WHO warns all countries to be on alert for Covid-19
The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged every country to be prepared to deal with the Covid-19 situation while praising China for shutting down some of its cities to control the spread of the virus.
In a statement on Tuesday (February 25), WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that though Covid-19 was spreading it hadn't reached the level of a pandemic.
He said three countries -- Italy, Iran, and South Korea -- were facing worrying situations.
In Italy, six people have died and there are 230 infected patients, the highest in Europe. After finding cluster infection in two groups in the Lombardy region (177 cases) and Veneto (33 cases) in the northern region, it later found more cases in the beighbouring regions of Emilia-Romagna and Piety Monte.
There are 101 patients with symptoms in the hospital, another 27 are under close care and at least 94 are in house quarantine. Officially 10 cities have been in lockdown with over 50,000 people, schools, museums and universities closed.
Iran's Ministry of Public Health confirmed 12 deaths and put the total number of infections at 61 cases. However, the government figure is at odds with an Iranian parliamentary representative of Gom metropolis saying that as many as 50 people had died in Sakdisit city, 120 kilometres from Tehran to the south, and 250 people had been quarantined
Almost all countries around Iran have closed their borders and announced closure or limited travel. On Monday (February 24), many countries in the Middle East -- Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Afghanistan -- confirmed their first cases of infection. In all cases, the patients had returned from Iran.
In South Korea, the death toll was eight, with the latest cumulative infections at 4pm on February 24, at 833, including 13 soldiers. The Ministry of Defence has ordered 7,500 soldiers to quarantine themselves.