World update on coronavirus: 2 who tested positive on ship die
Here’s the latest on the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected nearly 350,000 people and killed over 14,700. The covid-19 illness causes mild or moderate symptoms in most people, but severe symptoms are more likely in the elderly or those with existing health problems. More than 98,800 people have recovered so far, mostly in China.
From Japan
Japan’s health ministry said Monday that two former passengers of a cruise ship died, becoming the ninth and 10th fatalities from the Diamond Princess.
The two men had tested positive for the virus while on board and were treated at hospitals. The ministry didn’t disclose the direct cause of their deaths.
Japan now has 1,801 confirmed cases, including 712 from the ship. The death toll now totals 51, including 10 from the ship.
From Poland
One of Poland’s biggest hospitals, the University Hospital in Krakow, has closed almost all wards to new patients after a few of its employees tested positive for coronavirus.
Only the contagious diseases ward, dedicated to treating covid-19, remains open. All patients in the hospital will be tested for coronavirus during the week, or some seven days after they had contact with the infected medics. Experts say that to be effective, the tests need to be taken about a week after potential exposure to the virus.
The hospital provides educational and practical base to medicine students of the Jagiellonian University. All schools and universities in Poland were closed earlier this month in an effort to fight the spreading virus.
A nation of 38 million, Poland has confirmed 649 cases of coronavirus infection. Seven patients have died.
From Vatican City
Pope Francis has canceled his planned day trip to Malta on May 31 because of the coronavirus.
The Vatican on Monday made official what was widely expected, given Italy’s nationwide lockdown to try to contain the virus and Malta’s decision to bar air traffic from Italy. Italy is the epicenter of covid-19 in Europe, registering nearly 60,000 infections and more than 5,400 deaths.
The May 31 trip had been Francis’ only confirmed foreign trip of 2020. The Vatican said it would be rescheduled.
He had hoped to travel to Iraq this year, but those hopes were dashed after the security situation deteriorated following a U.S. airstrike that killed an Iranian general. Francis was also rumored to be planning a trip to Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea. But local church officials in East Timor said that trip too, was off.
Despite the virus, Francis is continuing to meet daily with his top advisers.
From France
Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga are the latest luxury fashion labels ramping up supplies of surgical masks to help the fight against covid-19.
The Kering Group, which owns the labels, says French workshops that usually make luxury clothes for Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga will switch over to manufacturing masks. It says production will begin “as soon as the manufacturing process and materials have been approved by the relevant authorities.” It did not say how many masks the workshops will be able to make.
Kering said it will also buy and import 3 million surgical masks from China for donation to the French health service.
The world’s largest luxury group — Paris-based LVMH — has also said it has reached a deal with a Chinese industrial supplier to deliver 10 million masks to the French population.
From Switzerland
The World Health Organization says criminals are increasingly posing as WHO officials in an effort to swipe information or money from people during the coronavirus crisis.
Spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said Monday that attackers are using “multiple impersonation approaches” such as fraudulent phone calls and phishing on email and through social media.
The U.N. health agency said it is working to confirm and debunk such attempts and alert local authorities. It has set up a website to help people prevent fraud during the coronavirus outbreak.
“Always take time to think about a request for your personal information, and whether the request is appropriate,” WHO said.
WHO says its official emails come from the “who.int” domain.
From China
China’s foreign ministry says the United States is “completely wasting the precious time” Beijing had won in attacking the global coronavirus outbreak that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a daily briefing Monday that the United States has attempted to “discredit others and look for a scapegoat to shift its responsibilities.”
He added that the United States should “stop politicizing the epidemic, stop stigmatizing and defaming China and other countries.”
China’s health ministry says Wuhan has now gone five consecutive days without a new infection, showing the effectiveness of draconian travel restrictions that are slowly being relaxed around the country.
At the same time, China is stepping up measures to prevent the virus from being brought back from overseas, requiring international flights into Beijing to first stop at airports outside the capital for inspection.
From Albania
Albania has reported three more deaths from the coronavirus. The country did not report a single case until two weeks ago, and had said that it expected a surge in cases this week.
The Health Ministry has reported the deaths of a 71-year-old late Sunday night and a 43-year old and a 61-year-old Monday morning, raising Albania’s death toll to four. The country has confirmed 89 cases.
Albania is in a lockdown, with all borders closed, and schools, cafes, restaurants, gyms, and public and private transport shut. All shops except for groceries and pharmacies are also closed.
From Poland
Polish police say they have carried out inspections of nearly 80,000 people subjected to forced quarantine because of the coronavirus pandemic and found 318 cases of people violating the quarantine.
The Polish government has enacted increasingly firm measures in order to slow the spread of COVID-19. Last week the government increased penalties for quarantine non-compliance from $1,180 to $7,075. The authorities also extended an initial two-week closure of all schools in the country for an additional two weeks, lasting through Easter.
Additionally, they introduced a phone app to track those in home quarantine.
So far, Poland, with a population of 38 million people, has 649 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and seven deaths.
National police spokesman Mariusz Ciarka said that over the last day police inspected 79,196 people in quarantine and discovered 318 irregularities.
From England
British justice officials have put new jury trials on hold as the court system places safety measures in place amid the coronavirus crisis.
Lord Chief Justice Ian Burnett said in a statement Monday that jurors summoned this week are being contacted to ask them to remain at home.
Burnett said ongoing jury trials will also be paused to make sure arrangements are in place to make certain they can continue to operate safely.
From the United States
The U.S. Secret Service says an employee has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The agency said in a statement early Monday that it will continue to monitor the employee’s condition. The employee is in quarantine.
The agency says it determined after an assessment that the employee has had no contact with other employees or anyone the agency is responsible for protecting for nearly three weeks.
The Secret Service provides security protection for President Donald Trump and his family, among other high-ranking U.S. officials.
From Australia
A fourth Australian federal lawmaker has tested positive for the coronavirus.
South Australia state Senator Rex Patrick, from the minor Center Alliance party, said on Monday he tested for covid-19 after being in contact with infected government Senator Andrew Bragg two weeks ago. Bragg, from New South Wales state, is among 35 guests who became infected at a March 6 wedding south of Sydney.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton was the first Australian lawmaker to discover he was infected days after returning from Washington, where he met President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and U.S. Attorney General William Barr. Queensland state government Senator Susan McDonald announced days later that she was also infected.
None of the four is in the national capital Canberra, where a scaled-down Parliament is meeting to pass economic stimulus spending measures to soften the virus’s economic blow.
From Indonesia
Indonesia has changed towers built to house athletes in the 2018 Asian Games to emergency hospitals.
Four of the 10 buildings used to house 24,000 Asian athletes have been redesigned to a coronavirus hospital with a 3,000-bed capacity in the country’s hard-hit capital, where new patients have surged in the past week.
President Joko Widodo on Monday officially launched the hospital as an army plane carrying 9 tons of health supplies, including 105,000 protective tools, masks and sanitizers for medical personnel arrived from China.
Widodo’s administration has been criticized as slow to deal with the virus’ spread, which could overwhelm the health care system in the country of more than 260 million people.
Indonesia, which has the third-largest population in Asia after China and India, reported 514 covid-19 cases with 48 deaths, including six doctors and a nurse who died while helping patients with a lack of protective tools.
Widodo has ruled out the possibility of imposing a lockdown on Jakarta and has instead ordered mass testing to contain the coronavirus disease spread and has prepared about 200 hospitals run by government, military and police as well as private as the country braces for an anticipated surge in covid-19 patients.
The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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