Stringent measures fail to halt infections

ROME－The number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases around the world continued to rise at the weekend despite greater efforts to contain it.

The number of cases in Italy shot up past 1,000 when local authorities reported the total confirmed cases grew to 1,577 -- or 1,694 including those healed or died.

The vast majority are in three northern regions, all economically productive and among the most visited in the country: Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia Romagna.

The death toll rose to 29 from 21, after eight more people died since Friday night, all of them elderly and all in the same three regions, civil protection authorities said.

The increase came despite strong measures aimed at containing the spread of the virus－including isolating 11 towns with a combined population of more than 50,000.

Italian health officials cautioned that the impact of the measures adopted a week ago would not result in slowing case numbers until some 14 days, the period of incubation, had elapsed.

"The cases we are verifying are likely to have been contracted before we adopted these measures," said Silvio Brusaferro, president of Italian national health institute.

On Friday, Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's cabinet passed a first package of measures to support households, companies and economic sectors in the worst affected areas, and a second package to contain the impact on the domestic economy was announced.

In a daily news conference about the novel coronavirus outbreak, French Health General Director Jerome Salomon announced 43 new cases of coronavirus in France on Saturday, taking to 100 the number of people affected since the end of January.

The infected people had either interacted with already known patients or traveled recently to zones of risk.

France announced it would cancel gatherings of more than 5,000 people in confined spaces and events in an open environment where people can mix with others from areas where the virus is possibly circulating, said the Health Minister Olivier Veran early on Saturday.

England has confirmed three more cases, bringing the total number of infections in the UK to 23, Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty said on Saturday.

Wales and Northern Ireland also reported their first cases of people who had traveled in northern Italy, the country's health authorities said on Friday.

In Austria, four more people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, taking the total number of Austrian cases to 10 on Saturday, the Ministry of Health said.

The ministry also said 1,649 tests had already been carried out across Austria by Saturday afternoon.

Greek Health Ministry announced on Saturday that three more cases had been confirmed, taking the total to seven.

The latest cases involved a woman and a man related to previously confirmed cases in Greece, and a man who had recently traveled to Italy, the ministry said.

Luxembourg confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus, a person who returned from Italy by plane earlier, said Luxembourg's Health Minister Paulette Lenert on Saturday evening at a news conference.

Spread outside Europe

Australia reported its first death on Sunday, a 79-year-old man who was a passenger on the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined off Japan, according to the country's health authorities.

The man's widow also caught the virus, but is in stable condition, the health official said.

In a related development, the health department in New South Wales confirmed the fifth case of the coronavirus in the state, taking the total number of confirmed cases in Australia to 26.

In South America, officials in Ecuador on Saturday confirmed its first case of the coronavirus, while Brazil had one more case and Mexico reported two more.

Ecuador's Health Minister Catalina Andramuno Zeballos said the case involved an Ecuadoran woman, aged over 70, who lives in Spain and arrived in the country on Feb 14.

Brazil's Health Ministry on Saturday confirmed the country's second case of the new coronavirus, diagnosed in a 32-year-old patient in Sao Paulo who had recently visited Italy and arrived on Thursday.

Mexico confirmed its fourth case on Saturday, after a young woman tested positive for infection.

Mexican health authorities said the 20-year-old from northern Coahuila state was carrying the virus without showing symptoms.

Xinhua - Agencies