Trump tells Americans not to panic as first US death recorded
Officials warn of escalation of outbreak with infections showing virus could spread beyond quarantine zones
Peter Foster, David Chazan in
Nick Allen in Washington DONALD TRUMP last night reassured Americans that there was “no reason to panic” after the United States reported its first death from the coronavirus.
Mr Trump said the victim, in King County in Washington state, was a woman in her late 50s who was “medically high risk”. She had not been abroad recently, and had no known contact with other infected people.
The president expanded travel restrictions, banning anyone who had visited Iran in the past 14 days from entering the US, and also advised Americans not to travel to affected areas of Italy and South Korea.
Mr Trump, speaking at the White House, also said he was “very strongly” considering closing the US border with Mexico.
He said the US had 43million masks ready, and he would meet with the heads of pharmaceutical companies at the White House tomorrow to discuss a possible vaccine.
The president said: “Additional cases are likely but healthy individuals should be able to recover.”
US health officials also said yesterday that two women in San Jose and Sacramento in California had contracted the illness after no known contact. The case of the infected women marked an escalation of the outbreak, officials warned, since it indicated the virus could spread beyond the reach of preventive measures like quarantining.
The total number of people infected with coronavirus topped 85,000 globally, with nearly 80,000 of those in China, concentrated in the central Hubei province where the original outbreak began.
But as South Korea reported its biggest one-day surge in new coronavirus cases yesterday, world health authorities are bracing for the inevitable global spread of the disease that has claimed 2,900 lives worldwide. The World Health Organisation has now raised its risk alert to its highest level.
The virus has also spread to previously untouched areas in recent days, reaching nine new countries including Azerbaijan, Mexico and New Zealand, as well as the first case in sub-Saharan Africa in Nigeria. Qatar confirmed its first case on Saturday. South Korea now has the most cases outside China, with 3,150 infections and 813 more patients reported yesterday.
In Europe, Italy remains the epicentre of the disease, with the government announcing that schools and universities will stay closed for a second consecutive week in three northern Italian regions, dashing any hopes of a swift return to normality.
Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia Romagna have accounted for more than 90 per cent of the 1,128 confirmed cases of the virus in Italy, including all the 21 fatalities. Pope Francis cancelled official engagements for the third day in a row after showing cold symptoms.
Meanwhile, the governor of Veneto, one of the regions worst hit by the coronavirus, was forced to apologise after blaming Chinese hygiene standards over the contagion, saying that Chinese people “eat live mice”. The Chinese embassy called the remarks slanderous.
In Tenerife an Italian national tested positive for the virus at the Costa Adeje Palace Hotel which was put on lockdown last week after four cases of the coronavirus were detected.
In France, today’s Paris half-marathon and an agricultural symposium were cancelled in line with new guidelines aimed at slowing the advance of the disease.