New Coronavirus News from 23 Feb 2020c

New developments suggest coronavirus incubation could be longer than 14 days, as global infections rise [The Washington Post, 23 Feb 2020]

By Anna Fifield, Simon Denyer, Chico Harlan, Miriam Berger and Marisa Iati

There are some indications that the incubation period for the coronavirus could be longer than 14 days, with patients testing positive after much longer quarantine periods, researchers said.

The rush to understand the virus came as infections rose in South Korea, Japan, Iran and Italy.

The head of the World Health Organization warned that the window for stopping the epidemic was narrowing. Here’s what we know:

● Chinese leader Xi Jinping has been advised that the situation in Wuhan “remains grim and complex.” Amid an alarming surge in cases with no clear link to China, infectious disease experts say they believe the flu-like illness may soon be a pandemic and impossible to contain.

● South Korea and Japan both reported a sharp spike in cases, with the number of cases in South Korea rising to at least 556. A sixth person died in Iran from the virus, while Italy has at least 76 confirmed cases, making it the largest hot spot in Europe.
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● Nine South Korean tourists who recently toured Israel and the occupied West Bank tested positive for coronavirus Saturday. Israeli and Palestinian authorities are urging anyone who may have come in contact with them to report and self-isolate.

● China on Sunday local time reported 648 new cases and 97 additional deaths. There continues to be a great deal of skepticism about China’s numbers as the criteria for diagnosing coronavirus keep changing.

● Thousands of Russian-linked social-media accounts are leading a disinformation campaign to cause alarm about the outbreak, the AFP reported.
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BEIJING — Scientists were studying a case in China that suggested the incubation period for coronavirus could be longer than 14 days, potentially casting doubt on current quarantine criteria even as the epidemic moved into new regions.

The potential for a longer incubation period was linked to a patient in China’s Hubei Province, where the virus was first detected in December. A 70-year-old man was infected with coronavirus, but did not show symptoms until 27 days later, the local government reported.

South Korea and Japan both reported a sharp spike in cases Saturday, while an additional 97 people died of the virus in China, and a sixth person died in Iran. Italian authorities Saturday said the country was seeing a sudden rise in coronavirus cases, with at least 58 confirmed in the past two days — an outbreak that represents the largest across Europe.

Meanwhile, scientists in China reported indications that the virus might be transmissible through urine.

Almost 78,000 people worldwide have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, with the vast majority of cases located in mainland China, according to the World Health Organization.
Roughly 1,400 cases have been tallied outside China.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Saturday that WHO experts were due to arrive that day in Wuhan, China, the center of the coronavirus outbreak. The team has visited three Chinese provinces this week, Tedros said in a speech in Geneva.

Outside China, Tedros said that the WHO is concerned about the number of cases without a clear epidemiological link, such as recent travel to China or contact with a person known to be infected.

The organization also has been sending medical supplies to Africa and training the continent’s health-care workers to prepare them for the virus’s possible arrival there, Tedros said. The only confirmed case of the coronavirus in Africa is in Egypt.

“Our biggest concern continues to be the potential for covid-19 to spread in countries with weaker health systems,” Tedros said.

South Korea coronavirus cases surge as Italy confirms first death from the virus

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who has not visited Wuhan since the outbreak began, was briefed that the situation in the city and in surrounding Hubei province “remains grim and complex,” according to a report by the official Xinhua News Agency published Saturday.

“The nationwide inflection point of the epidemic has not yet arrived,” the report said after a meeting of Communist Party leaders.

China’s National Health Commission reported Sunday local time that 648 new cases of coronavirus were diagnosed Saturday, taking the total to nearly 77,000. The rate of infection outside Hubei appears to have slowed markedly, although there has been a great deal of confusion about the statistics this week as officials have repeatedly changed the criteria for confirming cases.

Authorities discovered Friday that a 70-year-old man in Hubei was confirmed as infected after 27 days in isolation, while a man in Jiangxi province tested positive after 14 days of centralized quarantine and five days of isolation at home. On Thursday, authorities reported that a man in Hubei had tested positive for coronavirus after what appeared to be a 38-day incubation period with no symptoms.

The United States is also struggling with domestic fallout from its responses to the virus. The Californian city of Costa Mesta has sued the federal government over its plan to transfer quarantined coronavirus patients from the Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento to the former Fairview Developmental Center as early as this weekend. The city said that the area in question is surrounded by residential neighborhoods and that placing patients with a highly contagious disease so close by could pose a risk to public health.

A federal judge granted Costa Mesa’s request Friday, temporarily blocking the transfer of up to 50 patients. The restraining order prohibits state and federal government authorities from transporting anyone infected with coronavirus or who has been exposed to the disease to Costa Mesa before a hearing at 2 p.m. Monday at the Santa Ana federal courthouse, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The State Department, meanwhile, is battling thousands of Russian-linked social-media accounts promoting baseless theories that the United States created the coronavirus outbreak, according to the AFP. The accounts post “almost near identical” messages at similar times in five languages, the report says.

U.S. officials said they discovered the disinformation campaign in mid-January.

“Russia’s intent is to sow discord and undermine U.S. institutions and alliances from within, including through covert and coercive malign influence campaigns,” Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia, told the AFP.

Misinformation about the coronavirus outbreak has proliferated — mostly on social media — since the first cases were reported in December.

Coronavirus cases in South Korea skyrocket; cases triple in Japan

The State Department on Saturday heightened its travel advisories from Level 1 to Level 2 for South Korea and Japan, urging Americans to “exercise increased caution” when traveling to those countries due to the rising number of coronavirus cases there. Older adults and people with chronic conditions, who might be at higher risk of contracting the virus, should consider postponing unnecessary travel to those countries, the department said.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported Sunday that 123 additional cases of the coronavirus had been detected, taking the total to 556. This makes it the worst-affected country outside China.

“Apart from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, [South] Korea now has the most cases outside China, and we’re working closely with the government to fully understand the transmission dynamics that led to this increase,” Tedros said.

Nearly two-thirds of the new cases have been traced to existing clusters at a church in the southern city of Daegu and a hospital in nearby Cheongdo County, according to the KCDC.
More than half of South Korea’s cases are connected to the Daegu branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony.

Since members of the church attended a funeral at nearby Cheongdo Daenam hospital, at least 111 coronavirus cases have been reported there, including two patients who died of the virus.

The mass infection at the hospital is centered on its locked psychiatric ward, where a confined environment could have aggravated transmissions, said Jung Eun-Kyeong, director of the KCDC.

A 57-year-old patient at Daenam hospital died of the coronavirus, state-affiliated Yonhap News Agency reported early Sunday local time. The man is the fourth person to die of the virus in South Korea, according to Yonhap’s report, which The Washington Post could not immediately verify independently.

Trump was not told coronavirus-infected Americans would be flown home from cruise ship
In Japan, the number of coronavirus cases rose to 121 on Saturday, more than tripling in a week. That number excludes the 634 people on board the Diamond Princess who contracted the virus.

One of the latest cases was a teacher in her 60s at a public junior high school east of Tokyo, who complained of nausea while working. The mayor of Chiba city said the school will be closed until Wednesday, public broadcaster NHK reported.

The teacher had not traveled abroad in the past two weeks and has no record of having been in contact with a known infected person, underlining the fact that the virus is now spreading almost invisibly throughout the country, experts say.

Italy and Iran impose new measures to contain sudden spike

As numbers suddenly rose in Italy, the government has scrambled to contain the new outbreak, asking some 50,000 people to stay indoors and suspending all public events — including religious ceremonies and school — in 10 small towns to the south of Milan.

Until a few days ago, Italy had seen only three confirmed infections, including a pair of Chinese tourists.

“There is quite an evident contagion, a very strong one,” said Giulio Gallera, health chief of the northern Lombardy region, which has seen the majority of the cases.

Italian officials Friday attributed the country’s first death to the coronavirus, and Saturday said that a 77-year-old woman had also tested positive for the virus after being found dead in her home. But Italian authorities said the woman suffered from other health conditions, and were unsure if it was the virus that had killed her.

The cases in Italy appeared concentrated in the prosperous Lombardy region, which includes the country’s financial hub, Milan, and other areas nearby.

According to Italian media reports, one of the first people to come down with the virus was a 38-year-old who’d had dinner with somebody who had just come back from China. But some three weeks passed between that dinner and the time the man came down with a fever. In between, he ran a half-marathon, played soccer and traveled to several towns, according to La Repubblica, a major Italian daily.

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases of the virus in Iran has risen to 29.

The outbreak there has been centered on the holy Shiite city of Qom, where on Wednesday authorities suspended schools and religious gatherings as a precaution. On Saturday, Iranian authorities also closed schools in the capital, Tehran, and issued a temporary ban on cinemas and art-related events across the country, state-run Fars News Agency reported.

Other countries in the region have also reacted with alarm, particularly after Lebanon’s first coronavirus case Friday was found to be a woman who had just traveled from Qom.

In the past few days, Iraq and Kuwait suspended direct flights to Iran, while Iraq temporarily halted new visas for Iranian nationals and, along with Turkey, imposed restrictions on travelers who had recently arrived from Iran. Kuwait Airways said Saturday that it would be chartering special flights to evacuate citizens from Mashhad, Iran.

As fears mounted, Israel announced Saturday that nine South Koreans who had recently returned home from a tour in Israel tested positive for the virus. Israeli and Palestinian authorities on Saturday urged anyone who may have interacted with the group visiting from Feb. 8 to 15 to self-quarantine as they work to trace who may have had contact with the tourists, who visited major cities including Jerusalem.

Israel’s ambassador to China, Zvi Heifetz, was among those who self-quarantined, the Jerusalem Post reported, citing Israel’s foreign ministry. Heifetz took the same flight to Seoul as the South Korean tourists and is quarantined in Beijing, the report says.

Roughly 200 students and teachers who came into contact with the South Koreans have also self-quarantined, according to the Times of Israel.

A spokeswoman for Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority said Saturday that all non-Israeli citizens arriving on a direct flight from Seoul to Tel Aviv that evening would be denied entry. Israel’s Health Ministry has ordered Israelis returning from South Korea to self-quarantine.

Efforts to clear the Diamond Princess cruise ship continue

Meanwhile, tests are continuing on the crew members on board the Diamond Princess. At least 74 crew members have so far been found to have the virus.

All of the passengers have now been tested and almost all have left the ship, either to go home if they tested negative, to local hospitals or government facilities if they have the virus, or back to their home countries.
Some passengers were asked to stay on board to serve an additional quarantine if their cabin
mate contracted the virus, but they are also disembarking Saturday to serve out the rest of their quarantine in a government facility, local media reported.

In China’s ‘war’ on coronavirus, hospitals turn away other patients — with dire results

More than 200 port calls in Japan by international cruise ships have been canceled since the beginning of February due to the coronavirus outbreak, a Kyodo News survey showed Saturday, with the lost revenue from passengers coming ashore dealing another blow to Japan’s weak economy.

American woman in Malaysia declared free of coronavirus

The 83-year-old woman who tested positive for the coronavirus when she arrived at Kuala Lumpur airport after disembarking in Cambodia from the MS Westerdam cruise ship has recovered, Malaysia health authorities said Saturday.

The woman “is showing good improvement and signs of recovery, however, she is still being monitored and managed in hospital for a slight cough,” Malaysia’s director general of health, Noor Hisham Abdullah, said in a statement.

The woman repeatedly tested negative while on board the ship and when she disembarked in Sihanoukville, then twice tested positive while transiting in Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 15.

That set off a global scramble to track the hundreds of other passengers who had also disembarked then boarded planes bound for home.

The woman was taken to a hospital and given antiviral treatment and supplementary oxygen, and she showed improvement after 72 hours of treatment initiation, Abdullah said. Two more tests, conducted 24 hours apart, both came back negative for coronavirus.

But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cast doubt on whether the woman was ever infected, saying she “never had coronavirus to our knowledge.”

Cambodia’s Ministry of Health had previously cleared the 747 crew members who were still on board the Westerdam and the 781 passengers who were still in the country of coronavirus infection.

Chinese scientists isolate coronavirus strains in urine

Separately, scientists in China are continuing to study how the virus is transmitted.

A research team led by renowned Chinese pulmonologist Zhong Nanshan had isolated live coronavirus strains in urine samples from infected patients, Zhao Jincun, a respiratory expert at the State Key Laboratory, told reporters in Guangdong on Saturday.

The team of scientists had previously said the virus, in addition to being carried in respiratory droplets, appeared to be transmissible through fecal matter, underscoring the need to practice good hand washing as a preventive measure.

Zhao did not directly say that the virus could be transmitted through urine, simply noting that the strains had been isolated and that this had implications for public health control. They are continuing to work on isolating the virus and on a cure, the Guangzhou Daily reported.

But he said people should pay more attention to personal and family hygiene to prevent the spread of the virus and recommended frequently washing hands, closing the toilet lid before flushing and making sure bathroom drains are not blocked.

BREAKING: Japanese man tests positive for COVID-19 after Indonesia visit: Report - The Jakarta Post [Jakarta Post, 23 Feb 2020]

A Japanese man has tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) shortly after returning from a visit to Indonesia, Japanese public broadcaster NHK has reported.

According to the NHK report, the Tokyo metropolitan government announced on Saturday that the man, a Tokyo resident in his 60s, had been infected by the novel coronavirus.

The man, a staff member of a senior care facility, visited a healthcare institution on Feb. 12 after he developed "cold-like symptoms", but returned home the same day because he was not diagnosed with pneumonia. He returned to work at the senior home on Feb. 13. He spent Feb. 14 at home and then reportedly traveled to Indonesia on a family vacation on Feb. 15.

The NHK report did not specify the man's exact destination in Indonesia.

The man was hospitalized upon his return to Japan on Feb. 19 for severe difficulty breathing, and is said to be in "serious condition".

A press release from the Tokyo Novel Coronavirus Infectious Disease Control Center on the Tokyo metropolitan government's website states that a Tokyo resident in his 60s had tested positive for the disease and that the onset of his symptoms occurred on Feb. 12.

The release, however, does not mention any travel history to Indonesia, saying only that the man had no travel history to China within 14 days prior to onset of symptoms. The patient's condition is listed as "serious".

This case marks the second time a patient has tested positive for COVID-19 following a visit to Indonesia. The first, a Chinese man identified as Jin, tested positive for the disease earlier this month, eight days after returning from Bali. (kmt)

Japan summons Israeli ambassador to protest travel ban [The Jerusalem Post, 23 Feb 2020]

By LAHAV HARKOV

Senior officials in Tokyo lamented the ban to Israeli Ambassador to Japan Yaffa Ben-Ari, saying that they view the decision very negatively.

Officials in Seoul and Tokyo summoned Israeli diplomats on Sunday to protest Israel’s ban on the entry of people traveling from South Korea and Japan due to the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.

Israeli Ambassador to Japan Yaffa Ben-Ari and Charge D’affaires in South Korea Rasha Atamny were both told by the governments in their postings that they view the travel ban with severity.

The ban on South Koreans entering Israel began on Sunday while the block on Japanese nationals will come into effect at 8 a.m. on Monday. Israel has also banned entry from people who were in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand and Singapore in recent weeks.

The South Korean government filed a formal complaint to Israel on Sunday morning, saying they “demanded that such an incident not occur again.”

Foreign Minister Israel Katz said his ministry “is taking the necessary steps to ensure the public’s health while keeping up the important relations with Asian countries. We will continue to act in coordination with the relevant authorities in Israel.”

Katz spoke following a Foreign Ministry situation assessment meeting on Sunday, in which members of Israel’s delegations in China, Japan and South Korea, lamented that Israel’s response has harmed relations with those countries.

Foreign Ministry director-general Yuval Rotem responded that the health of the Israeli public is the government’s priority, though Israel will try minimize harm to diplomatic relations and continue an open dialogue with the relevant countries.

Rotem plans to meet with the South Korean ambassador to Israel on Sunday afternoon.
The Health Ministry website briefly said that Israel would be totally closing its borders to all foreign nationals, but then deleted the message late Saturday night.

Israel did not allow 130 South Koreans to disembark from flight KE957 from Seoul that landed at Ben-Gurion Airport on Saturday night. Twelve Israelis were allowed off the plane and transported home in Magen David Adom ambulances. The plane was then sent back to Seoul.

The refusal to admit the passengers followed a sharp increase in coronavirus cases in South Korea on Saturday, when local health authorities said the number of infected people had doubled to 433, as well as confirmation that nine South Korean nationals tested positive for the virus after returning from Israel earlier this month.

The Airports Authority announced Sunday that it made arrangements for the South Korean passengers who were unable to depart on Saturday night’s flight back to their country.
According to the authority, passengers departed on commercial flights with foreign airlines that had connections through third countries.

The Foreign Ministry decided on Sunday that it would send more staff to a special command room at Ben-Gurion Airport to help tourists who are banned from entering Israel.

An additional 1,000 tourists from South Korea currently traveling in Israel have been instructed to avoid public places, and instead remain in isolation in their hotels.

Israel has long sought to have South Korea remove its permanent travel warning its citizens against visiting Israel due to the security situation, in order to boost economic ties between the two countries.

Coronavirus: Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calls for 'basic policy' to fight spread of disease [The Straits Times, 23 Feb 2020]

by Walter Sim

TOKYO - With the third death linked to the Diamond Princess cruise ship on Sunday (Feb 23) and the number of coronavirus cases continuing to rise in Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stressed the urgency to develop a "basic policy" to curb the spread of the virus.

The priority, he said at the 12th Cabinet meeting against Covid-19, is to build a system that can slow the speed of infections and prevent sick patients from falling severely ill.

He delegated this task to Health Minister Katsunobu Kato, as he noted the outbreak is in a "crucial phase" as there are patients in multiple areas where the chain of transmission is unknown.

Japan is considering using Avigan, an anti-flu drug, to treat patients of the coronavirus disease.
Mr Abe noted that some hospitals have begun administering the drug to patients, and urged all-out efforts to find an effective treatment.

The meeting comes as Japan reported another 12 cases on Sunday (Feb 23), comprising nine in Hokkaido, two in Aichi and one in Chiba. This brings the total on land to 147.

Separately, Japan confirmed another 57 cases - 55 crew members and two passengers - on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship, docked off Yokohama, bringing the total infected to 691.

A Japanese man in his 80s died on Sunday, becoming the third fatality linked to the cruise. Health authorities said the cause of death was pneumonia, declining to elaborate if he died of Covid-19 as his family had not given consent.

There is already withering international scrutiny on Japan's quarantine measures on board the Diamond Princess, which has been described in foreign media as an "incubator" and a "petri dish" for the coronavirus.

The 691 confirmed cases do not include at least 28 cases, including one Japanese woman in Tochigi, who were given clean bills of health to disembark - only to test positive for the coronavirus later.

"We take very seriously the fact that positive cases have appeared after disembarkation," Mr Kato told reporters, though he said that Japan does not have any comprehensive data that can be analysed at this time.

Meanwhile, the United States raised its travel alert for Japan to level two on a four-tier scale on Saturday, citing the "sustained community spread" from unknown infection routes and calling for "increased caution".

Japan's tourism sector is taking a major hit from the coronavirus. Ishiya, the Sapporo-based maker of the famous Shiroi Koibito (white lover) cookies, is stopping production from Feb 20 to March 15 to cut its losses over falling sales.

The popular Ghibli Museum, which showcases the works of renowned animator Hayao Miyazaki of Spirited Away fame, will close from Feb 25 to March 17.

Museum director Kazuki Anzai said those who had booked tickets will be refunded, adding: "We concluded that curbing the spread of the infection is more important now."

The spread of the coronavirus has also led to bullying and discrimination of doctors and nurses in Japan, who put themselves on the frontline.

They were deployed as part of the volunteer-based Disaster Medical Assistance Team to attend to evacuees on chartered flights from Wuhan, as well as to passengers and crew on board the Diamond Princess.

But the Japanese Association for Disaster Medicine noted that these frontline workers have been treated like "germs" and discriminated even by their colleagues, with their children asked by school officials not to go to school and one medical professional asked to apologise to his superior for taking part in the mission.

"This is unbelievable and unjustified," the association said. "This is a serious human rights issue, and we demand the situation be corrected."

Japanese emperor, on birthday, expresses coronavirus concern, looks forward to Olympics [Reuters, 23 Feb 2020]

by Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Emperor Naruhito said on Sunday that he was looking forward to the Tokyo Olympics in summer but that he was concerned about the spread of the new coronavirus, which has killed three in Japan and is slowly spreading across the country.

Naruhito, who turned 60 on Sunday, ascended the throne last May after his father Akihito became the first Japanese emperor in two centuries to abdicate. The new emperor and his wife Empress Masako, 56, a former diplomat, have put a more relaxed face on one of the world’s oldest monarchies.

Speaking at his first news conference since becoming emperor - and on his first birthday since then as well - Naruhito said the roughly 10 months since have been tumultuous for Japan, including several deadly typhoons last year and now the coronavirus. More than 80 people around Japan have tested positive for the virus and events have been canceled around the nation in an effort to halt the contagion.

“This new coronavirus is a concern. I would like to send my sympathies to those who are infected and their families,” he said.

“At the same time, my thoughts are with the efforts of those who are treating them and working hard to prevent the spread of the infection. I hope their efforts will bear fruit soon.”

Tokyo will host the Summer Olympics from July 24 for the second time, and Naruhito said the first Tokyo games, held in October 1964 when he was four years old, were one of the highlights of his childhood.

Those games, held less than 20 years after a crushing defeat in World War Two left Tokyo in ruins, are seen in Japan as marking its return to the international community. Naruhito watched the marathon, equestrian events, and the closing ceremony with his parents, then Crown Prince and Princess.

“At the closing ceremony, the athletes didn’t march in all their separate countries’ teams but all together, and in such good humor,” he said.

“That could be the basis of my unchanging and long-held, earnest hope for world peace.”
Naruhito said he was looking forward to this Summer’s games, which he hoped would become an equally vivid memory for all the athletes taking part.

“And I hope this Olympics and Paralympics will deepen understanding of other people in the world and the preciousness of peace - especially among young people.”

Cities and firms begin disclosing patients' workplaces as Japan records third Diamond Princess death [The Japan Times, 23 Feb 2020]

Japan on Sunday recorded the third death of a Japanese national who had been on the coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship as infections linked to the virus continued to rise nationwide.

Some municipalities and companies have also started disclosing information about where infected people work.

The health ministry said Sunday a man in his 80s who had been on board the cruise ship had died of pneumonia. However, the ministry did not say whether the man was infected with the COVID-19 virus nor whether he was a passenger or crew member because it had not obtained consent from the deceased’s family.

The man was also suffering from a chronic disease, according to the ministry.

The ministry also said Sunday 55 passengers and two crew members of the Diamond Princess were newly found to be infected with the virus, bringing the total number of those infected onboard to 691.

Nagoya Expressway Public Corp. said Saturday that a man in his 60s from Nagoya who was announced to have tested positive works at a firm that collects expressway fees.

The firm said it will close six of its tollgates that see relatively little traffic until early March due to a shortage of workers, as the man had been tasked with driving fee collectors to their working posts. Fifty-two of the collectors believed to have had close contact with the man have been asked to stay home.

In Hokkaido, the Asahikawa Municipal Government announced Saturday that a man in his 70s who tested positive runs a pork cutlet restaurant chain called Hokkaido Isen in the city, and that the shop will be closed until Monday for disinfection. No other staff members have shown symptoms. The city government took the rare move of disclosing the name of the restaurant after the man requested that it do so. He said he wanted his customers to be given correct information, according to an Asahi Shimbun report.

On Sunday, the board of education in Ebetsu, Hokkaido, said a woman in her 50s who had tested positive and which was announced by the prefectural government a day earlier, works part time at an elementary school in the city serving school lunches.

Governments in Hokkaido also announced Sunday that nine people have been newly found to be infected, while the Chiba Prefectural Government announced the same day that a man in his 40s in the prefecture returned a positive result. The Chiba government said the man took business trips to Hiroshima and Gifu prefectures after showing symptoms of being infected, such as joint and muscle pain. New cases also emerged in Nagoya on Sunday, with the municipal government announcing a man and a woman in their 70s had tested positive.

On Saturday, the Chiba Municipal Government announced that a teacher in her 60s at Makuhari-Hongo Junior High School tested positive. The local board of education said it will ask all of some 3,900 teachers and staff working at public schools in the city if they have experienced any symptoms in the past two weeks.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Association for Disaster Management issued a statement Saturday protesting the prejudice and workplace bullying experienced by some of its members who helped transport and rescue passengers infected with the coronavirus while on board the virus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship.

According to the statement, some of its members complained that they were treated as if they were infected once they returned to work, or that they were asked by nursery schools and kindergartens to keep their children at home for a period of time.

There were some instances in which employers demanded the members apologize for participating in the rescue mission. The statement denounced these reactions as tantamount to “human rights violations,” calling on the society to rethink prejudice-based responses.

US raises travel alert to Japan as new coronavirus spreads via unknown infection routes [The Japan Times, 23 Feb 2020]

WASHINGTON – The U.S. State Department on Saturday called for “increased caution” when traveling to Japan, escalating the alert to level 2 on the four-level advisory scale amid reports that a new coronavirus originating in China is spreading in Japanese communities via unknown infection routes.

The previous advisory at level 1 called on citizens to exercise “normal precautions” in Japan. As for China, the travel advisory has been raised to the highest level of 4, which urges citizens not to travel to the country.

According to the State Department, many infection cases of the pneumonia-causing virus have been associated with travel to or from mainland China, or being in close contact with such travelers.

But “sustained community spread” has been reported in Japan, which means that people in the country have been infected with the virus, though “how or where they became infected is not known, and the spread is ongoing.”

Older adults and those with chronic medical conditions may be at higher risk for severe disease, the department said, advising such people to consult with a healthcare provider before traveling to Japan or consider postponing the trip if it is unnecessary.

So far, about 750 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in Japan, the highest number after mainland China where more than 70,000 people have been infected, resulting in over 2,300 deaths.

Most of the people infected with the virus in Japan are passengers or crew members of the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama.

Coronavirus updates: Italian towns locked down as almost 150 test positive [NBC News, 23 Feb 2020]

As Italy experiences a surge in coronavirus cases, here is the latest for Sunday, Feb. 23.

Virus poses challenges to $45 billion cruise industry
• Israeli prime minister holds emergency meeting
• Number of deaths in China surpasses 2,400
• Ten towns in Italy on lockdown as two deaths reported
• South Korea leader calls for 'unprecedented' steps to stop spread
• 43 cases, eight deaths connected to coronavirus in Iran
• Feds' plan to relocate coronavirus patients puts region at risk, California city says
• Japan minister apologizes after woman who left virus-stricken ship tests positive
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Virus challenges $45 billion cruise industry

Coronavirus concerns have pushed the $45 billion cruise line industry to cancel trips and reroute ships as it struggles to contain the impact from fearful travelers. But experts say the industry will bounce back after the outbreak is contained.

“Business is soft, people are scared to travel,” Frank Del Rio, CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., told investors Thursday. He predicted the trend would continue, “until we see the leveling off of new cases.”

Carnival Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruises, and Royal Caribbean Cruises all together recently announced they’d canceled nearly 40 cruises and rerouted over 40. Shares are down across the three major cruise lines from 10 to 16 percent since January.

Carnival told investors if travel restrictions continue through May, it could lead to a 14 percent reduction in share price. Royal Caribbean said additional cancellations could lead to a roughly 12 percent decrease in earnings this year.

Israel prime minister convenes special assessment

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has held high level meetings with senior officials in the Health Ministry's emergency situation room to discuss the coronavirus.

“We are continuing preparations to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus in Israel. We are holding daily assessments," he told the gathering of government ministers and senior officials.

"Today, I will appoint a ministerial team to convene on a daily basis in order to deal with this major challenge."

He added: "We have also issued guidelines to Israelis who are returning to the country and we demand that these guidelines, which we are releasing to the public, be strictly adhered to."

The police would also be called if anyone was found to be disseminating false reports about COVID-19 in the lead up the Israeli elections next month, he said. — Lawahez Jabari

Towns in Italy locked down as scores of people test positive

Ten towns in northern Italy, with a population of around 50,000, were locked down Sunday after scores of people tested positive for COVID-19 and two people died from the disease.

Government officials said Sunday that 133 people have tested positive for the respiratory illness, making it Europe’s worst-hit country.

Of those cases, 89 are in the region of Lombardy, 17 in Veneto, two in Emilia Romagna, one in Piemonte and two in the country's capital, Rome.

A 77-year-old woman who lived in Milan's Lombardy region died Saturday, the ANSA news agency reported. Her death came hours after a 78-year-old man died in the nearby city of Padua in the Veneto region.

The government introduced a number of containment measures Saturday in areas affected by the contagion, including a ban on exit and entry into the affected areas.

It also suspended all public events and gatherings and shut down schools, nurseries, museums, restaurants, businesses and public offices.

All those who have been in contact with those infected are to remain at home for a quarantine period of 14 days, officials added.

Both the police and where deemed necessary, the army, will ensure the measures are enforced, the government said. Those who break the rules risk up to three months in prison.

Meanwhile, three football games scheduled to be played today in Lombardy and Veneto, the most affected regions, have been suspended.

Giuseppe Sala, the mayor of Milan, said Sunday that all schools in the city will remain closed for at least a week.

The rise in cases comes as Milan is holding its annual fashion week.

Well known designer Giorgio Armani banned the public from attending the catwalk scheduled for Sunday and said it will be streamed online instead.

The last two days of Venice's famed carnival were also cancelled in bid to stop the spread of the virus. — Claudio Lavanga and AP

Number of deaths in China surpasses 2,400

Almost 650 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in mainland China, the country's National Health Commission reported Sunday as the total number of confirmed cases rose to 76,936.

A further 97 new deaths were also recorded, it said. A total of 2,442 people have died in mainland China since the outbreak began.

While the number of cases continues to rise, there have been less than 1,000 recorded each day over the last four days.

However, changes have been made to the way that the number of infections are counted, making it difficult to draw conclusions from the figures. — Yuliya Talmazan and Salina Lee

South Korea leader calls for 'unprecedented' steps to stop coronavirus

South Korea’s president put the country on its highest alert for infectious diseases on Sunday and said officials should take “unprecedented, powerful” steps to fight a viral outbreak.

Speaking at a government meeting, President Moon Jae-in said the outbreak had reached “a crucial watershed” and that “the next few days will be a very important critical moment.”

His comments came as authorities reported 169 new cases on Sunday, raising the total to 602 with five deaths.

The U.S. State Department issued a level 2 travel alert for South Korea Saturday warning that older adults and those with chronic medical conditions should consider postponing non-essential travel.

It said South Korea was experiencing "sustained community transmission of COVID-19." — The Associated Press and Nayeong Kim

Eight deaths connected to coronavirus in Iran, officials say

Eight people have died after contracting the coronvirus, Iranian officials said Sunday, as the number of confirmed cases in the country rose to 43.

Only China has confirmed more deaths from the respiratory illness.

Most of the cases have been in Qom, a Shiite Muslim holy city 75 miles south of the capital Tehran.

Schools, universities and seminaries in Qom will be closed on Sunday and Monday in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq have placed travel and immigration curbs on Iran, while Oman on Sunday urged its citizens to steer clear of countries with high infection rates and said arrivals from those nations would be quarantined. — Reuters

Feds' plan to relocate coronavirus patients puts region at risk, California city says

Leaders in Costa Mesa, California, said Saturday that they were kept in the dark until the last minute about plans by federal health agencies to transfer dozens of coronavirus patients to an empty building in their city in a move they said could put the entire region at risk.

The Southern California city was granted a restraining order Friday by a federal judge to temporarily halt the relocation of up to 50 patients from Travis Air Force Base in Northern California to the Fairview Developmental Center. In its request for the order, the city cited concern that the building is located in a densely populated area surrounded by schools, golf courses and homes.

"We are all united in addressing what we think is a public health crisis right here in our community," Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley said.

In a news conference Saturday, local elected officials chided the federal government for its lack of transparency about how the site was chosen, how many patients would be transferred and what federal agency made the decision. — Alicia Victoria Lozano

Japan minister apologizes after woman who left virus-stricken ship tests positive

Japan's health minister has apologized after a woman who was allowed to leave a coronavirus-infected cruise ship docked near Tokyo tested positive for COVID-19.

The woman in her 60s disembarked the Diamond Princess in Yokohama on Wednesday following a two-week quarantine on board, but was found to be positive following another test.

Health Minister Katsunobu Kato told a news conference in Tokyo on Saturday that 23 passengers were released from quarantine aboard the cruise ship without being tested for COVID-19 because of procedural mistakes.

Officials had tracked all the passengers which had not been tested and asked them to self-quarantine at home for 14 days, he said, adding that 19 of those passengers are Japanese citizens and four are foreigners who reside in Japan.

More than 630 people aboard the ship have been confirmed to have the virus. Inside Japan, 120 confirmed cases have been recorded as of Sunday. — Arata Yamamoto and Reuters

Latest on the coronavirus outbreak [Kyodo News Plus, 23 Feb 2020]

As of 10 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 23 (Japan time)

• Hong Kong health authorities said Sunday a man evacuated last week from the coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan has tested positive for the new coronavirus while under quarantine.

• South Africa has canceled a men's under-23 friendly against Japan over concerns about the current coronavirus outbreak, the Japan Football Association revealed Sunday.

• A Japanese man in his 80s who was on the cruise ship Diamond Princess has died from pneumonia, the health ministry said Sunday, bringing the number of deaths among people who boarded the coronavirus-hit vessel to three.

• Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday instructed his government to swiftly draw up a basic policy to curb the spread of the new coronavirus in Japan.

• The number of deaths in China from the novel coronavirus has risen to 2,442 on the mainland, with 648 newly confirmed infections nationwide, the country's health authorities said Sunday.

• South Korean President Moon Jae In on Sunday raised the country's virus alert level to the highest in the four-tier system as the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus topped 600.

• The world-famous Ghibli Museum in Tokyo, featuring the works of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, will be closed from Tuesday through March 17 due to the coronavirus outbreak.

• The U.S. State Department on Saturday called for "increased caution" when traveling to Japan, escalating the alert to level 2 on the four-level advisory scale amid reports that a new coronavirus originating in China is spreading in Japanese communities via unknown infection routes.

• The finance chiefs of the Group of 20 major economies on Saturday agreed to coordinate efforts as the new coronavirus outbreak in China emerges as a potential risk to the global economy

• A Japanese woman who left the coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship earlier this week was confirmed to be infected after returning to her home in eastern Japan despite an initial negative test result, a local government said Saturday.
________________________________________
As of 10 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 22 (Japan time)
• South Korea on Saturday reported another 229 cases of the new coronavirus, its largest daily increase so far, with most occurring in a hospital and among members of a religious group.

• Passengers of a coronavirus-hit cruise ship in Yokohama who shared cabins with those found infected, disembarked Saturday for further monitoring.

• Japan is considering using Avigan, an anti-influenza medication developed by a Fujifilm Holdings Corp. group company, to treat patients of the new coronavirus, health minister Katsunobu Kato said Saturday.

• More than 200 port calls in Japan by international cruise ships have been canceled since the beginning of February due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, a Kyodo News survey showed Saturday.

• Eighteen of the more than 300 Americans evacuated from the coronavirus-hit cruise ship Diamond Princess docked near Tokyo are confirmed to have been infected, U.S. health authorities say.

Third Diamond Princess passenger, 80-year-old Japanese man, dies after coronavirus quarantine [USA TODAY, 23 Feb 2020]

by Morgan Hines

A third passenger has died after being quarantined for coronavirus on board Princess Cruises' Diamond Princess ship, which remains docked in Yokohama, Japan, according to Japan's health ministry.

The passenger, an 80-year-old Japanese man, died of pneumonia, the health ministry announced in a news release Sunday. It was not confirmed that the passenger had coronavirus but had been treated in the hospital after disembarking from the cruise ship.

Symptoms of the virus include fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties; if the virus worsens, it can develop into pneumonia, kidney failure, severe acute respiratory syndrome or lead to death.

Two other Diamond Princess passengers died previously: a man and a woman, both Japanese, both in their 80s.

NHK previously reported the other two Japanese cruise passengers who died from the virus earlier in the week were an 87-year-old man and an 84-year-old woman.

The first two passengers were taken to the hospital on Feb. 11 and 12, respectively, and each tested positive the day after they were admitted, Health Ministry official Masami Sakoi said.
They are believed to have been infected before the ship was officially placed under quarantine on Feb. 5.

'I feel ill-used by my country':Two groups of US Diamond Princess passengers, two disparate experiences

“Our hearts go out to the families, friends and all who are impacted by these losses," the company said in a statement earlier this week provided by spokeswoman Alivia Owyoung Ender. "All of us at Princess Cruises, as well as the crew of the Diamond Princess, offer our sincere condolences.”

As of Friday morning, there were at least 634 confirmed cases of coronavirus that stemmed from the Diamond Princess, the most of any site outside of mainland China. As of Sunday morning, according to a map built by the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering that is tracking all confirmed cases, coronavirus has infected almost 79,000 people around the world and killed almost 2,500.

Despite no cases on ship, Coronavirus still wreaking havoc on lives of Westerdam passengers

As Coronavirus Cases Spiral, South Korea Raises Threat Alert Level [The New York Times, 23 Feb 2020]

By Choe Sang-Hun

The move will empower the government to lock down cities, bar visitors from China and unilaterally restrict the movement of people.

SEOUL, South Korea — As South Korea struggles to contain a snowballing coronavirus outbreak, the president on Sunday raised the country’s alert level to the highest in a decade by empowering the government to lock down cities, bar visitors from China and unilaterally restrict the movement of people.

In raising the alert level, President Moon Jae-in is effectively acknowledging that the virus is threatening to spin out of control, after the number of cases has jumped to 602 in a few days and the death toll has risen to six.

The world is closely watching South Korea, concerned that it has become another hot spot of infection outside China. Emerging outbreaks in South Korea, Iran and Italy have provoked fear that the epidemic could turn into a global pandemic, as countries impose more travel restrictions and containment measures.

The United States has raised its travel advisories for South Korea and Japan, warning about “sustained community spread.” Israel denied entry to 130 South Koreans on board a Korean Air flight that landed in Tel Aviv on Saturday, forcing them to return home on the same plane.

In recent days, the South Korean government has shut day care centers, banned outdoor rallies and postponed the reopening of schools in early March. Churches are asking congregants to stay home and pray online instead.

But Mr. Moon said South Korea faced a “wholly different situation” after the quickly expanding outbreak of the virus among members of a Shincheonji Church of Jesus in Daegu, South Korea’s fourth-largest city, 180 miles southeast of Seoul. More than half of all the patients in the country are either members of Shincheonji or their relatives and other contacts.

In Daegu, shopping districts, supermarkets and parks were empty as the government asked citizens to stay home.

On Sunday, South Korean officials said they had no immediate plan to bar Chinese visitors — as some conservative news outlets and other critics have demanded — or lock down any cities.
But by putting the country on the highest alert, they showed their resolve to take more aggressive steps if needed.

This is the first time since 2009 that the country has been put on the highest alert; at that time, it was battling the swine flu spreading around the world.

“We should not be bound by regulations, nor should we shy away from unprecedented strong measures,” Mr. Moon said at an emergency government meeting on Sunday.

The alert, known as Level 4, will allow the government to allocate more money for fighting the virus and make it easier for health officials to acquire the personal data of people suspected of being infected, as well as outlaw religious and other gatherings.

It will also empower health officials to control air, train and other public traffic around the country.

Health officials hope that the number of new patients connected to Shincheonji will drop significantly within a week or so. They have already screened most members of the church showing potential symptoms, and many have been tested for the virus.

“We are faced with a watershed moment in the case of the coronavirus,” Mr. Moon said. “The coming few days will be a critical time for us. This will be a momentous time when the central government, local governments and the whole people must wage an all-out, concerted response to the problem.”

Until now, South Korean officials had been reluctant to raise the alert level, worried that such a drastic measure would hurt the country’s already slowing economy, as well as undermine its image as a country safe for travel. In China where the virus originated, the economy has come to a standstill, while the country has been essentially cut off from the rest of the world.

South Korea’s economic troubles have deepened in recent weeks, with exports to China, its biggest trading partner, sharply dropping because of the outbreak. South Korean auto and other companies that rely on parts from China have also suffered.

Despite its extensive ties with China, South Korea had initially appeared to cope well in containing the spread of the coronavirus. After reporting its first case on Jan. 20, the number of patients remained low. By Feb. 15, the country had 28 cases and no deaths.

A few days later, the situation began to unravel, when an infected patient was found in the large congregation of the Shincheonji Church in Daegu, a city of 2.4 million. Since then, the number of patients has exploded, mostly among members of Christian church and people connected to them.

For now, the outbreak has been largely limited to Daegu and the surrounding North Kyongsang Province, which account for 460 of the infections. But several new cases have emerged in towns across South Korea, most of them Shincheonji worshipers who have attended church services in Daegu or people who have traveled to the city or have met people from there.

“A large number of people gathered in a very closed space, holding their prayer services together for one to two hours,” said Jung Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, referring to the Shincheonji church. “In such an environment, it was likely that even a few patients spread the disease to many people.”

Although health officials have frantically tried to track down church members and direct contacts, they acknowledged that it had become increasingly hard to establish the chain of transmissions once the community spread began. Shincheonji worshipers have been noted for their secrecy, often hiding their membership even to their parents, said former members and experts on religious sects.

In their efforts to contain the outbreak, officials have designated coronavirus-only hospitals and have required all people visiting regular hospitals with respiratory symptoms to be tested for the virus. With some towns fearing a lack of hospital beds, the government recently expedited the approval of newly built hospital wards so they could be quickly used to accommodate more patients.

Subway stations, coffee shops and movie theaters were all required to install hand sanitizers for customers to use. The government also empowered doctors to order a coronavirus test even if a patient doesn’t want it.

During a telephone call with President Xi Jinping of China on Thursday, President Moon sympathized with Beijing’s efforts to battle the virus, saying that “China’s difficulties are our own difficulties.”

More than 10,000 Chinese students are expected to return to South Korea in the coming week after winter vacations, as their South Korean universities are scheduled to reopen in early March. That has raised fears among some South Koreans.

On Sunday, officials said the Chinese students will be asked not to come to school for two weeks, officials said. The government also changed the opening day of kindergartens and high schools, to March 9, from March 2.

“We don’t agree with the argument that we are trying to catch mosquitoes while keeping the windows open,” Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said last week, dismissing the demand for a ban on Chinese visitors, as the United States and dozens of other countries have done. He said more people have been infected by South Koreans’ returning from China than by Chinese visitors.

The raising of the alert level came a day after thousands of older Christian activists dismissed his government’s appeals not to gather in large groups and pressed ahead with their weekly anti-government protest. They accused Mr. Moon of mismanaging the economy and being too friendly toward North Korea and China. At the protest, most of the participants wore masks but loudly chanted antigovernment slogans and “Amens.”

“We will defend South Korea even if we get infected with the virus and die,” said the Rev. Jun Kwang-hoon, who had organized the rally, shouted at the cheering crowd. “Those of you who are here are true Christians. Even if we contract the virus, the Lord will cure us.”