SEOUL. 9 March 2020:
South Korea and China both recorded drops in new Covid-19 cases today.
Seoul recorded 248 new cases of coronavirus and one new death, bringing the country total to 7,382 cases and 51 deaths – marking the lowest number of new daily infections in the country. Another 36 were discharged, totalling 166 cured.
On the other hand, China reported 40 new cases in the last 24 hours compared to 44 the previous day and 99 on Saturday, the National Health Commission (NHC) reported today. The latest tally is 22 dead, five fewer than the day before, while the number of infected totals 80,735 people.
The NHC also reported four new cases “imported” from outside the country bringing the total to 67. Over the same period 1,535 people were discharged after overcoming the disease, bring the total recoveries to 58,600 patients.
Meanwhile, Shanghai Disney Resort partially resumed operations today with a limited number of shopping, dining and recreational experiences available in Disneytown, Wishing Star Park and Shanghai Disneyland Hotel, reported Xinhua news agency.
Shanghai Disneyland remains temporarily closed until further notice, said a press release of the resort.
Each of the reopened resort locations will run under limited capacity and reduced hours of operation, it said.
The resort said it will provide an extensive range of measures, including strict and comprehensive approaches to sanitisation, disinfection and cleanliness to ensure the safety and health of guests and employees.
Each visitor entering the resort will be required to undergo temperature screening procedures and must wear masks, and they need to present their Health QR Code when entering dining venues.
Shanghai Disney Resort announced temporary closure in late January, in response to China’s prevention and control of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The virus outbreak has affected more than 100 countries with 110,000 cases so far. The hotspots outside of mainland China are South Korea, Italy and Iran.
Iran has temporarily released approximately 70,000 prisoners due to the coronavirus outbreak, Iranian judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi said today, according to Mizan, the news site of the judiciary. There were 49 new fatalities in Iran, where some 194 people have now died from Covid-19.
In Italy, where some 16 million people in Lombardy and other parts of the north are now under quarantine, there were 133 deaths reported yesterday, bringing the total to 366. More than 7,000 people in the country have been confirmed to have the virus.
Also, Saudi Arabia has imposed a lockdown on its eastern Qatif area in a bid to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
All cases of the coronavirus detected in the country are from Qatif, the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported, citing an official from the country’s Health Ministry.
While precautionary measures were increased in the quarantined area, work was suspended at all public and private businesses except for health centres, pharmacies, fuel stations and security branches.
Saudi Arabia also suspended entry and exit in the region, although commercial and food transportation will continue, the SPA said.
The Ministry of Education also announced that education has been suspended across the country starting Monday to counter the coronavirus outbreak.
In a statement, it said the number of cases in the country had risen to 11.
– EFE, Bernama