 | | | | Governments ramped up measures on Thursday to battle a looming global pandemic of the coronavirus as the number of new infections outside China for the first time surpassed new cases in the country where the outbreak began. | | | | | | EU government experts have agreed that blocking cross-border movement within the bloc of people with coronavirus symptoms would be counter-productive and that quarantine was the preferred option, EU officials said on Thursday. | | | | | | Israel on Thursday confirmed that a man who had recently returned from Italy had tested positive for coronavirus and said it was barring entry to non-Israelis who had visited Italy in the past two weeks. | | | | | | Iran said on Thursday its death toll from coronavirus had risen to 26 and the total number of infected people now stood at 245, the highest number of deaths from the virus outside China. | | | | | | Two more people have died in Italy from coronavirus, bringing the death toll from the worst outbreak of the disease yet seen in Europe to 14, the Civil Protection agency said in a statement on Thursday. | | | | | | Saudi Arabia on Thursday suspended arrivals by foreigners for the Umrah pilgrimage and tourists from some two dozen countries where the new coronavirus has spread, as a growing number of cases deepened fears of a pandemic. | | | | | | Brazil confirmed the first case of a fast-spreading new coronavirus in Latin America on Wednesday, diagnosing a 61-year-old man in Sao Paulo who returned recently from Italy. | | | | | | China will focus on preventing those infected with coronavirus from crossing borders and work to strengthen international cooperation, a spokesman for the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Thursday. | | | | | | Emirates airline said it would no longer carry to Saudi Arabia passengers with Umrah pilgrimage visas or tourists from nearly two dozen countries until further notice, in compliance with a Saudi government directive to contain the coronavirus outbreak. | | | | | | China reported 433 new cases of coronavirus infections on Feb. 26, the National Health Commission said on Thursday, up from 406 a day earlier, with a cluster of new cases in Beijing raising concerns about the management of employees returning to work. | | | | | | The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Switzerland has risen to four, the country's health authority said on Thursday. | | | | | |
