Mortality rate rises to 3.4%: WHO

OUTBREAK SPREADS Rise in cases sparks panic buying of protective gear; first case reported at EU in Brussels; death toll shoots past 100 in Italy

GENEVA: The World Health Organization has warned that the mortality rate of the novel coronavirus globally, at 3.4%, is higher than previously thought, as the contagion spread to infect over 94,000 people and kill more than 3,200 since its outbreak in China late last year.

While often compared to the flu, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom

Ghebreyesus stressed that the virus was far more deadly. “More people are susceptible to infection and some will suffer serious disease. Globally about 3.4% of Covid-19 cases have died,” he said.

“By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected.” And while many people have over the years built up immunity to seasonal flu, “no one has immunity” to the new coronavirus, he acknowledged. Earlier, the WHO had said the death rate of Covid-19 was around 2%.

The disease, which first emerged in China, is appearing in new countries almost every day, with Iran, Italy and South Korea facing growing caseloads.

GENEVA/ BRUSSELS: Countries rushed to protect their supply of masks on Wednesday as panic buying, hoarding and theft spread over fears of the deadly novel coronavirus epidemic.

In another worrying development, the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that the death rate is currently around 3.4% - much higher than the seasonal flu at under 1%.

The disease, which first emerged in China, is appearing in new countries every day, with Iran, Italy and South Korea facing growing caseloads. Chile and Liechtenstein joined Andorra, Poland, Armenia, Morocco and Argentina to report first cases.

Italy’s death toll passed 100 on Wednesday and the number of cases went over 3,000. At least 28 more people died in the past 24 hours, bringing the toll to 107 - the highest number of fatalities outside China - while the number of cases reached 3,089.

More than 94,000 people have been infected globally and over 3,200 have died.

The vast majority of cases and fatalities have been in China where tens of millions of people have been placed under quarantine, but infections are rising faster abroad now, prompting countries to discourage large gatherings and cancel a slew of events.

The WHO voiced concern that masks, goggles and other protective gear used by health workers were running out due to “rising demand, hoarding and misuse”.

“We can’t stop Covid-19 without protecting our health workers,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, noting that prices of masks have surged sixfold and the cost of ventilators has tripled.

The WHO had shipped more than half a million sets of personal protective equipment to 27 countries, but warned that “supplies are rapidly depleting”.

PANIC BUYING OF PROTECTIVE GEAR

At least 500 people queued up outside a supermarket in Seoul to buy masks on Wednesday, with President Moon Jae In apologising for shortages this week.

South Korea makes 10 million masks a day. The virus has infected more than 5,600 people and killed 32 in South Korea.

Indonesian police seized 600,000 face masks from a Jakarta-area warehouse after the country’s first confirmed cases sparked panic buying.

Russia issued a decree banning the export of masks, respirators and hazmat suits to ensure access to the items for medics treating patients. Italy, which does not make face masks, is getting 800,000 of them from South Africa but needs at least 10 million more.

FIRST CASE REPORTED IN EU BODY IN BRUSSELS

A first EU official working in the bloc’s Brussels administration has tested positive for the coronavirus, European officials said. “We have confirmation of the case,” EU Commission spokeswoman Dana Spinant said.

A spokeswoman for the European Defence Agency (EDA) confirmed that a male public servant of the agency had returned from Italy on February 23 and subsequently tested positive.

Meetings at the headquarters of the Brussels-based agency have been cancelled until March 13. But the EDA spokeswoman denied a report that the official had attended a four-hour meeting with 30 more staff from the other EU bodies in the city before he was diagnosed.