Italy reports second coronavirus death as infections worldwide pass 77,000
The country reports two deaths in 24 hours as a father-of-three dies at a hospital in Veneto and a woman dies in Lombardy.
Sunday 23 February 2020 02:15, UK
Two people have died of the coronavirus in Italy in the space of 24 hours.
A man named by Italian news agency Ansa as former construction company owner Adriano Trevisan, in his late 70s, was among almost 60 suspected or confirmed cases in Italy so far.
The father-of-three died at a hospital in Padua, in the Veneto region in northern Italy, where he had been admitted along with another person who has tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
A second patient - a woman - then died hours after in Lombardy, a region also in the north.
The deaths have prompted local authorities in Lombardy and Veneto to shut schools, businesses and restaurants.
The first case officials were able to trace the outbreak to in Italy was reported to be a 38-year-old man from Codogno, who is believed to have caught the virus from a friend who had returned from China in January.
Since meeting his friend, he was found to have been at work, run two races, played in a football team, had at least three restaurant dinner and business meetings.
Health chiefs said on Saturday afternoon that the number of confirmed cases was 39 in Lombardy and 12 in the Veneto.
On Saturday in Codogno - a small village in Lombardy about 7 miles (11km) north of Piacenza - images showed the streets deserted of people.
In other coronavirus developments:
- Mainland China had 397 new confirmed cases on Friday, down from 889 on Thursday - the lowest number since the National Health Commission started compiling nationwide data a month ago. It has now reported 75,569 cases and 2,239 deaths
- 17 people have died outside the mainland: Six in Iran, two in Hong Kong, two in Italy, two in South Korea, two from the Diamond Princess cruise liner, one each in France, Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan
- Around 35 British passengers on the Diamond Princess ship quarantined in Yokohama, Japan, were on a government-chartered plane to the UK on Friday night
- A total of 634 cruise ship passengers have contracted COVID-19, including four Britons
- Protesters in Ukraine attacked buses carrying evacuees from China to a hospital after a fake email wrongly claimed some had already contracted the virus.
- The impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the global economy will be among the topics for discussions among G20 financial leaders during their talks in Riyadh this weekend
- World Health Organisation analysis has found that, of those people who get coronavirus, around 80% have milder symptoms, around 20% become serious or critical, and 2% die
Meanwhile, South Korea has reported another 142 cases, bringing the country's total to 346. Of the new cases, 91 originated from a hospital in Cheongdo County, which was designated as one of the "special care zones" by the government.
On Friday, the confirmation of 100 cases had prompted the declaration of a health emergency in the southeastern city of Daegu, South Korea's fourth largest.
South Korea's prime minister Chung Se-kyun said the government would shift its focus to containing the domestic spread of coronavirus, not just its entry from abroad.
A woman in her 50s became South Korea's second death from COVID-19 on Friday after she was transferred from Daegu to the southeastern city of Busan.
President Moon Jae-in ordered immediate action to track down followers who had recently visited the Daegu church and a hospital in the southeastern city of Cheongdo, where many cases have been reported in the past three days.
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The World Health Organisation said the increase in cases in South Korea does not signal an increased risk of a pandemic as the cases were mostly linked to known, existing clusters of infections.
China's ruling political bureau warned on Friday the turning point of the outbreak in the country has not yet come as it said the situation in Hubei province, where it originated, remained severe and complex.