This article is from the source 'washpo' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/new-virus-cases-deaths-in-china-continue-downward-trend/2020/02/27/9a8db166-59c5-11ea-8efd-0f904bdd8057_story.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=wp_world

The article has changed 17 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 3 Version 4
Virus epidemic growing by day hits schools, concerts, parks World harshens its virus response as epidemic worsens by day
(about 1 hour later)
TOKYO — Japan’s schools prepared to close for almost a month and entertainers, topped by K-pop superstars BTS, canceled events as a virus epidemic extended its spread through Asia into Europe and on Friday, into sub-Saharan Africa. BANGKOK — Saudi Arabia cut travel to Islam’s holiest sites, South Korea toughened penalties for those breaking quarantines and airports across Latin America looked for signs of sick passengers as a new virus troubled places around the globe.
The expectation that Japan would close all its elementary, secondary and high schools will send nearly 13 million children home and leave few people untouched by the virus in the world’s third-biggest economy. Sporting events and concerts in Japan have already been canceled, and Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea said, too, they would close until mid-March. With the number of sick and dead rising, the crisis gave way to political and diplomatic rows, concern that bordered on panic in some quarters, and a sense that no part of the world was immune.
But the COVID-19 illnesss caused by a new coronavirus that emerged in December in the Chinese city of Wuhan has now stretched well beyond Asia and taken on a distinctly global character. Saudi Arabia cut travel to Islam’s holiest sites as cases in the Middle East reach into the hundreds. Italy’s surging outbreak was causing illnesses in other countries, including Nigeria, which confirmed the first sub-Saharan case on Friday. “Viruses don’t know borders and they don’t stop at them,” said Roberto Speranza, the health minister in Italy, where northern towns were on army-guarded lockdowns and supermarket shelves were bare.
The global count of those infected exceeds 83,000, with China still by far the hardest-hit country. But South Korea has surged past 2,000 cases, and other countries have climbing caseloads and deaths. Iran, with 26 deaths and more than 250 cases, has the most in the Middle East and travel there was connected to cases in countries as far away as New Zealand. As outbreaks grew sharply Europe and the Middle East, air routes were halted and border control toughened. But for an illness transmitted so easily, with its tentacles reaching into so many parts of the world, leaders seemed willing to try anything to keep their people — and economies — safe.
The cancellations of BTS’s concerts in Seoul will resonate in South Korea, which sees the internationally followed group as an emblem of its cultural and economic power. The band’s management agency said the scale of the outbreak in April, when the concerts were scheduled, couldn’t be predicted, and the large numbers of crew and concertgoers would have been a concern. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for schools across the country to close for weeks, a decision that impacted 12.8 million students.
U.S. rock band Green Day postponed upcoming Asia shows as well, and the U.S.’s National Symphony Orchestra canceled performances in Japan, after earlier canceling concerts in Beijing and Shanghai. “The most important thing is to prevent infections,” said Norinobu Sawada, vice principal of Koizumi primary school, “so there aren’t many other options.”
The closure of Disney resorts in Japan will last through March 15, their Japanese operator, Oriental Land Co., said Friday. Disney parks in Hong Kong and Shanghai remain closed. In South Korea, the hardest-hit country outside China, four Busan markets known for colorful silks and a dizzying array of other wares were shuttered while the military sent hundreds of its doctors and soldiers to aid in treatment and quarantines. K-pop superstar band BTS canceled a series of Seoul concerts planned for April.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had called for all schools to close until late March, though the decisions to do so were being made locally. The global count of those sickened by the virus exceeds 82,000, with China still by far the hardest-hit country. Recent days have seen sharp spikes in South Korea, Italy and Iran.
“The most important thing is to prevent infections, so there aren’t many other options,” said Norinobu Sawada, vice principal of Koizumi primary school. South Korea reported 256 additional cases Friday, raising its total to 2,022, with most occurring in the region around the city of Daegu. Many cases there have connections to a church and health workers are testing thousands of its members.
In China’s epicenter around Wuhan, schools, public transit, offices and factories have been closed for weeks as the ruling Communist Party moved to contain the virus. Its National Health Commission reported 327 new cases and 44 deaths over the previous 24 hours, raising its totals to 78,824 with 2,788 deaths. The figures continue a downward trend for the hardest-hit nation, and show most of the new cases and deaths were still in Wuhan, where the COVID-19 illness emerged in December. China’s National Health Commission reported 327 new cases and 44 deaths over the previous 24 hours, most of them in Wuhan, the city where the COVID-19 illness emerged in December. Mainland China’s total cases are now 78,824 with 2,788 deaths.
In South Korea, much of the public health response has focused on testing and tracing the contacts of thousands of members of the Daegu branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, which has a big cluster of infections. Even the furthest reaches of the globe were touched by the epidemic, with a woman testing positive in Tromsoe, the fjord-dotted Norwegian city with panoramas of snow-capped mountains. Health officials said the woman had traveled to China.
While officials are widening their screening to more than 300,000 Shincheonji members and trainees nationwide, they have also questioned whether the church’s opaque culture is influencing some churchgoers to hide their membership and avoid quarantine. In Iran, the front line of Mideast infections, officials loosened rules barring the import of many foreign-made items to allow in sanitizers, face masks and other necessities, and removed overhead handles on Tehran’s subways to eliminate another source of germs. Peru put specialists on round-the-clock shifts at its biggest airport, Argentina took the temperature of some new arrivals and El Salvador added bans for travelers from Italy and South Korea.
Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin said the city will file a complaint against Shincheonji’s Daegu church for supposedly slowing quarantine efforts by initially providing an incomplete list of its members. The holy city of Mecca, which able-bodied Muslims are called to visit at least once in their lives, and the Prophet Muhammad’s mosque in Medina were cut off to potentially millions of pilgrims, with Saudi Arabia making the extraordinary decision to stop the spread of the virus.
Of South Korea’s 256 new cases Friday, 231 were in Daegu and its surrounding province. South Korea now has 2,022 cases and 13 deaths. With the monarchy offering no firm date for the lifting of the restrictions, it posed the possibility of affecting those planning to make their hajj, a ritual beginning at the end of July this year.
Infections have also been gradually rising elsewhere, including the capital Seoul, where the headquarters of the state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea was shut down after an employee tested positive. Some 800 employees were working at home while health workers disinfected the bank’s building. “We ask God Almighty to spare all humanity from all harm,” the country said in announcing the decision.
In the blue-collar town of Uslan, a Hyundai car-painting factory employing some 300 workers was shut down after one of the workers tested positive. Disease has been a constant concern surrounding the hajj, with cholera outbreaks in the 19th century killing tens of thousands making the trip. More recently, another coronavirus that caused Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, prompted increased public health measures, but no outbreak resulted.
The COVID-19 crisis has also spilled over to South Korean sports, with the country’s professional baseball league cancelling its preseason. South Korea’ s soccer league has postponed the start of the new season, while the basketball league has banned spectators from league games. It wasn’t just governments that were taking action: Cologne Cathedral, one of Germany’s main religious sites, was emptying its basins of ‘holy water’ to prevent the spread of infection. And Facebook canceled its annual conference for developers.
COVID-19’s global creep had some countries warning people to obey containment measures.
Singapore charged a former Wuhan resident who has the virus and his wife for allegedly lying about their whereabouts as officials tried to stem further infections. In Colombia, which has yet to report any cases, officials reminded residents they could be jailed for up to eight years if they violate containment measures. And in South Korea, the National Assembly passed a law strengthening the punishment for those violating self-isolation, more than tripling the fine and adding the possibility of a year in prison.
“It came later than it should have,” said Lee Hae-shik, spokesman for the ruling Democratic Party, calling for further non-partisan cooperation to address the outbreak.
Countries’ efforts to contain the virus opened up diplomatic scuffles. South Korea fought prohibitions keeping its citizens out of 40 countries, calling them excessive and unnecessary. China warned Russia to stop discriminatory measures against its people, including monitoring on public transit. Iran used the crisis to rail against the U.S., which it accused of “a conspiracy” that was sowing fear.
______
Kim reported from Seoul. Associated Press journalists Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report. Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Contributing to this report were Tong-hyung Kim and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea; Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark; and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo.
Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.