Health

TEHRAN, Feb 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Iran has no plans to quarantine any cities and towns despite the spread of the new coronavirus outbreak across the country, President Hassan Rouhani has said.

He told a cabinet meeting that health authorities would continue to “only quarantine individuals”.

Officials have asked people not to go to Qom, the centre of the outbreak, but have not shut a shrine in the city that attracts millions of Shia pilgrims.

Iran has reported 139 cases and 26 deaths in the past week.

JAKARTA, Feb 28 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Indonesia has temporarily shut down its mission in South Korea due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country, Anadolu Agency quoted local media as saying on Friday.

According to Indonesian daily Republika, Indonesian Ambassador in Seoul Umar Hadi said the embassy and Indonesia Investment Promotion Center are temporarily closed as of Friday, as a coronavirus case has been reported in the area.

Hadi said the embassy will be closed until further notice.

WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (NNN-Xinhua) — US President Donald Trump appointed Vice President Mike Pence to oversee the country’s response to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

“I’m going to be announcing exactly right now that I’m going to be putting our Vice President Mike Pence in charge,” Trump said at the White House briefing room, citing Pence’s experience with health care policy.

Trump said the virus’s threat to the U.S. public “remains very low,” but the country is “very, very ready” for whatever the coronavirus threat brings.

Beijing, Feb 26 (PTI) The death toll in China's novel coronavirus epidemic on Wednesday climbed to 2,715 with 52 new fatalities while the confirmed cases rose to 78,064, amidst strong signs of COVID-19 slowing down even at its epicentre Hubei province.

The country's National Health Commission (NHC) in its daily update said it received reports of 52 deaths, all from Hubei, and 406 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection from all over the country.

SEPANG, Feb 26 (NNN-BERNAMA) — A total of 66 individuals, comprising 46 Malaysian citizens and 20 of their non-citizen family members, who arrived from Wuhan, China this morning, are being housed at the monitoring centre at the Higher Education Leadership Academy (AKEPT) in Nilai for the 14-day quarantine period.

They were among the Malaysians stranded in Wuhan, Hubei province, following the outbreak of COVID-19 since late December last year.

ANKARA, Feb 26 (NNN-ANADOLU) – A Turkish Airlines plane, departing from Tehran in Iran and due to arrive in Istanbul, was diverted to Turkish capital, Ankara on Tuesday, over the suspicion of COVID-19 infection and passengers on board have been taken under quarantine.

A total of 132 passengers and crew will be kept under observation for 14 days, the Turkish Minister of Health, Fahrettin Koca, said, in a written statement.

The plane was bound from Tehran to Istanbul and was carrying Turkish nationals, local daily, Hurriyet reported.

HANOI, Feb 26 (NNN-VNA) – More than 100,000 poultry have been culled in 10 provinces and cities of Vietnam, where A/H5N6 and A/H5N1 bird flu broke out, the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported today (Wednesday).

LYON (France), Feb 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Passengers who arrived by bus in Lyon in southeast France from Milan in Italy were kept onboard after the driver was hospitalised with symptoms similar to those caused by the new coronavirus, security sources said.

Police erected a security cordon around the bus at Lyon’s Perrache station and ordered the passengers to remain on board, a spokeswoman for the Lyon area’s public security department said.

No information was given as to how many people were on the bus.

WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US government is considering asking legislators for emergency funding to ramp up its response to the fast-spreading coronavirus, a White House spokesman said.

“We need some funding here to make sure that we … protect all Americans, that we keep us safe,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said.

Asked how much funding the administration may ask Congress to approve, Gidley said that there was no announcement yet on the amount.

ROME, Feb 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Italy scrambled to check the spread of Europe’s first major outbreak of the new viral disease amid rapidly rising numbers of infections and a third death, calling off the popular Venice Carnival, scrapping major league soccer matches in the stricken area and shuttering theaters, including Milan’s legendary La Scala.