Chronicle Editor
The coronavirus outbreaks in China and South Korea appear to be slowing, as countries elsewhere in the world adopt drastic measures to try and stamp out the infection.
Iran has released approximately 70 000 prisoners due to the coronavirus outbreak, Iranian judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi said yesterday, according to Mizan, the news site of the judiciary.
There were 49 new fatalities in Iran, where some 194 people have now died from Covid-19.
In Italy, where some 16 million people in Lombardy and other parts of the north are now under quarantine, there were 133 deaths reported on Sunday, bringing the total to 366. More than 7 000 people in the country have been confirmed to have the virus.
But the latest figures from China and South Korea suggest the virus might be slowing in northeast Asia.
China reported 40 new confirmed cases on Sunday, compared with 44 the day before. That is the lowest number since the National Health Commission started publishing national data on January 20.
Outside Hubei province, where the virus originated late last year, China reported no new locally transmitted cases for the second straight day. New infections in South Korea also appear to be slowing.
Six inmates were killed in a prison riot in Italy and guards were taken hostage at another jail, as unrest spread in prisons across the country over measures to contain the coronavirus, including restrictions on visits.
In a TV interview the head of Italy’s prison administration Francesco Basentini said three inmates had died inside a jail in the northern town of Modena, and three others had died after being transferred away from the prison.
“There have been a series of rebellions across the country,” Basentini said.
The justice ministry said fires had been set at a number of prisons causing severe damage.
Fifa said in a statement that the Asian Fifa World Cup qualifiers scheduled in March and June have been postponed due to the coronavirus.
Iran has released approximately 70 000 prisoners because of the coronavirus outbreak in the country, Iranian judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi said, according to Mizan, the news site of the judiciary.
“The release of the prisoners, to the point where it doesn’t create insecurity in society . . . will continue,” he said.
Qatar announced it was suspending schools and universities from today, to control the coronavirus outbreak, according to the state news agency.
Travellers from another 14 countries are banned from entering Qatar, the country’s Ministry of Health announced. The ban covers Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria and Thailand. Flights to and from Italy were already suspended.
The restriction comes as the country registered three more cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of people testing positive up to 15.
A Chinese company says it has developed the country’s first facial recognition technology that can identify people when they are wearing a mask — as most are using them because of the coronavirus — to help in the fight against the disease.
China employs some of the world’s most sophisticated systems of electronic surveillance, including facial recognition. But the coronavirus has resulted in almost everyone wearing a surgical mask outdoors in the hope of warding off the virus — posing a particular problem for surveillance.
Now Hanwang Technology Ltd, which also goes by the English name Hanvon, said it has devised technology that can successfully recognise people even when they are wearing masks.
“If connected to a temperature sensor, it can measure body temperature while identifying the person’s name, and then the system would process the result, say, if it detects a temperature over 38 degrees,” Hanwang Vice President Huang Lei said in an interview.
Following Japan’s travel restrictions on South Koreans, more K-pop concerts scheduled in Japan are being cancelled, threatening to hurt the Korean entertainment industry in its most lucrative market.
South Korean boy-band Super Junior called off its tours scheduled to take place on March 25 and 26 in Japan, citing the Japanese government’s measures to “curb immigration”.
South Korea’s entertainment firm CJ ENM followed suit, postponing its annual K-pop festival KCON in Japan. The event last year drew more than 88 000 fans, according to CJ ENM.
Japan said, starting from yesterday, people arriving from South Korea will be quarantined for two weeks. Tokyo also suspended visa waivers and the validity of existing visas for South Koreans, followed by a similar move by Seoul, rekindling a diplomatic feud between the neighbours.
Europe needs to come up with a “massive” economic stimulus plan to cope with the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.
Le Maire told France Inter radio that the amount needed for the stimulus plan will be discussed at a March 16 meeting with his European counterparts. Le Maire also said the coronavirus could cut French economic growth below one percent in 2020 from a previous estimate of 1.3 percent.
The Italian government also urged the European Union to adopt a package of measures to counter the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the economies of the bloc. The state oil giant Saudi Aramco saw its shares drop by 10 percent as Riyadh’s stock market opened yesterday, halting trading.
The drop followed a crash in oil prices on the global market after OPEC and its allies failed to reach a deal last week on production cuts to shore up prices dented by the coronavirus.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Arizona Representative Paul Gosar have placed themselves into a 14-day quarantine after determining they had contact with a man attending the Conservative Political Action Conference, who was later confirmed to have the coronavirus.
Several other senators and members of the House of Representatives were also at the event, where US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence both spoke.
The White House says there is no indication that either of them met or were in “close proximity” to the man who was confirmed to have the virus.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s first Covid-19 patient is well enough to go home but needs the official all-clear, said Health Minister Zweli Mkhize at a meeting to assuage residents in KwaZulu-Natal where the virus was first detected.
Mkhize said he spoke to the man on Sunday, adding that the nurse treating him said he had recovered and was only waiting for the official all-clear to go home.
“I called the gent: ‘Ey sir, how are you?’ he said. The man replied: “Ey, I’m OK . . . I’m better now’,” he added. — Al Jazeera.
Online Reporter