European alert as global toll tops 3,000
The death toll from the new coronavirus epidemic surpassed 3,000 on Monday as Europe raised its state of alert.
The virus has now infected more than 89,000, spread to over 60 countries and threatens to cause a global economic slowdown — after first emerging in China late last year. With fears of a pandemic on the rise, the World Health Organization urged all countries to stock up on critical care ventilators to treat severely-hit patients.
In Brussels, European Union president Ursula von der Leyen said the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control had increased its risk assessment for Europeans after Italy’s outbreak doubled in 48 hours, to around 1,700 cases.
Health officials monitoring the virus at the ECDC announced that it had increased its risk assessment to “moderate to high.”
EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said: “As of this morning, we have 2,100 confirmed cases in 18 EU member states and we have 38 citizens who have lost their lives.”
Infections are now rising faster abroad than in China.
South Korea, the biggest nest of infections outside China, reported 599 new cases on Monday, raising its total past 4,000, and the death toll advanced to 26.
Of the new cases in South Korea, 377 were from the city of Daegu, home to a branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, to which most of South Korea’s cases have been traced after some members visited Wuhan, where the disease emerged.
The Seoul city government asked prosecutors to launch a murder investigation into leaders of the church, a movement that reveres founder Lee Man-hee. Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said that if Lee and other heads of the church had cooperated, preventive measures could have stopped fatalities.
The city government said it had filed a criminal complaint with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, asking for an investigation of Lee and 12 others on charges of murder and disease control act violations.
Lee knelt and apologized to the country on Monday that one church member had infected many others, calling the epidemic a “great calamity.” “We did our best but were not able to stop the spread of the virus,” Lee told reporters.
Iran reported 12 more deaths on Monday, raising the country’s toll to 66, the second biggest after China. Among the dead is a member of a council that advises the supreme leader, who succumbed on Monday after falling sick from the coronavirus, state radio reported, becoming the first top official to succumb to the illness.
The death of Expediency Council member Mohammad Mirmohammadi, 71, came as Iran announced 1,501 confirmed cases in the country. In two days, the number of confirmed cases has more than doubled, showing the spiraling crisis of the outbreak as Iran says it is preparing to mobilize 300,000 soldiers and volunteers to confront the virus.
Authorities across the US prepared for more cases after a second fatality over the weekend as President Donald Trump and his task force on the outbreak prepared to meet with drug company executives on Monday.
Executives from GlaxoSmith Kline Plc, Sanofi SA, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer Inc were to attend the meeting, according to company representatives.