COVID-19 cases fall below 100 as world total over 100,000

Beijing, March 8 (IANS): The deadly novel coronavirus has now infected more than 100,000 people around the world, but in mainland China, the country of the virus’s origin, the number of new cases fell on Saturday to just 99, the first time since January 18 that fewer than 100 cases were recorded.

China’s National Health Commission said 74 of the new infections were reported in Hubei’s provincial capital Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, reports the South China Morning Post (SCMP) newspaper.

This is the second day there were no further cases elsewhere in Hubei province where the outbreak began.

There were 28 new deaths - all in Hubei, with 21 in Wuhan - bringing the total number of fatalities on the mainland to 3,070, with a total of 80,651 infections.

On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged countries to make the fight against the coronavirus outbreak their “highest priority”.

“As cases increase, we are continuing to recommend that all countries make containment their highest priority,” Efe news quoted WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as saying at a daily briefing.

Mike Ryan, Executive director of WHO’s health emergencies programme, called for caution against the assumption, which has been proposed by some scientists, that COVID-19 would subside in the summer like a seasonal flu.

“We have to assume the virus will continue to have the capacity to spread,” the SCMP quoted Ryan as saying in Geneva on Friday.

“It’s a false hope to say, yes, that it will disappear like the flu… We can’t make that assumption. And there is no evidence.”

As of Saturday, the total number of coronavirus cases around the world was 101,492, with 3,485 deaths.

State of emergency in NY over COVID-19 outbreak
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has declared a state of emergency as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the northeastern state rose to 76.

At a press conference on Saturday, Cuomo said that New York City, the most populous metropolis in the country, has 11 cases, and Westchester county now has 57, an increase of 23 overnight, reports Xinhua news agency.

Long Island’s Nassau county has four cases, while Rockland and Saratoga counties have reported two each.

All cases in Westchester were related to the state’s second confirmed case, which involves an attorney who worked in Manhattan.

“Westchester is an obvious problem for us,” the Governor said. “They talk about the contagion in clusters and the clusters tend to infect more and more people.”

However, Cuomo repeatedly urged the public to stay calm, noting that about 80 per cent of the COVID-19 patients will self-resolve.

As to the 20 per cent who have to be hospitalized, Cuomo said most of them are senior citizens and those with underlying health issues.

“If you are a senior citizen or immune compromised, I would think seriously about attending a large gathering,” he said, adding: “Now I’ve said that to my mother.”

Meanwhile, the state has started aggressively testing residents, especially among suspected populations.

“The more tests, the better. The more positive you find, the better. Because then you can isolate them and you slow the spread,” said Cuomo.

The state of emergency declaration will speed up the purchasing of supplies and the hiring of workers who could assist local health departments, especially in monitoring those who are self-quarantined, according to the governor.

Thousands in the state are currently under self-quarantine, including over 2,700 people in New York City. Many of them have just returned from a country or a region where there is a COVID-19 outbreak.

Cuomo urged those who are under voluntary quarantine to comply with specific rules, saying violating those rules is disrespectful to members of the community and may be putting people in danger.

The governor also warned businesses that price-gouging at a situation of emergency is not allowed.

“It is not worth it to the store owner. You can lose your license. And we are very serious about this,” he added.

As of Saturday night, more than 420 cases of COVID-19 were reported in the US with 17 deaths, according to the Centre for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

WHO calls for robust measures to contain spread of COVID-19
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Saturday that the spread of COVID-19 can be significantly slowed or even reversed through implementing robust containment and control activities as the number of cases worldwide has surpassed 1,00,000.

China and other countries are demonstrating that the spread of the virus can be slowed and impact reduced through the use of universally applicable actions, WHO said in a statement, referring to measures such as working across society to identify people who are sick, bringing them to care, following up on contacts, preparing hospitals and clinics to manage a surge in patients, and training health workers, the Xinhua news agency reported.

It underlined that containing and slowing the spread of the virus helps buy time for health systems and all of society to prepare and for researchers to identify effective treatments and develop vaccines.

“Allowing uncontrolled spread should not be a choice of any government, as it will harm not only the citizens of that country but affect other countries as well,” it said.

The WHO said it will continue to work with all countries, partners and expert networks to coordinate the international response, develop guidance, distribute supplies, share knowledge and provide people with the information so as to protect themselves and others.

According to WHO’s daily COVID-19 situation report, as of 10:00 am CET on Saturday, there has been 101,927 confirmed cases reported worldwide and 3,486 deaths.