France announces first coronavirus death outside Asia following death of Chinese tourist
France has recorded 11 cases of the virus, out of a global total of 63,851. The vast majority of those suffering from the virus are in China. Only three deaths have so far been recorded outside mainland China - in the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan.
It comes after the United States said that it will send an aircraft to Japan to bring back US passengers on the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess, where the most coronavirus infections outside China have occurred. The US Embassy in Tokyo said in a letter to passengers that a chartered plane would arrive in Japan tomorrow evening and that it recommended "out of an abundance of caution" that US citizens disembark and return home for further monitoring. The passengers would be required to undergo further quarantine of 14 days upon arriving in the United States and if they choose not to return on the flight, they would not be able to return home "for a period of time", the letter said. "We understand this is frustrating and an adjustment, but these measures are consistent with the careful policies we have instituted to limit the potential spread of the disease," it said. It also said passengers would be screened before the flight and the US government was working with Japan so that any people with symptoms would receive proper care if they could not board the plane. The cruise ship, owned by Carnival Corp, has been quarantined since arriving in Yokohama on 3 February, after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong before it travelled to Japan was diagnosed with the virus. It had some 3,700 passengers and crew on board. Another 67 people have tested positive for the virus, according to Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato, bringing the total to 285 cases. Those testing positive are transferred to Japanese hospitals.The cruise liner's quarantine is set to end on Wednesday. The plane will land at Travis Air Force Base in California and some passengers will then continue onward to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. The letter did not specify how long US citizens who choose not to board the chartered flight might have to wait before they could return home, saying only that the final decision would be up to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The death toll from the epidemic in China has passed 1,500 as Beijing ordered people returning to the capital from holiday to self-quarantine for 14 days in another drastic effort to contain the outbreak. More than 66,000 people have now been infected in China from the virus which emerged in central Hubei province in December before spreading across the country as millions of people travelled for the Lunar New Year holiday last month. The holiday was extended by several days to prevent further contagion but people have slowly started to return to work in the past two weeks, though many are doing their jobs from home and schools remain closed. Beijing's municipal government enacted a rule yesterday requiring all people coming to the capital to quarantine themselves for 14 days, warning that violators would be punished, according to official media. It was unclear how authorities would enforce the measure. Some 283 million trips were made within the country between 25 January and yesterday, according to vice transport minister Liu Xiaoming. The scale of the epidemic ballooned this week after authorities in Hubei changed their criteria for counting cases, adding thousands of new patients to their tally. Chinese authorities have placed some 56 million people in Hubei and its capital Wuhan under quarantine, virtually sealing off the province from the rest of the country in an unprecedented effort to contain the virus. A number of cities far from the epicentre have also imposed tough measures limiting the number of people who can leave their homes. In another drastic preventive measure, China's central bank said today that used banknotes were being disinfected with ultraviolet light or high temperatures, and stored for up to 14 days before they are put back into circulation. Several countries have banned arrivals from China and major airlines have cut services with the country. But the epidemic has continued to spread across China and hundreds of cases have emerged in more than two dozen countries. In Singapore, which has 67 confirmed cases, the Roman Catholic Church said it was suspending all masses indefinitely to help prevent the spread of the virus and urged the faithful to follow services on YouTube or the radio. Chinese President Xi Jinping acknowledged yesterday that the outbreak exposed "shortcomings" in the country's health emergency response system. Battling the outbreak is a "big test for the country's governance system and governance ability," Mr Xi said, according to state media. The number of new confirmed cases has been steadily falling outside Hubei, with 221 infections reported today. A top Chinese scientist had predicted that the epidemic could peak by the end of this month after the number of new cases had fallen earlier in the week. The WHO has cautioned that it was "way too early" to make any predictions about the disease's trajectory. Some 1,700 medical workers have been infected, with six dying from the COVID-19 illness, officials said, underscoring the country's struggle to contain the deepening health crisis.
Please follow us on Google to support usIreland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News: You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
HSE could enforce quarantine on people suspected of having coronavirusDr Kevin Kelleher, assistant national director for the HSE said we are likely to see a case of the coronavirus in Ireland
Read more »