Coronavirus outbreak LIVE updates: India records first COVID-19 death

The World Health Organisation on Wednesday declared the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, outbreak as a pandemic, months after the virus spread from China's Wuhan. Over one lakh twenty thousand people have been tested positive for the virus and at least 4,000 people have died and over 60,000 have recovered. The virus has spread to nearly 120 countries and so far, 67 cases have been reported in India.

What is Coronavirus?

The coronavirus (CoV) is a novel strain in the large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes. Common symptoms of the novel coronavirus (nCoV) strain include respiratory symptoms such as fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties, as per WHO. Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people, according to the WHO. Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans.

(With PTI inputs) 

CASES DETECTED: 73

DEATHS: 0

The number of coronavirus patients in the country has risen to over 70 with 13 fresh cases on Thursday, including nine from Maharashtra and one each from Delhi, Ladakh and Uttar Pradesh as well as one foreign national, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday. Giving a state-wise breakup, the ministry said Delhi reported six positive cases and Uttar Pradesh 10. Karnataka has four cases, Maharashtra 11 and Ladakh three. 

Besides, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, and Punjab have reported cases. Kerala has recorded 17 cases, including three patients who were discharged last month after they recovered from the infection declared a global pandemic. The total number of 73 confirmed cases includes 17 foreigners, 16 Italian tourists and one more foreigner whose nationality cannot be immediately ascertained, the ministry said.

India has evacuated 948 passengers from COVID-19 affected countries. Of these, 900 are Indian citizens and 48 from different nationalities, including from Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh, China, USA, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa and Peru, it said. India has also suspended all visas, except a few categories such as diplomatic and employment, till April 15 in a bid to contain the coronavirus spread, according to a revised travel advisory.
 

CASES DETECTED: 80,796

DEATHS: 3,169

Factories in China are struggling to reopen to reduce the impact of the epidemic, but even with the ruling Communist Party promising help, companies and economists say it may be months before production is back to normal.

Thousands of companies lack raw materials and workers after the most intensive anti-disease measures ever imposed closed factories, cut off most access to cities with more than 60 million people and imposed travel curbs. Beijing is promising tax cuts, though economists say financial help will have limited impact when anti-disease controls still in effect are still keeping workers away from factories and disrupting the movement of goods.

CASES DETECTED: 9,000

DEATHS: 354

A spike in cases in the Gulf helped push infections in the Middle East for the new coronavirus past 10,000 cases on Thursday, with most infected people either in Iran or having recently traveled there. Countries in the region have imposed varying levels of restrictions on travel, from the wholesale halting of all commercial flights in Kuwait, to Saudi Arabia banning travel to 39 countries.

Multiple top officials in Iran from its senior vice president to Cabinet ministers, members of parliament, Revolutionary Guard members, health workers, and health ministry officials have contracted the virus. Some of those officials have died. Iran says the virus has killed 354 people and infected some 9,000 people nationwide. There are concerns that the number of infections across Iran is much higher than the confirmed cases reported by the government, which is struggling to contain or manage its spread. The rising casualty figures each day in Iran suggest the fight against the new coronavirus is far from over.

CASES DETECTED: 12,462

DEATHS: 827

Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced on March 11 that they will be allocating 25 billion euros (USD  28.3 billion) to fight the deadly Coronavirus outbreak that has already killed 827 people in the country. Italy become the epicentre of the viral outbreak in Europe and recently announced nationwide lockdown to help control the spread to the virus.

CASES DETECTED: 7,869

DEATHS: 66

South Korea was the first country to report significant coronavirus numbers outside China, where the disease first emerged and remains one of the world's worst-affected countries despite being overtaken by both Italy and Iran in declared cases.

Scores of events -- from K-pop concerts to sports matches -- have been canceled or postponed over the contagion, with school and kindergarten breaks extended by three weeks nationwide. More than 60 percent of the country's cases are linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a religious sect often condemned as a cult.
 

CASES DETECTED: 1,336

DEATHS: 38

Trump administration officials, on the defensive about their own handling of the virus, have repeatedly reminded people that the virus started in Wuhan, a city in China's Hubei province, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo referring to it as the “Wuhan coronavirus.”

The White House said that US President Donald Trump has not been tested for coronavirus since he neither displayed any symptoms nor he has been in close contact with any known confirmed COVID-19 patients. It added that Trump remains in excellent health, and his physician will continue to closely monitor him.
 

UN chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday urged world governments to urgently scale up their response to the novel coronavirus if they are to stand a chance of stemming its spread. "Today's declaration of a pandemic is a call to action - for everyone, everywhere," the secretary-general said in a statement.

"We can still change the course of this pandemic -- but that means addressing inaction," he said. "I call on every government to step up and scale up their efforts -- now."  "The best science tells us, if countries detect, test, treat, isolate, trace and mobilize their people in the response, we can go a long way to mitigating transmission," Guterres said. His appeal echoed an earlier one by the World Health Organization, which officially labeled the outbreak a pandemic on Wednesday and blamed its spread and severity on "alarming levels of inaction".

• France

CASES DETECTED: 2,281

DEATHS: 48

• Spain 

CASES DETECTED: 2,277

DEATHS: 55

Spain's equality minister Irene Montero tested positive for coronavirus and has been quarantined along with her partner, deputy prime minister and Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias, a government statement said on Thursday. "This morning, all members of the government will undergo testing," it said, indicating the results would be published later in the day.

• Germany

CASES DETECTED: 2,277

DEATHS: 55

• Japan 

CASES DETECTED: 639

DEATHS: 16

• United Kingdom 

CASES DETECTED: 456

DEATHS: 8

• Australia

CASES DETECTED: 156

DEATHS: 3

• Cases in India rise to 74 as a man from Andhra Pradesh, who returned from Italy last week, tests positive for COVID-19

• The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday advised the organisers of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to not conduct the tournament amid the Coronavirus scare in the country. In a briefing by the MEA, special appointee Dammu Ravi said, "I think it is for the organizers to decide whether to go ahead with it or not. Our advice would be to not do it at this time but if they want to go ahead, it is their decision."

• The Olympic flame for the 2020 Tokyo Games was lit in ancient Olympia on Thursday amid an unprecedented health lockdown as Greece registered its first death from coronavirus. With spectators banned, an actress dressed as an ancient Greek high priestess lit the flame using the rays of the sun reflected off a concave mirror, launching a week-long torch relay in Greece before the flame is handed to Tokyo organisers on March 19.

• Asserting that the team of Cannes Film Festival was "not oblivious" to the coronavirus pandemic, the president of the film festival said the 2020 edition will be canceled if the outbreak worsens. The 73rd annual festival is scheduled to take place from May 12-23. 

• UN Human Rights Council to suspend sessions over COVID-19.
• Indian Super League final between ATK and Chennaiyin FC on March 14 to be held in empty stadium in Goa.
• The upcoming Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2019-20 Final on Saturday, March 14, 2020, between ATK FC and Chennaiyin FC, will now be played behind closed doors at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Fatorda.

• Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday has been tested for coronavirus as key government buildings were being disinfected.
•  Ireland on Thursday announced the closure of all schools and colleges, and recommended the cancellation of mass gatherings as part of measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
• First death in Poland from COVID-19: Poznan Deputy Mayor
• Algeria has registered its first death from the novel coronavirus, the health ministry announced on Thursday. No further details on the death were provided in the ministry statement, cited by the official APS press agency.
• Stock markets in energy-rich Gulf states tumbled on Thursday with Saudi shares down more than 4.0 percent following worldwide losses amid fears over the coronavirus pandemic and an oil price war.
• Russia said Thursday it has sent test kits for the novel coronavirus to countries including Iran, North Korea, and ex-Soviet states. The state health watchdog said in a statement that Moscow had sent 800 test kits to ex-Soviet states including Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan,  as well as to Iran, North Korea, and Mongolia.
• Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo has been forced into quarantine after his fellow teammate Daniele Rugani was tested positive for Coronavirus. Along with him, the team of Real Madrid was also placed in quarantine. 
• European Union leaders on Thursday rebuked the United States for imposing a unilateral travel ban on arrivals from countries in the Schengen passport-free zone without consulting them. "The coronavirus is a global crisis, not limited to any continent, and it requires cooperation rather than unilateral action," EU presidents Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel said.
• Iran said on Thursday that it has sought financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund, which has not lent it money since 1962, to help it combat the novel coronavirus

The following are the state-wise helpline numbers for Coronavirus  

Laboratory reports confirmed that the 76-year-old man from Kalaburagi who passed away on Tuesday night had contracted the novel coronavirus. This marks India’s first COVID-19 death since the outbreak of the pandemic. As per the protocol, contact tracing, isolation, and other measures are being carried out. According to the Karnataka Health Department, the Telangana government has been informed about this as he was admitted to a hospital there. 

Meanwhile, two new cases of COVID-19 were detected in Maharashtra- one from Mumbai and Thane each. Thus, the total number of confirmed cases in the state rose to 14.