Coronavirus cases spread outside China, WHO reports turning point
BEIJING/SEOUL — Italy, South Korea and Iran reported sharp rises in coronavirus cases on Monday, but China eased curbs as the rate of infection there slowed and a visiting World Health Organisation team said a turning point had been reached in the epicentre, Wuhan.
The virus has put Chinese cities into lockdown in recent weeks, disrupted air traffic to the workshop of the world and blocked global supply chains for everything from cars and car parts to smartphones.
But China’s actions, especially in Wuhan, have probably prevented hundreds of thousands of cases, said the head of the WHO delegation in China, Bruce Aylward, urging the rest of the world to learn the lesson of acting fast.
“The world is in your debt,” Aylward, speaking in Beijing, told the people of Wuhan. “The people of that city have gone through an extraordinary period and they’re still going through it.”
The surge of cases outside mainland China triggered sharp falls in global share markets and Wall Street stock futures as investors fled to safe havens. European share markets suffered their biggest slump since mid-2016, gold soared to a seven-year high, oil tumbled nearly 4% and the Korean won fell to its lowest level since August. But US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin cautioned against jumping to conclusions about the global economy or supply chains, saying it was simply too soon to know.
The WHO’s Aylward said multiple data sources all suggested that the rate of infection in Wuhan was falling: “They’re at a point now where the number of cured people coming out of hospitals each day is much more than the sick going in.”
But he added: “One of the challenges obviously is the strain on the system . . . they still have tens of thousands of sick people.”
Liang Wannian of the National Health Commission said only that the rapid rise had been halted and the situation was still grim. He said more than 3 000 medical staff had become infected, most of them in Hubei province surrounding Wuhan, probably due to the lack of protective gear and to fatigue.
Excluding Hubei, mainland China reported 11 new cases, the lowest since the national health authority started publishing nationwide daily figures on Jan. 20.
The coronavirus has infected nearly 77 000 people and killed more than 2 500 in China, most of them in Hubei. Overall, China reported 409 new cases on the mainland, down from 648 a day earlier, taking the total number of infections to 77 150 cases as of February 23. The death toll rose by 150 to 2 592.
But there was a measure of relief for the world’s second-largest economy as more than 20 province-level jurisdictions, including Beijing and Shanghai, reported zero new infections, the best showing since the outbreak began.
Outside mainland China, the outbreak has spread to about 29 countries and territories, with a death toll of about two dozen, according to a Reuters tally.
South Korea reported 231 new cases, taking its total to 833. Many are in its fourth-largest city, Daegu, which became more isolated with Asiana Airlines and Korean Air suspending flights there until next month.
Iran, which announced its first two cases last Wednesday, said it now had 61 cases and 12 deaths. Most of the infections were in the Shi’ite Muslim holy city of Qom.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Bahrain and Iraq reported their first cases, and Kuwait and Oman reported a combined total of five cases involving people who had been in Iran.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Pakistan and Afghanistan imposed restrictions on travel and immigration from Iran. Afghanistan also reported its first case, officials said.
Europe’s biggest outbreak is in Italy, with some 150 infections — compared with just three before Friday — and a sixth death. In northern Italy, authorities sealed off the worst-affected towns and banned public gatherings across a wide area, halting the carnival in Venice, where there were two cases.
The outbreak originated in Codogno, a small town southeast of Milan where Lombardy’s first infected patient, a 38-year-old man now in stable condition, was treated. Austria briefly suspended train services through the Alps from Italy after two travellers coming from Italy showed symptoms of fever. Both tested negative for the new coronavirus but Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said a task force would meet on Monday to discuss whether to introduce border controls.
President Xi Jinping urged businesses to get back to work, though he said the epidemic was still “severe and complex, and prevention and control work is in the most difficult and critical stage”.
Meanwhile, United States President Donald Trump’s administration is asking Congress for $2.5bn to fight the fast-spreading coronavirus, the White House said on Monday.
The White House said more than $1bn of the requested virus budget would go toward developing a vaccine, while other funds would be used for therapeutics and the stockpiling of personal protective equipment such as masks. — AFP
MASERU — Lesotho’s high court will rule on whether Prime Minister Thomas Thabane can claim immunity from a charge that he murdered his wife prior to marrying his present spouse, a lower court decided on Monday, in a case that has gripped the tiny southern African kingdom.
Thabane (80) appeared in court in the capital Maseru in a pre-trial hearing on Monday alongside his present wife Maesaiah.
He is suspected of involvement in the murder of his then wife Lipolelo, who was shot dead in June 2017 two days before he took office for a second stint as premier and two months before he married Maesaiah.
He and Lipolelo were going through divorce proceedings at the time.
Maesaiah Thabane (42) has been charged with the murder, and police suspect her of ordering assassins to do the job. Both deny any involvement.
Crowds of supporters packed the magistrates’ court and gathered outside for Monday’s hearing. Thabane, wearing a blue striped suit and a powder blue shirt, looked tense. Maesaiah Thabane sat beside him in a floral dress and bucket hat.
No charges were read out and his lawyer said the case should be referred to the high court to answer a question of possible immunity, which magistrate Phethise Motanyane granted.
If Thabane is allowed to plead immunity it would likely raise doubts over how willing he is to step down, further fanning the political crisis in the mountain territory of two million people. Thabane has said he will resign at the end of July. The ruling All Basotho Convention (ABC) party, however, wants him to step aside immediately, with chairman Samuel Rapapa ready to take over, the party spokesman said on Monday.
ABC spokesman Montoeli Masoetsa said by telephone that the party’s National Executive Council had agreed on Rapapa in discussions on Monday and delivered his name to parliament.
Thabane’s private secretary did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Police had initially intended to charge Thabane on Friday, but he left the country for a medical appointment. — Sapa