A hotel in Tenerife where an Italian man who has tested positive for coronavirus was staying has been put on lockdown. One thousand guests at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel have been placed in isolation to halt any further spread of the disease. One British holidaymaker has described the situation as a “holiday from hell”.
Travellers returning to the UK from northern Italy may need to self-isolate as part of measures to stop the spread of coronavirus. Official government advice has been changed to say that those who have been to northern Italy, north of Pisa, should self-isolate if they develop flu-like symptoms on their return to the UK.
Britons who have been in lockdown regionsof Italy, including those in the Lombardy and Veneto region, should self-isolate at home for 14 days even if they have no symptoms.
Some schools in the UK have closed or sent pupils home because they had recently returned from skiing visits to northern Italy.
In Iran, the death toll due to the coronavirus has reached 16, a health ministry official told state TV on Tuesday. Iran has the highest number of deaths from coronavirus outside China, where the virus emerged late last year. The deputy health minister, Iraj Harirchi, has been infected and is under quarantine.
Italian authorities announced on Tuesday the first positive coronavirus case in the south of Italy. A woman from Bergamo, who was on holiday with her friends in Sicily, has tested positive for Covid-19.
Croatia and Austria became the latest European countries to confirm cases of coronavirus.
The spread of the coronavirus has accelerated across Europe with new cases in four countries and a rising death toll in Italy, which is desperately struggling to contain the outbreak, Denis Campbell, Helen Pidd and Sam Jones write.
Concern about the proliferation of cases prompted a dozen UK schools to send home pupils to self-isolate for 14 days after returning from half-term skiing trips in Lombardy.
The Irsh Rugby Football Union (IRFU) is seeking an urgent meeting with the country’s health minister as to why the Ireland vs Italy rugby match should be cancelled. Simon Harris has said the match should not go ahead on 7 March because of a coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy. The union has said:
The IRFU is seeking an urgent meeting with Minister Harris as to the specific reasoning behind calling for the cancellation of the Ireland v Italy Six Nations fixture in the context of the government’s overall travel policy to and from Italy and other affected countries.
Until such time as the IRFU has had contact with the minister and gets an understanding of the government’s strategic policy on travel to and from Ireland and the cancellation of mass gatherings, it is not in a position to comment further.
The number of coronavirus cases in Spain rose to six on Tuesday after a man in a hospital in Castellón, in the eastern region of Valencia, tested positive for the virus.
Spanish health authorities said that, in accordance with protocol, his tests had been sent to the National Microbiology Centre in Madrid for a second, definitive test. The Valencian regional government said it had activated its coronavirus protocol following the preliminary diagnosis.
Authorities in Palermo have announced the closure of all the schools at least until Monday, after a woman from Bergamo, who was on holiday with her friends in Sicily, tested positive for Convid-19. It is the first case in the south of the country. The mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando, announced an investigation is ongoing to check and eventually test people she has been in contact with during her stay in the Sicilian capital. Her husband and a friend of the patient tested positive for Convid-19 too.
There have been 11 deaths as Italy’s coronavirus outbreak has spread from Lombardy and Veneto to Sicily, Tuscany and Liguria as Premier Giuseppe Conte said the country would emerge from the crisis with its head held high. Some 322 people have been infected with the virus in Italy, according to the Civil protection chief.
The first case of coronavirus has been registered in Liguria, the regional government said Tuesday.
Only 3% of Italian coronavirus patients have died, and all of them had pre-existing conditions, Walter Ricciardi of the World Health Organisation told a Rome press conference Tuesday. “We must scale back this great alarm,” said Ricciardi, a former director at Italy’s Higher Health Institute (ISS).
Of 100 sick people, 80 get well of their own accord, 15 have serious but manageable problems, 5% are extremely serious, of which 3% die. Furthermore, as you know, all the people who died already had serious health conditions.
He said the alarm “is right, is not to be underestimated, but the disease must be placed within the correct terms”.
A school in Liverpool has joined a growing list to have sent home pupils and staff over coronavirus fears following a trip to northern Italy.
Cardinal Heenan Catholic high school in West Derby said pupils and staff went on the ski trip during half term but did not visit any of the towns currently under quarantine in Italy.
All staff and pupils were medically screened on entry to and from Milan airport and, as a precautionary measure, the school has sent all of these pupils and staff home.
In a letter and email issued to all parents, the headteacher Karen Smyth said the latest advice from officials is that anyone who has visited the northern areas of Italy should isolate themselves if they show symptoms of the coronavirus, contact NHS 111 or their GP by phone but do not visit the surgery or any walk-in centres.
The school will monitor the potential symptoms within the pupil and staff populations, in particular those who travelled on the ski trip. The letter adds: “It is important to recognise that the risk of catching coronavirus is minimal.”
The new confirmed case takes the total number of coronavirus cases in Germany to 17. There have been no deaths.
The car supplier Webasto said last month a Chinese employee had tested positive for the virus upon returning to China following a visit to the headquarters near Munich. Several other German colleagues were apparently also infected during the visit.
Authorities in the southern German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg have confirmed the first case of coronavirus there after a 25-year-old man who had recently been in Milan tested positive.
The state’s health ministry said the man, who had likely become infected during a visit to Italy, had contacted authorities after coming down with flu-like symptoms. He was taken to a hospital later on Tuesday to receive treatment in isolation, the ministry added.
People in close contact with the patient will be kept in home isolation and be asked about their state of health every day. As soon as a contact person develops symptoms, they will also be isolated in hospital.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has advised against all but essential travel to the towns in northern Italy that local authorities have effectively quarantined. A spokesman has said:
We advise against all but essential travel to 10 small towns in Lombardy and one in Veneto, which are currently in isolation due to an ongoing outbreak of coronavirus. Any British nationals already in these towns should follow the advice of the local authorities.
Officials are advising British nationals returning to the UK from the area to follow advice from the chief medical officer and Public Health England. The new travel advice reads:
The FCO advises against all but essential travel to 10 small towns in Lombardy (Codogno, Castiglione d’Adda, Casalpusterlengo, Fombio, Maleo, Somaglia, Bertonico, Terranova dei Passerini, Castelgerundo and San Fiorano) and one in Veneto (Vo’ Euganeo) which have been isolated by the Italian authorities due to an ongoing outbreak of coronavirus.
The government of Italy has introduced extraordinary measures that allow regions to implement civil protection measures in response to coronavirus. This includes the isolation of 10 small towns in Lombardy and one in Veneto. The regions of Lombardy, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Piemonte and Emilia Romagna have implemented measures including the suspension of public or private events, the suspension of schools and higher education and the suspension on the opening of museums and cultural institutions for seven days. If you are already in the regions affected you should follow the instructions of local authorities.
Algeria has confirmed its first case of the coronavirus, Reuters has reported, citing state television. The country’s health minister has reportedly said an Italian man who arrived in Algeria on 17 February has been put into quarantine.
Kuwait’s civil aviation authority has suspended all flights with Singapore and Japan over coronavirus fears, the nation’s state news agency KUNA reports.
A statement was issued in accordance with the Kuwaiti health ministry’s instructions on Tuesday. The day before, Kuwait suspended flights with South Korea, Iran, Thailand, Italy and Iraq over similar concerns. It has registered nine cases of coronavirus – all coming from Iran.
