Latest on the coronavirus outbreak from across the world
There are now over 95,300 cases worldwide and more than 3,200 people have died.
Four more cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the west of Ireland, bringing the total number of cases in the country to six.
The patients, two male and two female, are all associated with travel from the same affected area in northern Italy.
There are now nine cases on the island of Ireland, including the three cases in Northern Ireland.
Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer with the Department of Health, described the latest cases as a cluster and said all four had travelled together.
Everyday life for Italians is about to be turned on its head after the death toll there rose to 107 and cases totaled almost 3,090. The decision to shut all schools and universities until March 15 will have massive knock-on effects for working parents - and their employers. Leisure won’t be the same either: a government decree calls for the closure of cinemas and theaters and tells Italians not to shake hands or hug each other, and to avoid “direct physical contact with all people.”
Italy’s bishops have meanwhile ordered Masses not be held during the week in churches in areas of the north of the country affected by the coronavirus outbreak - a step thought to be unprecedented. And to cap it all, top flight Serie A soccer matches are to be played in empty stadiums.
California declared a state of emergency after its first coronavirus fatality, the first in the United States outside Washington state. The U.S. death toll from coronavirus infections rose to 11 on Wednesday as new cases emerged around the New York City and Los Angeles areas.
An ocean liner that previously carried two passengers who contracted the coronavirus has been barred from returning to its home port of San Francisco from a voyage to Hawaii after at least 20 people aboard fell ill. For now, the Grand Princess cruise ship has been told to remain at sea until further tests. What of course no one wants is a repeat of last month’s saga involving another ocean-bound princess - when the Diamond Princess cruiser was quarantined off the coast of Japan and was for a time the largest concentration of virus cases outside China.
Big oil cuts in the pipeline
The coronavirus outbreak has dented the global economy and with it the demand for oil. In an attempt to shore up prices for the black stuff, OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna on Thursday are expected to approve a big cut in oil production. At present, they are still waiting for Russia to indicate whether it will back such a move.
Airlines take a hit
The epidemic could cost passenger airlines up to $113 billion in lost revenue this year, the IATA industry body has said in a new a forecast more than three times a projection it made just two weeks ago.
The warning came as British regional carrier Flybe became the first big casualty of the slump in travel demand due to the crisis and Norwegian Air scrapped its profit forecast for this year.
Two strains
Scientists in China studying the disease caused by the new coronavirus say they have found that two main strains of the virus are circulating in humans and causing infections.
They said they had found a more aggressive strain of the new coronavirus, associated with the outbreak in Wuhan, accounted for about 70% of analyzed cases, while 30% were linked to a less aggressive type.
The researchers, from Peking University’s School of Life Sciences and the Institut Pasteur of Shanghai under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, cautioned they had studied limited data and follow-up studies of larger data sets would be needed to better understand the virus’s evolution.
Not the time for 007
Among public events to be canceled or postponed is the global release of Daniel Craig’s last outing as James Bond. The world premiere of “No Time to Die”, planned for March 31 in London, with 5,000 attendees, has now been postponed till November.
Toilet paper scare
A delivery truck carrying toilet paper caught fire after its engine exploded in the Australian city of Brisbane, adding to a sense of panic about the availability of the product after the coronavirus outbreak prompted panic buying.
The driver escaped without injury and the cargo, including toilet paper, was also largely unaffected.
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