In Greece this morning, the infection rate has risen from 84 to 89 overnight, according to the country’s health ministry.
One of the cases, it said, had been “imported” from London. Medical authorities, who confirmed the first case of the novel virus in Greece on 23 February, described the condition of a 65-year-old man battling pneumonia in a hospital isolation unit in the western port city of Patras as being “very serious.” He had been among a group of Greeks who contracted coronavirus after travelling to Israel and Egypt on a tour of religious sites.
Of the total, 27 were hospitalised in specialist units and 57 were in isolation at home, the health ministry said.
On Monday, it was confirmed that a 40-year-old woman on Lesbos had also been infected following a trip to Israel. Local authorities ordered the school attended by her two children in the resort town of Plomari to be closed amid fears of an outbreak on the island, which is hosting 27,000 migrants and refugees – most in appalling conditions in Moria, the reception centre outside Mytilene, the port capital. MPs have called for the local health system, already vastly overstretched, to be bolstered with more doctors, saying Mytilene’s hospital barely has room to cope with six coronavirus patients raising the spectre of meltdown if more people test positive.
The rise in numbers came as the first case of coronavirus was also confirmed in the Turkish-run breakaway republic of northern Cyprus. Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported that a German woman, on holiday in the rump state, had contracted the virus. On Monday, authorities in the island’s internationally recognised south announced the first two cases of coronavirus, including a prominent heart surgeon believed to have been infected on a recent trip to London.
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The French culture minister, Franck Riester, has tested positive for the coronavirus. He said he is self-quarantining. Riester is the first high-profile French politician to confirm he has tested positive, but five MPs from the Assemblée National and two other parliamentary members of staff are among those who have the virus.
The French health authority in its daily briefing on Monday evening said there were now 1,412 cases in France, a jump of 286 on the previous day. There have been 25 deaths: 10 women and 15 men. Of those who have died, 21 were aged over 70. There are seven clusters of virus cases including a new cluster at Ajaccio, capital of Corsica, where 38 new cases have been confirmed.
France is still at stage 2 of its disease alert, but officials admit that stage 3 is looking increasingly inevitable.
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As the whole of Italy goes into lockdown, there are some reassuring signs that measures are starting to work. Across the 11 towns that went into quarantine more than two weeks ago, the number of cases is beginning to fall.
“In the province of Lodi, and even more so, in Codogno, there’s a net reduction in the number of positive cases,” said Giulio Galleria, the welfare councillor for Lombardy, the region worst affected.
The 38-year-old man from Codogno, who was Italy’s first locally transmitted case, was moved out of intensive care on Monday. The number of people to have so far overcome the virus is 724.
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Italian doctors celebrated a small victory in their battle against the coronavirus after a 38-year-old man was moved out of intensive care for the first time since he tested positive on 21 February and opened Italy’s health care crisis as Patient No 1, AP reports.
But in the rest of hard-hit northern Italy, the virus spread continues to grow exponentially. Speaking to SkyTg24, Dr Massimo Galli, head of infectious disease at Milans Sacco hospital, noted that the numbers of infections registered in Lombardy last week were similar to those in Wuhan, China in late January.
Galli noted that Wuhan is a concentrated metropolis of 11 million and Lombardy is spread out. But the numbers tell you that the diffusion is a real possibility, he warned.
Also alarming was Italys high fatality rate: With 463 dead and 9,172 infected, Italy’s fatality rate is running at 5% nationwide and 6% in Lombardy, far higher than the 3%-4% estimates elsewhere.
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Norwegian Air has temporarily halted its flights to and from Italy because of the coronavirus outbreak, the company said on Tuesday.
In Australia, here is more news on the drive-through coronavirus testing station in Adelaide, South Australia we reported on earlier.
The country’s first drive-through coronavirus testing station has been set up at an Adelaide hospital.
It is one of two formal clinics of its kind that exists globally, although a Melbourne doctor runs a solo operation with a similar structure in the car park outside his practice, AAP reports.
Patients will drive through the site at the Repatriation Hospital, wind down their windows and be tested directly out of the car window by pathology nurses.
Those tested will have a swab taken from the back of their throat and nose from the comfort of their driver’s seat.
The service is only offered for people referred by their general practitioner.
The station will be open up to nine hours a day, testing patients once every 20 minutes.
South Korea on Tuesday reported fewer than 150 new cases for the first time in two weeks.
A total of 131 infections were confirmed on Monday, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Three more people died, it added, taking the death toll to 54.
Monday’s final figure marked the fourth consecutive daily fall and was the lowest for a single day since late February.
“The number of new Covid-19 cases has been declining, so we can assess the rate of increase is coming to a standstill,” said Yoon Tae-ho at the Central Disaster Management Headquarters.
But the outbreak was still spreading, he added, warning against any relaxation of containment efforts.
Cyprus’ largest hospital suspended most services on Tuesday, authorities said, after a medical doctor heading the heart surgical ward tested positive for coronavirus, Reuters reports.
The 64-year-old doctor was one of two individuals first to test positive on the Mediterranean island. He had recently returned from Britain and had contact with patients.
Effective Tuesday, all admissions, outpatient clinics, surgeries and visitations at Nicosia general hospital were suspended for 48 hours, when the situation would be reviewed, the health ministry announced early on Tuesday.
The operation of the cardio surgery ward had also been suspended and patients would be gradually discharged, depending on their general health condition, the ministry said.
