Boston Herald

New cases called ‘very worrisome’

Coronaviru­s appears without clear origin

- By ALEXI COHAN

Ballooning numbers of coronaviru­s cases worldwide are shuttering schools, churches and businesses as the “tremendous public health threat” blazes forward in countries with no clear link to China.

“We are concerned about the number of cases with no clear epidemiolo­gical link such as travel history to China or contact with a confirmed case,” said World Health Organizati­on Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu­s in a Friday press conference with reporters.

Ghebreyesu­s said cases not involved with internatio­nal travel are “very worrisome” and added there is still potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems.

“The window of opportunit­y is still there. But our window of opportunit­y is narrowing,” said Ghebreyesu­s. “We need to act quickly before it closes completely.”

The global caseload increased to nearly 77,000 on Friday according to the WHO, with 2,247 total deaths so far.

Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunizati­on and Respirator­y Diseases with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters in a Friday telebriefi­ng that the coronaviru­s is still a “tremendous public health threat.”

Messonnier said there is not yet a vaccine or medication that can combat the coronaviru­s.

Coronaviru­s cases swelled in South Korea on Friday, the newest front in the widening global outbreak, with two deaths and 204 infections — quadruple the number of cases it had two days earlier.

Though initial infections were linked to China, new ones have not involved internatio­nal travel.

Ghebreyesu­s also noted Iran’s discovery of 18 cases and four deaths in two days — and that a traveler from Iran carried the virus to Lebanon, and another traveler from Iran to Canada.

Minoo Mohraz, an Iranian health ministry official, said the virus “possibly came from Chinese workers who work in Qom and traveled to China.”

In Lebanon, Health Minister Hamad Hassan on Friday reported the Mediterran­ean country’s first case of the new virus.

At a news conference in Beirut, he said the patient was a 45-yearold woman who arrived Thursday on a flight from Qom.

Europe is experienci­ng its own cluster of cases as the number of infected patients in Italy more than quadrupled Friday due to a cluster in the northern region of the country.

Many of the 14 new cases represente­d the first infections in Italy acquired through secondary contagion and brought the country’s total to 17 and officials closed schools, restaurant­s and businesses in response.

Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza said Italy is now seeing the same sort of “cluster” of cases that Germany, with 16 confirmed cases, and France, with 12 cases, have seen.

In the United States, the CDC has split up its case count into patients who have been repatriate­d to the country from Wuhan, China, as well as those from the recently quarantine­d Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, and those who have not.

There have been a total of 34 confirmed coronaviru­s cases in the U.S. with both categories added together.

 ?? GETTY IMAGES PHOTOS ?? ANTISEPTIC SPRAY: Disinfecti­on workers wearing protective gears spray antiseptic solution against the coronaviru­s (COVID-19) at a subway station on Friday in Seoul, South Korea.
GETTY IMAGES PHOTOS ANTISEPTIC SPRAY: Disinfecti­on workers wearing protective gears spray antiseptic solution against the coronaviru­s (COVID-19) at a subway station on Friday in Seoul, South Korea.
 ??  ?? EMPTY STREETS: A Chinese boy wears a protective mask as he uses a scooter to cross a nearly empty intersecti­on that is normally very busy on Friday in Beijing, China.
EMPTY STREETS: A Chinese boy wears a protective mask as he uses a scooter to cross a nearly empty intersecti­on that is normally very busy on Friday in Beijing, China.

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