Coronavirus: More New Cases Are Now Reported Outside China Than Inside
National Public Radio (NPR) - Feb 26th 2020, 1400 Hours Eastern Standard Time
"Yesterday, the number of new cases reported outside China exceeded the number of new cases in China for the first time," the head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday in an update on the coronavirus disease COVID-19.
"Outside China, there are now 2,790 cases in 37 countries, and 44 deaths," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing in Geneva.
China's National Health Commission reported more than 400 new confirmed cases on Tuesday, with the majority of them in Wuhan, in Hubei province. Tedros did not specify how many new cases were reported in other countries. But he noted an ongoing rise of cases elsewhere.
The growing global tally includes spikes in South Korea (with 1,261 total cases), Italy (400 cases) and Iran (139 cases). Each of those countries has confirmed at least 10 deaths so far from COVID-19, a mark that surpasses the death toll reported in many Chinese provinces.
New cases in Africa and South America
Two countries in northern Africa have confirmed cases of the new coronavirus: Algeria announced its first case Wednesday, and Egypt's health ministry confirmed its first patient on Feb. 14. In both of those instances, the patients are foreign nationals.
Algeria's health ministry says an Italian man who arrived in the country from Milan on Feb. 17 was placed under observation after showing symptoms and was then confirmed to have COVID-19.
Brazil also confirmed its first coronavirus case Wednesday — the first confirmed case in Latin America.
The patient is a man, 61, who lives in São Paulo and had recently returned from a trip to Italy, Health Minister Luis Henrique Mandetta said at a news conference about the case. The man is currently doing well and living at home in isolation, Brazil's health ministry says. The man's wife and other relatives are also being monitored, as are some of the passengers who shared the same plane.
In addition to the confirmed case, Brazil's health ministry says the country has 20 other suspected cases of the coronavirus – and that nearly 60 people had been determined not to have the virus, after being referred to doctors.
In his update on the global impact of COVID-19, Tedros said the recent clusters of cases in Italy and Iran have already affected other countries.
"There are now cases linked to Iran in Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait and Oman," he said, adding, "There are now cases linked to Italy in Algeria, Austria, Croatia, Germany, Spain and Switzerland."
In Spain's Canary Islands, about 1,000 tourists are now under quarantine in a hotel on Tenerife after an Italian doctor staying at the hotel tested positive for the coronavirus.
The virus is also continuing to spread to new European countries, including Finland. The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare confirms the country has one case; the STT news agency says the patient is a woman whose case was traced to Milan, Italy.