A policeman and pedestrians wear masks to help guard against the Coronavirus, in downtown Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020. | Photo Credit: AP
TEHRAN – Iran’s Health Ministry Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said on Wednesday that the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in Iran has risen to 92 with 2,922 confirmed cases.
The novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19 has killed 92 people in Iran, said Jahanpour, adding that of the total 8,532 who have been so far tested for the virus, 2,922 were diagnosed with the new virus since its outbreak in the country, said Jahanpour.
Provinces like Gilan, Qom, and Tehran are reporting a growing number of infections, he noted.
552 patients infected by the coronavirus have so far recovered from the disease, the official added.
According to the latest reports, the novel coronavirus has so far infected 93,191 people in 80 countries, claiming 3,203 lives.
Mainland China reported 119 new confirmed coronavirus cases on March 4, putting the country’s total infections at 80,270 and a death toll of 2,981.
In addition to Iran, South Korea and Italy are also reporting a growing number of infections every day.
Italy’s Coronavirus Outbreak Now Looks Worse Than Iran’s
Italy is now the worst-affected country from the coronavirus outside Asia, overtaking Iran in terms of the number of deaths and infections from the virus.
The death toll in Italy jumped to 79 on Tuesday, up from an official total of 52 on Monday. As of Wednesday morning, there are 2,502 cases of the virus in Italy, according to Italian media reports that are updated ahead of the daily official count, published by Italy’s Civil Protection Agency every evening.
Italy’s coronavirus numbers have now surpassed Iran’s official infection count. The Islamic Republic has 2,336 cases of the virus and has recorded 77 deaths, although there is speculation over the accuracy of Iran’s tally of the epidemic.
The outbreak of the coronavirus has centered on Italy’s wealthy northern regions of Lombardy (with 1,520 cases), Veneto (307 cases) and Emilia-Romagna (420 cases). But it has spread throughout the country and now only one out of Italy’s 20 regions, Valle D’Aosta, is yet to record a case.
Italy’s health authorities said Tuesday they may set up a new quarantine area, a so-called “red zone,” to try to contain the coronavirus outbreak, Reuters reported.
“None of us can be sure about the future evolution of the disease. This is an important week to understand what will happen,” Angelo Borrelli, head of the Civil Protection Agency, told a news conference Tuesday. A new quarantined area could be declared around the city of Bergamo, northeast of Milan, to try to stem a sharp rise in cases there.
Italy’s government has already set up red zones in Lombardy and Veneto, in which there are a combined 11 towns quarantined with no inhabitants allowed to leave. Public life has been severely affected in those zones, as well as in “yellow zones” where free movement is allowed but schools, sports venues and many bars and restaurants are closed.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte didn’t rule out the closure of all schools in the country on Tuesday, and recommendations have reportedly been sent to Italy’s ministry of health for all Italians, not just those in the most-affected areas, saying that elderly people should stay at home, and that the public should avoid crowded places with no handshaking.
High-fives, hugs, kisses discouraged as US companies battle coronavirus scare
As news broke of more cases of coronavirus spreading across the United States, T-Mobile had a novel response to the threat: fewer hugs, kisses or high-fives.
The Bellevue, Washington-based wireless provider is “encouraging personal distancing at work” – and has “all sorts of sanitation products readily available,” according to the company.
Elsewhere, U.S. companies are embracing new ways to protect their employees. Hollywood executives are reconsidering red carpet premiers; CNN head Jeff Zucker is personally reviewing intercontinental travel.
Facebook Inc is going so far as to take the “social” out of social media and has banned non-business visitors to its offices.
Across the U.S. business landscape, companies from AT&T Inc to Home Depot Inc are scrambling to manage the risk of a virus that only a week ago was isolated to China, Iran, Italy and South Korea and has now spread to 53 countries.
Major tech companies are pulling out of big industry events. Twitter Inc, which late Monday strongly encouraged employees to work from home, also said its Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey will no longer appear at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas later this month. By Monday evening, Facebook announced it will not attend the event.
Others are cancelling their own conferences. Alphabet Inc’s Google on Monday scrapped its biggest conference for cloud computing customers, scheduled for next month in San Francisco, following the cancellation last Friday of two other events.
Facebook last week shelved its annual developer conference and has also restricted travel to China, South Korea and Italy.
The Menlo Park, Calif. social media giant went one step further and discouraged all gatherings of more than 50 attendees. Job candidates shouldn’t bother showing up at the office. Interviews are being rescheduled as video conferences where possible, according to one source familiar with the plans.
In addition to banning travel to and from Asia and Italy, Home Depot also implemented a 14-day stay-at-home policy for employees who have returned from those regions within the past two weeks.
On Wall Street, at least two major banks are testing technologies and compliance systems in preparation for employees who may be asked to work from home or off-site locations in coming weeks.
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