World Is ‘Teetering Very, Very Close’ To A Pandemic And Countries Need To Do More To Stop It, WHO Warns
“Days make a difference with a disease like this,” said Dr. Bruce Aylward, the World Health Organization's envoy to China. “Time is everything in this disease." Meanwhile, talk of a potential pandemic is throwing the fate of the summer Olympics into question. Media outlets take a look at the emerging cases from around the globe.
The Associated Press:
'Time Is Everything': World Braces For Spread Of New Virus
China's massive travel restrictions, house-to-house checks, huge isolation wards and lockdowns of entire cities bought the world valuable time to prepare for the global spread of the new virus. But with troubling outbreaks now emerging in Italy, South Korea and Iran, and U.S. health officials warning Tuesday it's inevitable it will spread more widely in America, the question is: Did the world use that time wisely and is it ready for a potential pandemic? (2/25)
Reuters:
Fears Of Coronavirus Pandemic Spreading Olympic Unease
Fears that the new coronavirus outbreak is on the verge of becoming a global pandemic have stoked concerns about the Tokyo Games and while the International Olympic Committee says there is no "Plan B" doubts remain the event will go ahead as planned. Five months before the opening ceremony in Tokyo, health authorities around the world are scrambling to contain outbreaks of the flu-like virus which has infected about 80,000 and killed more than 2,700 people, the vast majority in China. (Ransom, 2/26)
The Wall Street Journal:
Tokyo Olympics Could Be A Victim Of The Coronavirus, IOC Official Says
The Tokyo Games are scheduled to begin on July 24, but a senior member of the International Olympic Committee raised the possibility of cancellation or postponement if the outbreak wasn’t contained in the next three months, setting an unofficial deadline around the end of May. The last time the Olympics were canceled was during World War II. “This is the new war and you have to face it,” Dick Pound, an IOC member since 1978, told the Associated Press. “In and around that time, I’d say folks are going to have to ask: ‘Is this under sufficient control that we can be confident about going to Tokyo, or not?’” (Robinson, Cohen and Bachman, 2/25)
Reuters:
Coronavirus Infects U.S. Soldier In South Korea As Pandemic Fears Fuel Market Selloff
China and South Korea reported 500 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, including the first U.S. soldier to be infected, as the United States warned of an inevitable pandemic and an outbreak in northern Italy spread to several European countries. Worsening outbreaks in Iran and Italy, along with China and South Korea, are raising the risk of a pandemic and drove Asian shares down on Wednesday, following falls on Wall Street. (2/26)
The New York Times:
Second Cruise Ship Blocked From Ports Over Coronavirus Fears
Following a pattern set by the MS Westerdam, a cruise ship in the Caribbean has been turned away from two ports over fears of the coronavirus. The ship, with more than 4,500 passengers and 1,600 crew members, was not allowed to dock in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands after it was discovered a crew member onboard was unwell. The MSC Meraviglia from MSC Cruises arrived in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, from Miami on Tuesday morning. After the ship’s command reported one case of influenza onboard, Jamaican authorities, concerned that the man might have the coronavirus, said no one could disembark. (Mzezewa, 2/25)
The Wall Street Journal:
South Korea Plans ‘Maximum’ Quarantine Steps In Coronavirus-Struck City
South Korea’s president visited a virus-stricken city and called the next several days a “clear inflection point,” as the government said it would investigate the roughly 200,000 followers of a mysterious religious sect linked with most of the country’s cases. “We can overcome the coronavirus and fully defeat it,” said President Moon Jae-in, wearing a white face mask as he spoke at the city hall of Daegu, epicenter of the country’s coronavirus epidemic. (Martin and Yoon, 2/25)
Reuters:
Vietnam Bars Tourists From Virus-Hit Parts Of South Korea
Vietnam banned tourists from coronavirus-hit areas of South Korea on Wednesday, a blow to a tourism industry already reeling from a collapse in Chinese visitor numbers. The government said in a news release that people from those areas who needed to come to Vietnam for other reasons must be quarantined for 14 days when entering the country. The move came after the number of cases of the new coronavirus reported in South Korea rose above 1,100. (Nguyen and Duong, 2/26)
Reuters:
Nineteen Dead, 139 Infected With Coronavirus In Iran: Health Ministry Spokesman
Nineteen people have died and 139 people have been infected by coronavirus in Iran, health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said on Wednesday in an announcement on state TV. (2/26)
The New York Times:
Spread Of Virus Could Hasten The Great Coming Apart Of Globalization
Globalization, that awkward catchall for our interconnectedness, was already under assault from populists, terrorists, trade warriors and climate activists, having become an easy target for much that ails us. Now comes the coronavirus. Its spread, analysts and experts say, may be a decisive moment in the fervid debates over how much the world integrates or separates. (Erlanger, 2/25)
Bloomberg:
Person Infected With Coronavirus Was At Shin Maru In Tokyo
Concerns about the novel coronavirus in Tokyo intensified Wednesday after building developer Mitsubishi Estate Co. said a person infected with the virus had been at its Shin Maru Building in the nation’s central Marunouchi business district. The 38 floor office and shopping complex is home to companies including SMBC Nikko Securities, Carlyle Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance. Mitsubishi Estate, whose shares fell as much as 4.5% in Tokyo, says areas visited by the person have been disinfected. (Huang and Nonomiya, 2/25)
Bloomberg:
South Korea Virus Cases Top 1,000, Heightening Spread Fear
Cases in South Korea of the new coronavirus exceeded 1,000 Wednesday, reinforcing concerns the deadly outbreak that began in central China is taking hold on a more global scale. The country confirmed 169 more coronavirus infections, bringing its total number of cases to 1,146. A week ago, South Korea had only 51 cases of the virus, which has killed more than 2,700 people in China and other parts of the world. (Chang, 2/25)
Bloomberg:
Chevron Sends London Traders Home On Coronavirus Concern
Chevron Corp. asked traders and other staff at its Canary Wharf office in London to work from home as a precaution after an employee was tested for the coronavirus, according to a person familiar with the matter. The employee had flu-like symptoms and coronavirus hasn’t been confirmed, the person said. (Crowley, Ngai, Hurst and Tobben, 2/25)
Bloomberg:
Virus Panic Devastates Chinatowns From New York To Sydney
Some 5,000 miles from Hubei province, the epicenter of China’s coronavirus outbreak, the streets of a northern Sydney suburb that’s home to a large number of Chinese are almost deserted. A chalk board propped outside a small eatery in Eastwood tries to reassure and lure in customers with words written in Mandarin: “The restaurant has been sanitized!” Business is down 70% since late January when the first case of the novel virus was reported in Australia, according to Lily Zhou, 39, who owns the Shanghai-style restaurant with her husband. If things continue as they are now, Zhou said she can only stay in business “at most three months.” (Gross and Cavataro, 2/25)
