Coronavirus latest updates: Australia and US record first deaths | World news

You may have seen reports this week that a dog in Hong Kong had tested “weak positive” to Covid-19. Experts in the UK told the Guardian this week they thought it was unlikely to be infected, and that one possible explanation was that a dog had produced a false positive test as a result of close contact with a human who had the virus, or from coming in contact with the virus via touch.

The dog showed no relevant symptoms but Hong Kong health authorities advised that it had no evidence that pets can be infected with Covid-19 or a source of the infection. But a spokesman from the Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD), said: “To ensure public and animal health, the department strongly advise mammalian pets of patients confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19 virus to be put under quarantine by the AFCD.”

The WHO says it is working with its partner agencies for human/animal health and is “waiting for further tests from Hong Kong”, but the WHO boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said past experience with coronavirus and our current understanding of Covid-19 “does not indicated that common household pets spread the disease or make people sick”.

If you’re just catching up with the latest news on the virus, outbreak, a reminder that the World Health Organization has raised the risk assessment “very high” globally. It also said the risk within #China remains unchanged as “very high.”

The WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the risk level had been elevated for two reasons

• difficulty in identifying cases due to non-specific symptoms & the potential of undetected transmission
• potential for major impact on healthcare systems in some affected & potentially affected countries.

The WHO also released virus advice on the social media app, TikTok, in an effort it said to beat the “infodemic”.

South Korea has recorded 376 more Covid-19 cases, taking the country’s total to 3,526. Seventeen people have died.

Of the 376 new cases, 333 were in Daegu, 300km southeast of Seoul, which has been at the centre of the outbreak linked to the. Shincheonji Church of Jesus.

The Yonhap agency says there were also 26 new cases reported in neighbouring North Gyeongsang Province.

As of Sunday morning, South Korea was carrying out tests on 32,422 people nationwide, while 61,037 people have tested negative in total.

Still on Australia, and on Sunday, the country’s Home Affairs minister, Peter Dutton, said it was not possible to extend travel bans to all countries affected by the coronavirus outbreak, but he defended Australia’s decision to restrict entry to people who had travelled from Iran, but not South Korea, which has many more cases.

“If you look at the underreporting or the lack of reporting coming out of Iran … there was a real concern as to whether they had a handle on the numbers,” Dutton said, adding that South Korea has a more advanced health system.

We are hearing a news conference from Australia, where officials have confirmed that a Western Australian man has confirmed the country’s first death from Covid-19.

Dr Andrew Robertson, Western Australia’s chief health officer, confirms that the man travelled back to Australia from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan. The man was diagnosed in the Howard Springs quarantine facility outside Darwin 9 or 10 days ago.

The man, in his late 70s, passed away in the early hours of Sunday morning in intensive care in a West Australian hospital. His wife is also infected with Covid-19.

Robertson who is giving the news conference, has confirmed that there is still no community transmission in Australia.

The man’s wife is in isolation in hospital and being monitored.

Robertson is asked what Australians can do to protect themselves from the virus. He says handwashing is important but also says people should consider getting the flu shot this year.

We are getting unconfirmed reports that an Australian man has died in Western Australia from Covid-19 – the country’s first fatality.

We are waiting for official confirmation, but media reports say he is a 78-year-old passenger from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, and was one of the 164 Australians to be repatriated from the ship around two weeks ago.

We will bring you confirmation on this as soon as we have it – we are expecting a news conference shortly.

First to the US where the first death from Covid-19 has been recorded. The man was in his 50s and had underlying health issues. He died at a hospital in Kirkland, near Seattle. Officials are unsure how he was exposed to the virus. Washington state has two other presumed cases at a long-term care facility in Kirkland where more than 50 residents and staff could be showing symptoms, according to Jeffrey Duchin, head of the Washington health department’s communicable disease unit.

“At this point we do not have widespread community-wide transmission locally. We have transmission that’s associated with an outbreak at this long-term care facility,” Duchin said.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the coronavirus outbreak. Before we get underway with this blog, here are the main points making news right now.

• The US has recorded its first death from Covid-19. A man in his 50s in Washington state, who had underlying health issues but with no travel history to affected areas.
• A second person in Australia has tested positive to the virus after returning from Iran. The government imposed travel restrictions on passengers coming from Iran.
• France and Italy have imposed strict bans on public gatherings.
• Ireland reported its first case of the virus, as did Ecuador and Luxembourg.
• China has reported 573 new confirmed cases and 35 deaths.
• World stock markets are expected to fall further next week, after reports indicated China’s factory output had plunged and the country’s service sectors have contracted.

You can get up to speed on all our coverage on the links below: