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Indonesia has announced its first two coronavirus cases while the death in Iran rose to 66 – the highest outside China.
The number of people infected in Italy – the centre of the outbreak in Europe – jumped to 1,694, while in France the figure rose to 130. With the outbreak deepening, the staff at the Louvre in Paris voted to close the iconic museum.
The Czech Republic, Scotland and the Dominican Republic also confirmed their first cases.
More than 89,000 people across 58 countries have been infected, while the death toll has exceeded 3,000.
More:
This is Virginia Pietromarchi taking over the live blog from Kate Mayberry. Here are the latest updates:
Monday, March 2
11:40 GMT – Virus risk in EU rising from moderate to ‘high’
The risk level of coronavirus in the European Union has increased to “high”, EU Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen told a press conference in Brussels.
“The ECDC [European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control] has announced today that the risk level has risen from moderate to high for people in the European Union. In other words, the virus continues to spread,” von der Leyen told reporters.
Europe registered 2,199 cases and 38 deaths, most of them in Italy.
Go here to follow the conference live.
11:35 GMT – China closes first makeshift hospital, but keeps strict control
As China marked its lowest number of infected cases since January 22, authorities closed the first of 16 hurriedly built makeshift hospitals after it discharged the last recovered patients, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Despite a sharp decline in new cases in Hubei province and the provincial capital Wuhan, controlling the outbreak remains at a crucial stage and strict prevention must be maintained, said Premier Li Keqiang during a meeting.
Chinese cities with high population mobility such as the capital, Beijing, must control channels and prevent the spread of the epidemic, the government said in a statement on its website.
Workers wearing face masks are seen in front of a makeshift hospital that is closed following its last patients have been discharged. [Reuters]
11:02 GMT – Virus ‘greatest danger’ to global economy: OECD
Coronavirus presents the world economy with its greatest danger since the global financial crisis in 2008, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
A sharp slowdown in global growth is expected in the first half of 2020 as supply chains and commodities are hit, tourism drops and lower confidence grows.
#COVID19 presents the 🌍 economy with its greatest danger since the #FinancialCrisis, raising the risk of:
🔹 Restrictions on movement (people, goods & services)
🔹 Lower business & consumer confidence
🔹 Slowing production🆕 Interim #EconomicOutlook ➡️ https://t.co/Ur8AjvAzzy pic.twitter.com/kD2dWTXQUz
— OECD ➡️ Better policies for better lives (@OECD) March 2, 2020
The global economy is set to grow only 2.4 percent this year, the lowest since 2009 and down from a forecast of 2.9 percent in November, according to the Paris-based policy forum.
However, if the virus spreads throughout Asia, Europe and North America, global growth could drop as low as 1.5 percent this year.
10:45 GMT – Iran reports increasing number of deaths
Sixty-six people have died and 1,501 people have been infected by coronavirus in Iran, Deputy Health Minister Alireza Raisi said in an announcement on state TV.
“The definite latest numbers we have are 523 new infections and 12 new deaths so the total number of those infected is 1,501 until now and the number of deaths is 66,” he said.
10:15 GMT – Israelis head to the polls with face masks and gloves
As voters in Israel head to the polls for a third time in less than a year, 16 dedicated voting booths have been set up across the country for about 5,500 people who have been placed in home quarantine after travelling to areas considered outbreak hotspots.
Paramedics dressed in head-to-toe protective gear are standing next to the polling stations to assist possibly infected voters.
“The situation is under control,” said Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, director-general of Israel’s Health Ministry, urging citizens to not hesitate to go out to vote.
Read more about the Israeli election here.
A paramedic in a protective suit helps a man as he prepares to vote in a special polling station set up for people under home quarantine [Amir Cohen/Reuters]
10:03 GMT – More countries confirming first cases
Andorra, Iceland and Portugal reported their first cases.
In all three countries – which registered one, three and two cases, respectively – the people who tested positive had recently travelled to Italy, which is the epicentre of the virus outbreak in Europe.
09:03 GMT – Iran’s member of Expediency Council dies
State radio announced that Mohammad Mirmohammadi, 71, a member of the Expediency Council, has died after contracting the coronavirus.
Other prominent members infected in the country include Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar and Iraj Harirchi, head of the country’s task force on COVID-19.
08:02 GMT – Kuwait reports 10 new cases
A health ministry official in Kuwait announced 10 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number to 56.
In comments made during a news conference broadcast on state television, the official called on citizens to avoid gatherings to stop the spreading of the virus.
A man wears protective face mask, following the outbreak of the new coronavirus, in Kuwait. [Stephanie McGehee/Reuters]
07:54 GMT – France sees ‘much more significant’ growth effect
The French government warned the effect of the coronavirus will be larger than previous estimates and promised to provide the necessary support to companies.
Speaking on France2 television, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the impact from the virus will be “much more significant” than the 0.1 percent reduction in growth that his ministry had forecast two weeks ago.
The country’s travel and tourism sectors have already been hit as companies scaled back travel and cancelled conventions.
07:44 GMT – First community transmissions in Australia
Officials in Australia said a woman and a male doctor have contracted coronavirus, becoming the country’s first cases of community transmissions in the country.
New South Wales state’s Minister for Health Brad Hazzard said a 31-year old doctor has tested positive for coronavirus, though it is not clear whom he contracted the virus from.
State officials said a 41-year-old woman was tested after her brother returned to Australia from Iran, a country that has emerged as a coronavirus hotspot in the Middle East.
07:12 GMT – Nike ‘temporarily closes’ Europe HQs in Netherlands
Dutch news agency ANP said Nike’s European headquarters in the Netherlands would be closed on Monday and Tuesday following the infection of an employee with coronavirus.
ANP said the patient was staying home in isolation for 14 days while the office in Hilversum would be disinfected.
“The place is on lockdown,” a security guard at the location told Reuters news agency, which said roughly 2,000 employees from 80 countries work at the facility.
06:30 GMT – South Korean church leader issues apology
The leader of a church linked to about half of South Korea’s more than 4,000 coronavirus cases apologised for the spread of the virus
“I would like to offer my sincere apology to the people on behalf of the members,” Shincheonji head Lee Man-hee told reporters in Gapyeong in a breaking voice.
04:45 GMT – China counting methods may underplay extent of outbreak – Caixin
A report from Caixin on the way China counts coronavirus infections has analysed data from the province of Heilongjiang in the northeast.
Since the beginning of last month, the National Health Commission has required that local authorities include “asymptomatic infected individuals” in the coronavirus data but it seems not all are doing so.
Caixin says there were 104 asymptomatic cases in Heilongjiang on February 25 but they were not included in its 408 “confirmed cases”.
Caixin reporter David Yin has more on his Twitter feed. Caixin is an independent financial media and research group.
Before arriving at 104, 15 asyms were reclassified as “confirmed,” usually done as ppl start to show symts. Suggests portion of coronavirus asyms are presymptomatic. Studies suggest asyms are infectious, national measures treat them as such. #Covid19 https://t.co/mCpvskAGbB
— Dave Yin 殷大伟 (@yindavid) March 2, 2020
04:20 GMT – Indonesia confirms first two cases
Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo says two Indonesians have tested positive for the coronavirus and are in hospital.
There has been speculation about the absence of cases in Indonesia since a Chinese tourist who returned from the holiday island of Bali was confirmed to have the infection.
04:15 GMT – Australia warns cannot stop spread of coronavirus from overseas
Australia’s chief medical officer has said it is no longer possible to completely prevent people with the coronavirus from entering the country.
“It is no longer possible to absolutely prevent new cases coming in,” Brendan Murphy, Australia’s chief medical officer, told reporters in Canberra.
“We have got concerns about Japan and South Korea. They are working hard to control their outbreaks but we are still concerned that people in those countries and other high-risk countries may present with an infection.”
Australia has confirmed 29 cases of coronavirus.
03:30 GMT – Kazakhstan to bar Iranian nationals
The government in Kazakhstan has announced it will bar Iranian nationals from the country from March 5 as part of a range of measures to tackle the coronavirus.
It is also reducing the number of flights to and from Azerbaijan, which borders Iran, according to Reuters, and will no longer issue work permits to people from countries hit by the virus.
02:50 GMT – Murder probe sought for S Korea church at centre of outbreak
Officials in the capital, Seoul, are accusing the Christian church at the epicentre of South Korea’s growing coronavirus outbreak of murder.
A case has been filed with prosecutors, claiming the leaders of Shincheonji – the church where the first cases were reported – are liable for the outbreak because they did not cooperate with efforts to stop the disease.
Park Won-soon, mayor of Seoul, said if Lee and other leaders of the church had cooperated, effective preventive measures could have saved those who later died of the virus.
“The situation is this serious and urgent, but where are the leaders of the Shincheonji, including Lee Man-hee, the chief director of this crisis?” Park said in a post on his Facebook page late on Sunday
02:25 GMT – US state of Washington reports second death
The state of Washington on the west coast of the US has reported its second death from coronavirus.
Ian Morse, who is reporting from the area for Al Jazeera, says the person who died was a resident in the same nursing home where two cases of the virus were previously reported.
The man was in his 70s, according to Reuters, citing local health officials.
A handout picture from the National Institutes of Health showing a transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, or 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19, isolated from a patient [NIAID/National Institutes of Health via EPA]
02:05 GMT – South Korea reports nearly 500 new cases, four deaths
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released the first of its twice-daily updates on the coronavirus outbreak in South Korea – the largest outside China.
The KCDC says four people died overnight and 476 new cases of the virus were confirmed.
In total, 22 people have now died from COVID-19 in South Korea and 4,212 people are infected.
01:25 GMT – Worldwide death toll from the coronavirus passes 3,000
China has announced its latest data on the coronavirus outbreak, reporting 42 new deaths.
That takes the death toll in China to 2,912, and worldwide to more than 3,000.
The National Health Commission says the latest deaths were all in the worst-hit province of Hubei and most were in its sealed-off capital of Wuhan.
Officials said there were also 202 new infections, the lowest number since the end of January.
01:20 GMT – New York state confirms first case
Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, said the US state had confirmed its first case of coronavirus in someone who had recently returned from Iran.
Cuomo said there was “no reason for undue anxiety” and the risk remained low.
We have learned of the 1st positive case of COVID-19 in NY. The patient contracted the virus while in Iran & is isolated
There is no reason for undue anxiety—the general risk remains low in NY. We are diligently managing this situation &will provide info as it becomes available. pic.twitter.com/rLnObvrg3R
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) March 2, 2020
Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s live updates on the new coronavirus as it continues to spread from its epicentre in central China to countries around the world.
I’m Kate Mayberry in Kuala Lumpur, taking over from my colleague Mersiha Gadzo.
Click here to read updates from Sunday, March 1.
