SEOUL: South Korea reported its biggest surge in new coronavirus cases on Saturday as concerns grew of a possible epidemic in the United States and the World Health Organization raised its risk alert to its highest level.
The virus has rapidly spread across the world in the past week, causing stock markets to sink to their lowest levels since the 2008 global financial crisis over fears that the disease could wreak havoc on the world economy.
More than 2,900 people have died and over 85,000 have been infected worldwide since it was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
The vast majority of infections have been in China but more daily cases are now logged outside the country, with South Korea, Italy and Iran emerging as major hotspots.
South Korea has the most cases outside China, with 3,150 infections as 813 more patients were reported on Saturday — the country’s biggest increase to date.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned top party officials of the “serious consequences” of failing to prevent an outbreak on their side of the border.
Kim told a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea that the fight against the virus was a “crucial state affair for the defence of the people” that required maximum discipline, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Two senior officials — party vice-chairmen Ri Man Gon and Pak Thae Dok — were sacked, and a party unit disbanded for corruption, the report said, indicating that they may have been involved in graft linked with the anti-epidemic measures.
“No special cases must be allowed,” he added, and ordered officials to “seal off all the channels and space through which the infectious disease may find its way”.
EMERGENCY PACKAGE TO
COMBAT COVID-19
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday pledged another emergency package to tackle the coronavirus, appealing for cooperation as he faces criticism over drastic prevention measures.
The plan comes as the government ramps up its response to the virus, which has infected at least 230 people across the country and been linked to five deaths.
“We will swiftly compile a second emergency package” by using reserve funds worth more than 270 billion yen ($2.5 billion) in around 10 days, Abe told a news conference.
In mid-February the government set aside an initial 15.3 billion yen for the fight against the virus, including money to boost testing, strengthen inspections at borders and support manufacturers of face masks.
“On my own responsibility, I will take the best possible measures against various issues,” Abe said on Saturday.
He also vowed to speed up the introduction of legislation aimed at easing the impact of the virus on people’s lives.
But Abe added that “we cannot score a victory in this battle only with the government’s efforts”.
“It is not easy to battle against the enemy that you can’t see or know well,” he said.
“But I’m convinced we will certainly overcome this’’.
On Thursday Abe urged schools nationwide to close for several weeks to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
NEW HOTSPOTS
The virus has also spread to new zones in recent days, reaching nine new countries including Azerbaijan, Mexico and New Zealand, as well as reaching sub-Saharan Africa with Nigeria reporting its first case.
“We have now increased our assessment of the risk of spread and the risk of impact of COVID-19 to very high at global level,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Friday.
European nations are scrambling to contain the outbreak as new infections mounted in several countries — many linked to virus hotspot northern Italy — including in France where a surge of new cases was confirmed on Friday.
President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday chaired a ministers’ meeting on curbing the outbreak, after officials warned the epidemic had reached a “new stage”. — AFP
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