Africa cases jump 43% in just a week
Africa registered a 43% jump in reported coronavirus cases in the past week, highlighting a warning from the World Health Organization that the continent of 1.3 billion could become the next epicenter of the global outbreak.
Africa also has a “very, very limited” and “very, very strained” testing capacity, John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in his weekly briefing on Thursday.
The surge in infections on the continent is almost certainly underreported and even higher in reality, say medical experts.
WHO’s recent report painted a grim picture for Africa, one of the last continents to be hit by the pandemic. WHO warned the virus could kill more than 300,000 people and push 30 million into desperate poverty.
Africa still has time to avert such a disaster, Nkengasong said, but testing people and tracing virus cases is critical. NORTH KOREA
Not a single case, government says
North Korea has told the World Health Organization it tested 740 people for the new coronavirus as of April 17 but that all came out negative. The North also said it has released 25,139 people from quarantine since Dec. 31, said Edwin Salvador, WHO’s representative to North Korea. The North has said there hasn’t been a single virus case on its territory, but the claim is questioned by many outside experts. Describing its antivirus efforts as a “matter of national existence,” the North has banned foreign tourists, shut down nearly all crossborder traffic with China, intensified screening at entry points and mobilized health workers to monitor residents and isolate those with symptoms. ITALY
Infections grow in hardhit region
The number of people testing positive for coronavirus in Italy grew by 2,646 in 24 hours, including 40% of those in the hardhit Lombardy region where the first domestically transmitted case was confirmed just over two months ago. That brings to 189,973 the total number of positives as of Thursday. Deaths of people with coronavirus reached 25,549. Pressure on health care facilities continued to ease with 934 fewer people hospitalized and 117 fewer people in intensive care units. AUSTRALIA
Cruise ship subject of criminal probe
A cruise ship that is the subject of a criminal investigation after it became Australia’s largest single source of coronavirus infections set off from the country’s shores a month after it was ordered by police to leave. The Ruby Princess has been linked to 19 deaths in Australia and two in the U.S. A government inquiry is under way into why 2,700 passengers and crew were allowed to disembark in Sydney on March 19 before test results for sick passengers were known. The ship delayed its departure because of sick crew members, several of whom have died in Sydney hospitals. GULF STATES
Pandemic traps foreign laborers
Long a lifeline for families back home, migrant workers in oilrich Gulf Arab states now find themselves trapped by the pandemic, losing jobs, running out of money and desperate to return to their home countries as COVID19 stalks their labor camps. Some 35 million laborers work in the six Arab Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as in Jordan and Lebanon, according to U.N. figures. Foreigners far outnumber locals in Gulf states, accounting for over 80% of the population in some countries. For those hoping to go home, flights are still largely grounded across the Gulf. PORTUGAL
40% of deaths in nursing homes
Health officials in Portugal say 40% of the country’s 820 deaths attributed to the coronavirus outbreak have occurred in nursing homes. The General Directorate for Health said Thursday that 327 people have died at the homes. Of the total deaths, 551 were of people over 80 years old. Portugal has reported just over 22,300 confirmed cases of COVID19. CHINA
New limits amid fears of resurgence
Officials have imposed new limits on movement in some northern parts of China following a spate of new infections, in a sign of how difficult it will be to fully recover from an outbreak that virtually paralyzed the country. The restrictions imposed over the past week include the city of Harbin, a city of 10 million.
Chronicle News Services