Coronavirus - 6th March

Summary for 6th March

-  One patient tests positive in the Vatican, at the heart of Europe's worst-hit country
-  Asian stock markets see sharp falls over growing fears that coronavirus may cause a global economic slump
-  Asia Development Bank analysis suggests potential impact on global economy global ranges from $77bn to $347bn
-  In the US, a helicopter drops testing kits to a quarantined cruise ship off San Francisco
-  Outside of Hubei, China announces 17 new cases - 16 of which came from abroad
-  Cameroon and Serbia among the countries to report their first case

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'We won't get vaccine during outbreak' - UK science expert

The UK government's chief scientific adviser has said he does not think a working vaccine will be produced in time to affect the current coronavirus outbreak.
Sir Patrick Vallance told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I don't think we will get the vaccine for this outbreak.
"I don't think we'll get something in time or at scale for this outbreak."
There is currently no vaccine available to protect people against the disease.
Researchers have begun to test some on animals, and if that goes well there could be human trials later in the year.
But even if scientists can celebrate having developed a vaccine before Christmas, there is still the massive job of being able to mass-produce it.
Sir Patrick added that it was “not unreasonable to assume that we will end up with a vaccine” within the next 18 months.
Find out more about the search for a vaccine here.

• Ajax assistant coach told to steer clear of club
  Ajax have told assistant coach Christian Poulsen and two other members of their training staff to stay away from the Dutch football club due to fears they could have caught the coronavirus.
  All three had attended the 40th birthday party of former Danish international Thomas Kahlenberg, who has since been diagnosed with the virus.
  "They have no symptoms and if it stays that way they will return to work next week," an Ajax spokesman told Dutch media.
  

• Vatican confirms first virus case

  
  
  The Vatican has confirmed that one patient has tested positive for coronavirus in a clinic within the city state.
  The clinic has suspended all non-essential appointments and is only keeping the accidents and emergency department open.
  

• Asian stock markets fall

  
  
  Asian stock markets have fallen again amid fears that the coronavirus may cause a global economic slump.
  Shares on the Nikkei index in Japan closed down 2.72%. Investors were disappointed that the Bank of Japan didn’t intervene to support the market. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng is down 2.3% in afternoon trading.
  The coronavirus will hit the economies of developing Asian economies hard, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said. There will be sharp declines in areas including tourism and business travel as well as supply disruptions, it said.
  It is as yet not clear how serious the economic loss could be due to uncertainty surrounding how the outbreak with develop. The range of scenarios explored in the analysis suggests a global impact in the range of $77 billion (£59 billion) to $347 billion, or 0.1% to 0.4% of global gross domestic product (GDP).
  

• Ten South Korea sect leaders have virus

  
  
  Ten leaders of South Korean religious sect group Shincheonji have tested positive for the virus, reports Yonhap news.
  The vast majority of the country's positive cases have been linked to the religious group. South Korea reported 309 more cases on Friday, bringing its total number of cases to 6,593. Of these, 43 people have died.
  

• Starbucks bans reusable cups in North America

  
  
  Starbucks has temporarily stopped making drinks in customer-provided cups in the US and Canada.
  "We are pausing the use of personal cups and 'for here' ware in our stores.
  "We have provided scenario-based procedural information to our store teams on how to report and support anyone that may express they’ve been impacted by the virus, including store closure decision making support," it added.
  The company has also modified or postponed large meetings across its offices in North America and restricted all business-related air travel, both domestic and international, until 31 March.
  

• 'Don't use vodka to sanitise hands'

  
  
  A rush on hand sanitiser to protect against the coronavirus has seen homemade versions spring up, including one based on a handmade vodka.
  But vodka maker Tito's quickly shot down a tweet suggesting the use of its spirits is strong enough for that purpose.
  Some people are combining rubbing alcohol and aloe vera for a sanitiser. That can work as long as the version is at least 60% alcohol.
  But posts on social media that suggested Texas-based Tito's Handmade Vodka could be used instead saw the company cite the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to quickly refute the idea.
  

• Chinatown hit with racist letters in Japan

  
  
  Owners of restaurants in Chinatown in the Japanese city of Yokohama have been sent anonymous letters calling Chinese people "germs"...
  

• Cruise ship may be quarantined off San Francisco for two weeks

  
  
  A total of 140 British citizens are among the 2,500 people aboard a cruise ship being held off San Francisco after a passenger died of the coronavirus.
  There are another 21 suspected cases - 10 of them crew members - on the Grand Princess.
  Testing kits have been flown by helicopter to the ship after the death of a man in his 70s.
  David Chiu, a Democratic member of the California state assembly, said the ship may be kept in quarantine there for two weeks.
  "It's got to dock at some point, our state's public health infrastructure and expertise is second to none, so the chances are if there's any place to dock - California is as good as any," he said.
  "But that being said, obviously we all have concerns to ensure it's done well, both to serve the passengers on the ship and also to protect the broader community in California."
  

• Netherlands reports its first coronavirus death

  
  
  The Dutch authorities have reportedly confirmed the first coronavirus-related death in the Netherlands.
  The victim was an 86-year-old man who had been taken to Ikazia Hospital in Amsterdam, local media said.
  

• Reusable cups banned at Starbucks and on some UK trains

  
  
  We told you earlier that Starbucks branches in the US and Canada had temporarily banned reusable cups in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Well the ruling now apparently applies to the UK too.
  The coffee chain said customers would still receive a 25p discount for bringing reusable cups with them, but drinks would only be served in paper cups. Its Europe spokesman, Robert Lynch, said the move came "out of an abundance of caution".
  UK rail companies Great Western Railway and LNER have also banned reusable cups on trains - but GWR scrapped the policy after criticism.
  Read the full story here.
  

• Bollywood 'Oscars' called off

  
  
  Bollywood's version of the Oscars has been called off due to the coronavirus outbreak.
  The International Indian Film Academy Awards was due to run for three days starting 27 March. But organisers have decided to postpone the event because of the "sensitivity" of the mounting crisis.
  There are at least 31 confirmed cases in India so far.
  

• Bethlehem under quarantine

  
  
  Israel and the Palestinian Authority have put the city of Bethlehem under quarantine after seven people were diagnosed with the coronavirus there.
  The Israeli Defence Ministry said it had imposed emergency measures, with all people "forbidden from entering or leaving".
  The Israeli military's Co-ordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (Cogat) said it was "working closely with the Palestinian Authority" to stem the spread of the virus.
  

• Ten South Korea sect leaders have virus

  
  
  Ten leaders of South Korean religious sect group Shincheonji have tested positive for the virus, reports Yonhap news.
  The vast majority of the country's positive cases have been linked to the religious group. South Korea reported 309 more cases on Friday, bringing its total number of cases to 6,593. Of these, 43 people have died.
  

• British man tests positive in Thailand

  
  
  A British man who travelled from London on 28 February has been confirmed as Thailand's latest coronavirus case.
  The Ministry of Public Health said on Friday that the 43-year-old had transited in Hong Kong for a few hours on 29 February. He went to a private hospital in Thailand on 3 March with a fever. He is currently undergoing treatment.
  There are 48 confirmed cases of the virus in Thailand.
  

• What about refunds for cancelled events?

  
  
  Many large events are being cancelled in affected countries. Sporting events including the Six Nations rugby, Italian football matches and the Chinese Formula 1 Grand Prix have already been disrupted . In the UK, the government has said it may restrict large-scale gatherings to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
  So what are your rights if you have a ticket to something that gets called off?
  

• More than 700 quarantined in St Petersburg

  
  
  More than 700 people - including many students - are in quarantine in the Russian city of St Petersburg as they may have been in contact with an Italian student who was diagnosed on Thursday.
  There have been no coronavirus deaths in Russia and there are only seven registered cases.
  But there is growing scepticism and speculation about inefficient testing.
  President Putin has attempted to quash those fears, saying he had been told by the security services this was is a foreign ploy to misinform Russians and the only way to fight it was to tell the truth.
  

• UK soap star self-isolating

  
  
  British TV soap Coronation Street has confirmed that one of its stars has been self-isolating "as a precaution".
  Producers of the programme - the world's longest running soap - said the cast member, who has not been named, made the decision to self-isolate themselves.
  "They haven't been in to work and they are showing no symptoms," a spokeswoman said.
  There has been no disruption to filming, she added.
  

2:00pm

Five new cases in Scotland

Five new cases of coronavirus have been recorded in Scotland, taking the total there to 11.
Two of the new cases are in Fife, and one each in Grampian, Forth Valley and Lothian health board areas, the Scottish Government said.

Six new cases in Russia

Six new cases of coronavirus have been registered in Russia, bringing the total up to 12.
All new cases are people recently returned from Italy.
Infections have now been registered in Moscow, St Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod.

The Vatican, Serbia, Slovakia, Peru and Cameroon report their first cases

14:06

Will coronavirus cancel the Tokyo 2020 Olympics?

Games on? Or Games over?
It would be one of the biggest sports news stories ever.
The postponement - or cancellation - of the world's greatest sporting mega-event because of coronavirus would be unprecedented in peacetime.
The 2020 Olympics are due to take place in Tokyo from 24 July to 9 August - here are some of the key questions as the Olympic movement faces up to uncharted territory.

Coronavirus cases top 100,000 globally - Johns Hopkins

The number of coronavirus cases worldwide has topped 100,000 according to the Johns Hopkins University, which is collating data from various national and regional health authorities.
Their tracker dashboard (here ) puts the great majority of those cases in mainland China.

British Airways staff test positive

British Airways says two members of staff have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Both have been isolated and are recovering at home.

UK to spend £46m on vaccine and testing research

The UK government has promised £46m to fund urgent work to find a coronavirus vaccine and develop a rapid test for the disease.
This will include work on eight possible vaccines which are already in development as well as further research, the government said.
The funding will also support a lab in Bedford to develop a test that could provide results within 20 minutes.
But the test could still be six months away.
Read more here.

EU ambassadors' meeting in Brussels cancelled

A meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels this morning was postponed and the Croatian ambassador has put herself in isolation after she came into contact with a European Council employee who tested positive for coronavirus.
Most of the ambassadors were in the room when they received the news.
The European Council is working to trace other contacts of the employee.

'Avoid visiting elderly relatives' - Macron

On Friday, the French president called on people in France to limit trips to homes for the elderly.
"We must avoid visiting our elderly relatives as much as possible," Emmanuel Macron said on a visit to a retirement home in Paris.
He also warned that that the coronavirus epidemic will last for weeks.

Coronavirus hits Nile cruise ship

Twelve people on a Nile cruise boat have tested positive for the coronavirus, while not displaying symptoms, Egypt's health ministry has said.
All 12 are Egyptian staff on the ship.
The ship was heading to the southern city of Aswan from near Luxor, according to local television reports.

Milan-San Remo cycling race postponed

Italy's Milan-San Remo - one of cycling's biggest races - has been postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak, organisers have confirmed. The one day race was scheduled to take place on 21 March.
Next week's Tirreno-Adriatico, a week-long race, has also been shelved for now.
You can follow the latest sporting events that have been cancelled here.

The situation in Ireland as at 6th March:

Seven new coronavirus cases confirmed in Republic of Ireland
Seven new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Ireland, including one patient who had not travelled to an affected area.
The total number of cases across the country now stands at 13. A further three cases have been reported in Northern Ireland.
Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health Dr Tony Holohan said the country remains in the containment phase, but warned it was a "rapidly evolving situation".
Four of the latest cases are travel related from northern Italy, involving four males from the east of the country.
Two are associated with close contact with a confirmed case and involve two females in the west of the country.
The seventh case is a male, who the Department of Health has described as being "associated with Cork University Hospital" and is the first case of community transmission.
A risk assessment is under way at the hospital.
It is believed the patient has an underlying medical condition and it is understood he had not been in northern Italy or any other affected region.

Dr Holohan said they could ascertain how all of the new cases were infected, apart from the case at CUH.
He said that as part of that person's diagnosis, their contacts were examined by the public health team and they have not been able to establish a travel connection to the virus or a connection to an already confirmed case of infection.
Health authorities are trying to trace patients and healthcare staff at the hospital who may have been in contact.
A crisis management team has been established at CUH and they have closed the hospital to visitors, cancelled elective work and asked some staff to stay at home and self-isolate.
Contract tracing is under way at the hospital and Dr Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer at the HSE, said patient safety is an absolute priority.
Dr Holohan said health officials are "not alarmed" by the fact there has been community transmission, saying it is what the department had expected and that it matches the patterns seen in other countries.
Earlier, it emerged a healthcare professional was among one of the previous confirmed cases, in the west of the country.
The male is a member of a family group of four who had recently travelled to northern Italy, which has been the hardest hit region in Europe.
The HSE said today that the process of tracing close contacts of the infected family group is well under way.
It is understood this includes contacting patients who may have come in contact with the healthcare professional as part of his work.
Contact tracing has also been made slightly more complicated because of the number of people who travelled in the family group.
A small number of schools in the region were closed today as a result.
HSE Director of Public Health Dr John Cuddihy said that when healthcare workers return from higher risk areas they are advised to stay out of work for 14 days and should self-isolate.
If they return from other areas where Covid-19 is presented, then they are advised to contact the HSE, which will remain in contact with them.
Around 80% of cases of Covid-19 will be a mild to moderate illness, close to 14% have severe disease and around 6% are critical.
Generally, you need to be 15 minutes or more in the vicinity of an infected person, within 1-2 metres, to be considered at-risk or a close contact.
Earlier the HSE chief Paul Reid said it would be a challenge to maintain Ireland's containment phase and the health service was preparing for further phases.
The executive also said that "many people" had been asked to self-isolate for the protection of public health and it expected that the virus "will be spreading within our communities within weeks".
Speaking at a HSE weekly briefing in Dublin, Mr Reid said there had been sustained transmission of the disease in other countries, especially in Europe and the UK.
He said that members of the public needed to treat the outbreak of the disease very seriously.
Mr Reid said that an extra €20m investment will be used to add to ICU capacity in hospitals, with the winter beds capacity also extended to help ease the pressure on the system.
The money has been spent on equipment to treat people who have contracted the virus.
It includes extra ventilators, four-and-a-half million gloves, and almost five million masks. It will also help with the distribution of 13,500 kits for GPs.
Guidelines on mass gatherings will be published tomorrow after a stakeholder forum discusses them.
The Department of Health will also meet patient advocacy groups to discuss the needs of vulnerable patients.
This morning, Minister for Health Simon Harris said the HSE was identifying extra isolation and ICU facilities and more funding would be available.
However, he added that not all patients would require hospitalisation.
Mr Harris said all hospitals had isolation facilities with a national centre at the Mater Hospital in Dublin.
He said that so far there had not been significant use of ICU beds across the EU.

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Read more:

• HSE advice on how to protect yourself from coronavirus
  
• First community transmission case of Covid-19 in Ireland
  
• Key questions on the coronavirus answered
  
• Government: Self-isolating staff should receive income support
  
• California declares emergency as virus death toll rises in US
  
• Four more cases of coronavirus confirmed in west of Ireland
  

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Home testing action plan launched
Mr Reid also said that "home testing" for Covid-19 was launched yesterday by the National Ambulance Service.
He said a paramedic will "carry out a few tests in someone's home" with one focused clinical assessment.
He/she will assess someone's capacity to self-isolate, they will be given an information pack, and a swab test will be carried out.
HSE Consultant in Public Health Dr Sarah Doyle said that even those with very mild symptoms will have to self-isolate if Ireland moves into the next phase of the virus.
She said that everyone needs to think about the potential impact that this will have on their daily lives.
Dr Doyle said: "As we move into the next phase, we will be saying everybody, even those with very mild symptoms, will need to be self-isolating.
"So people may feel fit to go to work, but they are at risk of spreading infection. So workplaces and each and every one of us need to think about what that means for us."
In relation to schools and mass gatherings, Dr Doyle said: "Everyone needs to think about how this will impact.
"In their schools and their work, people need to think about what they can do within those settings to prevent the spread of infection. The only way we can protect ourselves is by protecting all of us."
When asked about the number of people who have been asked to self-isolate so far in Ireland, Dr Doyle said: "Many people have been asked to self-isolate."
She added: "An institution would not necessary have to be closed on the basis of contact tracing. It would depend on the case and the type of contacts that they have had."

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Trinity College Dublin has written to staff and students to inform them that a case of Covid-19 is connected with the campus.
This is one of 13 cases of Covid-19 confirmed in Ireland.

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More than 60 staff at a hospital in Cork in the Republic of Ireland have been asked to self-isolate after a case of coronavirus at the facility.
It is the first case of community transmission of coronavirus in Ireland.
Community transmission means the person neither travelled from an area affected by an outbreak nor had close contact with a confirmed case of Covid-19.
The case involves a male patient from the south of the country who is being treated at Cork University Hospital.
The hospital has imposed "strict visiting restrictions" and cancelled outpatients' appointments on Friday.
The Republic of Ireland currently has 13 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in total, but the 12 others either travelled from northern Italy or had close contact with a confirmed case.

There have been three confirmed cases in Northern Ireland so far , bringing the total on the island of Ireland to 16.
Anyone who has been in contact with the Cork University Hospital patient has already been traced and notified, according to Ireland's Health Service Executive (HSE).
The HSE's National Director of Acute Operations, Liam Woods, confirmed that the contact tracing process has been completed.
Speaking to Irish broadcaster RTÉ , he also said that it was concerning that a case of community transmission had been identified.

Cork University Hospital has a workforce of more than 3,000 people.
Mr Woods said it would be a significant challenge to cope without the 60 staff who are now in self-isolation and said workers would have to be redeployed and hospital services would be readjusted.
He added that any Irish healthcare workers who return from countries with an outbreak of coronavirus will also be asked to self-isolate for 14 days.
The latest cases south of the Irish border were announced on Thursday night by Ireland's Health Protection Surveillance Centre.
Seven new cases were confirmed , including the Cork University Hospital patient.
The others were four males from the east of the Republic of Ireland who had recently travelled from Italy, and two females in the west of the country who had close contact with a confirmed case of Covid-19.
Their ages have not been released to protect patient confidentiality.
The HSE said it was "now working rapidly" to identify anyone they may have been in contact with, to prevent further spread of the infection.
One of the cases has been linked to Trinity College Dublin, which has 18,000 students and 3,000 staff.

The college said it was informed of the case late on Thursday night and has since closed a section of its Dublin city centre campus as a precautionary measure.
However, the rest of the university is open and operating as normal.