Blogroll

A top U.S. public health official said on Sunday signs of coronavirus spreading through communities were "not encouraging" and warned that Americans may need to think carefully about attending large gatherings if it continues.

The cruise ship Grand Princess, held at sea and barred from returning to San Francisco last week due to a coronavirus outbreak aboard the vessel, has been directed to the nearby port of Oakland, the cruise line said on Saturday, presumably to be placed under quarantine.

Two more people infected with the coronavirus in the Netherlands have died, taking the total number of fatalities to three, Dutch health officials said on Sunday.

Italy ordered a virtual lockdown across a swathe of its wealthy north on Sunday, including the financial capital Milan, in a drastic new attempt to try to contain a rapidly growing outbreak of coronavirus.

A patient infected with the new coronavirus has died in hospital in Liestal, authorities in the Swiss canton of Basel-Land said on Sunday, bringing the national death toll to two.

The mayor of the South Korean city hardest hit by that country's coronavirus outbreak expressed cautious hope on Sunday that the numbers of new cases may be dropping, after the rate of increase slowed to its lowest in 10 days.

The head of Italy's Piedmont region, Alberto Cirio, has tested positive for coronavirus, state broadcaster RAI said on Sunday, becoming the second regional president to fall ill in just 24 hours.

Swiss watchmaker Swatch Group is taking a "massive" hit from the outbreak of the novel coronavirus that sharply affected business in major market China, Chief Executive Nick Hayek said in a Sunday newspaper interview.

Ten people have died and 23 remain trapped after the collapse of a hotel that was being used to quarantine people under observation for the coronavirus in the Chinese city of Quanzhou, authorities said on Sunday.

Bulgaria reported on Sunday its first four confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

Italy should ban all its citizens from traveling to Europe in order to curb the new coronavirus outbreak, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Sunday.

South Korea reported an additional 179 new coronavirus cases, for a total of 272 new cases over the previous 24 hours, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said late on Sunday.

Moldova has reported its first confirmed coronavirus case, the Moldovan health ministry said late on Saturday.

The Maldives has curbed movement on several resort islands, authorities said on Sunday, after the country reported its first two cases of coronavirus.

A worker at Japan's 7-Eleven convenience store chain in Yamanashi prefecture, west of Tokyo, has contracted the new coronavirus, the company said on Sunday.

Four people have died in the collapse of a hotel in the Chinese city of Quanzhou, the Ministry of Emergency Management said on Sunday, after state media said the place was being used to quarantine individuals under observation for the coronavirus.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) had little new advice to offer transit systems in the event they might have to shut down their commuter networks for the coronavirus outbreak in a conference call on Friday, but told operators they could find sanitation guidance on government websites.

The number of new coronavirus cases in South Korea rose again on Sunday, albeit at a slightly lower rate than previous days, as officials called for the public to cooperate in new rationing policies for face masks.

Organizers of the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, said an attendee of its annual Washington-area conference last month has tested positive for coronavirus.

Two more people succumbed to the novel coronavirus in Washington state, officials said on Saturday, bringing the nationwide toll to 19, while the number of confirmed cases in New York rose to 89 and a cruise ship with infected passengers remained stranded outside San Francisco.