• Cases surge in South Korea after outbreak at church
• Coronavirus incubation could be as long as 27 days
• Second death emerges in Italy
• Tokyo postpones training for Olympics volunteers over virus fears
• U.S. takes steps to prepare for pandemic as global COVID—19 cases rise
• Federal judge blocks effort to transfer coronavirus patients to California city
• China’s central bank vows to take more steps to support virus-hit economy
Second death in Italy
A second patient died has died from the COVID—19 in northern Italy on Saturday, according to authorities.
The 77-year-old woman lived in Milan’s Lombardy region, the ANSA news agency reported. Her death came hours after a 77-year-old man died overnight in the nearby city of Padua.
The outbreak has spread in the north of the country with 30 cases reported so far, ANSA said. — Claudio Lavanga and Reuters
State TV reports Iranian mayor tests positive for virus
The mayor of a district in Iran’s capital Tehran has tested positive for coronavirus, state TV reported Saturday.
Morteza the mayor of district 13, was taken to hospital after being diagnosed with symptoms Friday.
The director of public relations for district 13 initially had denied Rahmanzadeh had contracted the virus.
Kianoosh Jahanpour, a spokesman for the Iran Health Ministry, confirmed that five people have died from the respiratory illness in the country and 28 people have tested positive for it. — Amin Khodadadi
Cases surge in South Korea after cluster outbreak at church
Over 200 new COVID-19 cases had been confirmed in South Korea Saturday, according to the Korea Center for Disease Control.
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This brought the total number of cases to 433. Two people have died from the disease in the country.
The new cases appear to be centered around the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the city of Daegu, where a member of the congregation spread the virus.
“As we continue to communicate with the Shincheonji Church of Daegu we are getting the entire congregation list of the church,” the KCDC said in a briefing Friday. It added that it has received a list of nearly 9,300 people who attend the church.
“Regarding how so much infection could have happened from the church, we think that it could partly be because of the way of worshipping at the Shincheonji Church,” the KCDC said. They were referencing recent photographs showing the worshippers in a confined space and sitting very close together.
The church members and others who made contact with them will be immediately placed under self-quarantine.
But the mayor of Daegu said Friday it was facing an “unprecedented crisis.”
The Shincheonji Church — whose leader claims he is an angel of Jesus — has become the biggest cluster of viral infections in South Korea, where a surge in new cases has raised fears that the outbreak is getting out of control. — Stella Kim and Nayeong Kim
Coronavirus incubation could be as long as 27 days
A 70-year-old man in China’s Hubei Province was infected with coronavirus but did not show symptoms until 27 days later, the local government said Saturday, meaning the virus’ incubation period could be much longer than the 14 days which most people have been quarantined for.
A longer incubation period could complicate efforts to contain the spread of the epidemic that has so far killed more than 2,000 people in mainland China. — Alex Shi and Reuters
Tokyo postpones training for Olympics volunteers over virus fears
Organizers for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics have postponed training for volunteers because of the spread of the coronavirus in Japan.
It had been scheduled to begin Saturday, the organizing committee said in a statement released late Friday.
The postponement of training will not affect other preparations and organizers are not considering cancelling the games, the statement said. — Reuters
China’s central bank vows to take more steps to support virus-hit economy
China’s central bank will take further steps to support the virus-hit economy, including releasing more liquidity and lowering funding costs for companies, a vice governor of the bank told state media.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) will guide market interest rates lower, Liu Guoqiang, the bank official, told the Financial News in an interview Friday.
“China’s monetary policy space is still very sufficient, and the toolbox is also sufficient. We are confident and able to offset the impact of the epidemic,” Liu told the newspaper. — Reuters
U.S. takes steps to prepare for pandemic as global coronavirus cases rise
As global concerns over the coronavirus outbreak grow, the U.S. is taking steps to prepare for the possibility of a pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
Health authorities are closely monitoring the spread of the virus — not only in China, where the outbreak began and where the vast majority of the nearly 77,000 cases have been diagnosed — but also in the growing number of cases in other countries.
By definition, a pandemic is an epidemic on more than one continent. — Erika Edwards
Federal judge blocks effort to transfer coronavirus patients to California city
A federal court blocked efforts Friday night to transfer dozens of patients who tested positive for coronavirus from Travis Air Force Base in Northern California to an empty building in Southern California.
U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton granted a temporary restraining order after the city of Costa Mesa filed a request for an injunction earlier in the day.
Named as defendants were the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Defense, U.S. Air Force, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and the California Department of General Services.
An expedited hearing is scheduled Monday in Santa Ana, California. — Alicia Victoria Lozano