCANADA 1 new caseKUWAIT 2 new cases9th Death in S.K.4th Death ni DP.7 Death in ITALY2 New deaths in IRAN3 New cases KUWAITTHREAD 1/2
Meanwhile, India has arranged a chartered flight to repatriate Indians aboard the cruise ship. Currently, 14 Indians on the vessel are infected.
Furthermore, India is likely to send a military transport aircraft to Wuhan on February 26 to provide relief items and evacuate more Indians stuck there. This would be the third evacuation to be carried out by the country. Earlier 645 people were evacuated from China, all of whom have tested negative for the virus.
Earlier, China had delayed clearance to the C-17 military transport aircraft which was slated to fly on February 20 to Wuhan. China has now given clearance to the aircraft, a health ministry official said.
On Monday, Kuwait, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Iraq and Oman reported their first confirmed cases of the novel virus. In Italy, seven deaths were reported and a total of 229 cases. Meanwhile, in Iran, 12 people have died and there are 47 confirmed cases. Owing to this, Turkey, Pakistan and Armenia have closed their borders with Iran.