Japan records first coronavirus death

44 new cases on cruise ship carrying 3,500 passengers

Japan yesterday announced its first death from the China coronavirus outbreak, hours after confirming 44 more cases on a cruise ship quarantined near Tokyo.

Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said the first fatality is a woman in her 80s who had been hospitalised since February 1 when she was diagnosed with pneumonia.

Earlier, Kato announced 44 new cases on the Diamond Princess, which is still carrying nearly 3,500 passengers and crew members. The ship now

has 218 people infected out of 713 tested since it entered Yokohama Port on February 3, the largest cluster of infections outside China.

Total cases in China jumped by almost 15,000 after Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, revised its method for counting infections. A top WHO official said many of the added cases date back days and weeks. Two top officials were removed in the biggest political fallout so far from the epidemic, and e-commerce giant Alibaba warned of broad impact on the Chinese economy. Japan reported its first death from the illness. The European Commission singled out the outbreak as a “key downside risk,” and the International Energy Agency warned global oil demand will drop this quarter for the first time in more than a decade.