(TibetanReview.net, Feb27’20) – Renowned Chinese respiratory specialist Zhong Nanshan expressed confidence that the novel coronavirus outbreak would be basically under control by the end of April as newly cured and discharged patients on the Chinese mainland surpassed that of new infections for the ninth consecutive day on Feb 26, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Feb 27. However, in Guangdong province, about 14 percent of cured patients tested positive for the virus again after they were discharged from hospital and had to be put under medical observation at designated places, report the official chinadaily.com.cn Feb 27. Besides, the Covid-19 infection has been rapidly spreading to more countries, with more than 40 countries being now affected, noted a scmp.com report Feb 27. Australia was warned that a global pandemic is coming.
China’s health authority said Feb 27 it received reports of 433 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 infections and 29 deaths on Feb 26 across the mainland, taking their totals to 78,497 and 2,744 respectively. Of the new cases, 409 of the confirmed infections and 26 of the deaths were reported to have occurred in Hubei Province.
A total of 2,358 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus while a total of 32,495 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.
Hong Kong had 91 confirmed cases, including two deaths, while Macao had 10 confirmed cases.
* * *
In Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was reported Feb 27 to be activating an emergency response plan to deal with the coronavirus, saying the threat of a global pandemic was “now very much upon us”.
”We believe the risk of a global pandemic is very much upon us and as a result as a government we need to take the stacks steps necessary to prepare for such a pandemic,” ft.com Feb 27 quoted Morrison as saying.
President Emmanuel Macron of France has said Feb 27 that his country was preparing for a jump in the number of infections, adding, “We are going to have to deal with it as best as we can”.
“We are facing a crisis, an epidemic, that is coming,” the timesofIndia.com Feb 27 quoted Macron as saying.
* * *
The Covid-19 infection has now reached Latin America, Germany and Pakistan, as the number of new infections outside China outpaced those inside the country for the first time, reported nytimes.com Feb 27 in its Morning Briefing.
In Iran, the virus had infected 245 people and killed 26 people as of Feb 27 at 16:19 PM, IST, reported the AP.
In South Korea, the number of cases surged on Feb 27 morning to 334, bringing the total infections to 1,595, reported scmp.com Feb 27. The report feared that the number of daily infections in South Korea could soon exceed those in China.
South Korea also announced Feb 27 its 13th death from the infection. The patient, a 74-year-old man, was stated to be a member of the secretive Shincheonji Church of Jesus.
In Italy, a total of 400 people tested positive for the infection, up by 26 from the official tally released at noon on Feb 26, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Feb 26, citing Civil Protection chief and Extraordinary Commissioner for the Coronavirus Emergency Angelo Borrelli Feb 26 evening.
There was one more death from the infection in Italy, taking the total to 13.
Sweden had its second Covid-19 case on Feb 26, a man in his 30s who had recently returned from Italy, said a Xinhua report Feb 26.
Croatia had its third confirmed case on Feb 26, with the patient being a 25-year-old man who had attended a football game in Milan and was working in Parma in northern Italy.
Finland reported the first case of Finnish national diagnosed with coronavirus infection on Feb 27. The patient, a working-age Finnish woman, was stated to have caught the disease while visiting Milan, Northern Italy.
Pakistan had its first Covid-19 case confirmed on Feb 26. The patient was stated to be a man who was travelling from Iran to the country’s southern port city of Karachi.
Latin America’s first coronavirus case was confirmed in Brazil on Feb 26. The infected man had traveled to Italy, where the virus is spreading.
