#Kenyans coronavirus testing

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Covid-19: 15 more test positive COVID-19: 15 more test positive including a one-year-old baby bringing total to 715, Health CAS Rashid Aman says.

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Coronavirus Live Updates: South Korean Cases Spike, and Fear Builds https://nyti.ms/38NmL2w

Coronavirus Live Updates: South Korean Cases Spike, and Fear Builds

A major city is locked down and 28 countries outside of China have reported a total of 1,500 cases.

RIGHT NOW

Iran reports a sixth death, and Israel is barring travelers from South Korea.

Here’s what you need to know:

READ UPDATES IN CHINESE: 新冠病毒疫情最新消息汇总

THE COUNT: 28 COUNTRIES AND A SPIKE IN SOUTH KOREA.

South Korea reported 229 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, doubling its total in a single day and adding to concerns that another Asian country is losing control of the spread and that the window to avert a pandemic was closing.

As of Saturday, the virus had spread to 28 countries. Some 1,500 cases have been confirmed outside China; multiple infections in the United States, Italy, Iran and the United Arab Emirates; and one in Egypt, the first to be confirmed on the African continent. The highest death toll outside of China is in Iran, with six as of Saturday.

Panic is spreading in Israel, where a woman, who was aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan tested positive after returning home, health officials said.

Many African countries are bracing for the disease. The World Health Organization has identified 13 as priorities because of their direct links to China or their high volume of travel to it.

SOUTH KOREA’S FOURTH-LARGEST CITY IS ON LOCKDOWN.

South Korea added 229 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, driving its total to 433. Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun called the situation “grave.”

“We will deal sternly with any acts that interfere with the government’s quarantine efforts and add to anxiety among the people,” Mr. Chung said in a nationally televised statement. He urged citizens not to hoard facial masks or other hygiene products.

More than half of the cases are among members of a secretive religious sect, the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, and their relatives or contacts. Between Daegu, the country’s fourth largest city, and a nearby province where the sect’s members often do volunteer work, 352 people have tested positive.

More than 1,250 members of the sect have reported potential symptoms, and officials are still trying to locate 700 members so they can be screened.

The neighborhood around the sect’s church in Daegu has turned into a ghost town. Banks, coffee shops, restaurants and convenience stores have all shut down.

Across the city of 2.4 million, department stores, shopping alleys and outdoor marketplaces are drained of shoppers.

The only places more crowded than usual are government-run health centers, where citizens lined up to find out whether they were infected.

In Busan, South Korea’s second largest city, public libraries, a horse racetrack and facilities for senior citizens closed when the city reported its first coronavirus case on Friday.

Many churches have shuttered, instead offering prayer services online. Others stayed open, but skipped hymns or “Amens” to limit congregants’ exposure.

The national news agency Yonhap reported people emptying shelves of rice, instant noodle, eggs and other essential food items in some supermarkets in Chuncheon and Ulsan, as both cities reported their first cases on Saturday.

Samsung, the world’s smartphone maker, shut down a factory about an hour north of Cheongdo after a worker tested positive. The factory is expected to resume operations on Monday morning, Samsung said. But the floor of the factory where the patient has worked will be closed until Tuesday morning, it said.

PRESIDENT TRUMP WAS FURIOUS OVER THE REPATRIATION OF INFECTED AMERICANS.

The news that 14 American citizens from the Diamond Princess who had tested positive for the coronavirus were being flown to the United States this week surprised and infuriated President Trump, two senior American officials said.

The Washington Post first reported Mr. Trump’s anger on Friday. The president is a self-declared “germophobe.”

Mr. Trump conveyed his anger to Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary overseeing the White House interagency task force on the coronavirus, and other top officials. The task force’s top State Department official is Stephen E. Biegun, the deputy secretary of state.

One official said that Mr. Trump views keeping infected people from entering the country as critical to keeping the country safe and that the president wants to be seen as managing a proper response.

The decision to fly back the infected passengers was made over the objections of officials at the Centers for Disease Control.

On Monday, after two planes carrying more than 300 evacuated passengers had landed at military bases in Texas and California, William Walters, a top medical official at the State Department, told reporters that the decision to keep the 14 infected Americans in the group had been made by the State Department in consultation with Robert Kadlec, an assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Dr. Walters said that the evacuation had already begun when Japanese officials informed their American counterparts of the laboratory test results. Dr. Walters said that he had spoken with Dr. Kadlec to go over the options after learning of the test results.

Since the passengers returned, Japanese officials have informed American officials that several more of them had also tested positive for coronavirus.

On Friday, American officials said at least 34 people inside the United States have the virus — 18 of them from the Diamond Princess. All of the 34 cases have been linked to overseas travel. There has been no sign yet of the virus spreading among communities in the United States.

[ U.S. MOBILIZATION: Local health departments around the country are scrambling to monitor the thousands of people returning from travel in China and elsewhere. READ BELOW]

THE W.H.O. HEADS TO WUHAN, AND SAYS IT FEARS FOR AFRICA.

A team of experts from the World Health Organization were traveling on Saturday to the Chinese city of Wuhan, the center of the coronavirus epidemic, the agency’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said.

Health professionals from the U.N. agency have worked on the outbreak in three Chinese provinces — Beijing, Sichuan and Guangdong — but had not yet been to the city at its heart.

Dr. Tedros confirmed the trip during an address on Saturday morning to African officials from Geneva, where he spoke of the virus’s increasing global spread and urged them to prepare for possible cases on their continent.

“We have to take advantage of the window of opportunity we have, to attack the virus outbreak with a sense of urgency,” Dr. Tedros told the leaders, who had gathered for an emergency meeting on the response to the coronavirus in the continent.

With only one confirmed case on the continent, Africa has so far been mostly spared, but health officials have warned that the spread could be deadly in countries with already-strained health systems. The W.H.O. has provided online training on the coronavirus to 11,000 African health workers.

China and Africa have become intertwined in the last two decades as China has expanded its political, economic, and military ties to Africa, funding large infrastructure projects and pledging tens of billions of dollars in investments and loans.

Now, Africa has large numbers of Chinese workers and more than 81,000 Africans were studying in mainland China in 2018. About 4,600 African citizens and students were living in Wuhan.

While some African countries, including Morocco, Mauritius and Egypt, have evacuated their citizens from China, Kenya has not. On Friday, the Kenyan government explained its rationale on Twitter, saying “the safest place for the students to be is Wuhan.”

[CORONAVIRUS IN AFRICA: Experts worry that the steady traffic between China and Africa could spread the epidemic and overrun the continent’s already-strained health systems

ISRAEL BARS SOUTH KOREAN TOURISTS.

Nine South Korean tourists who spent a week visiting some of Israel’s most popular religious sites have tested positive for the coronavirus after returning home. Within hours, Israel began closing the country to South Korean travelers altogether.

Korean passengers flying on a Korean Air flight scheduled to land at Ben Gurion Airport at 7:30 p.m. Saturday would be barred entry into the country, Ynet reported late Saturday afternoon. Kan radio said that, on Sunday, the government would discuss whether to allow the other South-Korea-to-Tel Aviv flights to continue.

Israel’s health ministry ordered the immediate suspension of all tours by South Korean tourists who are currently in Israel, according to Kan radio. Health officials were working with the tourism ministry and travel agencies to book flights back to South Korea for the 1,700 South Korea tourists in Israel.

Israel suspended all flights from China on Jan. 30 in response to the outbreak of coronavirus.

The nine South Korean tourists were among a Roman Catholic tour group of 77 people, Haaretz reported. The health ministry said the pilgrims visited Israel from Feb. 8 to Feb. 15, touring Christian sites and other attractions in Netanya, Caesaria, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea, Beersheva, Hebron and Jerusalem.

Among the often-crowded sites the group visited were the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

The health ministry said it was conducting an epidemiological investigation to identify anyone who came in contact with the group.

Twenty Israel Nature and Parks Authority employees and two Dead Sea hotel housekeeping employees who were in contact with the South Korea tourists have already been placed in quarantine, according to local reports.

RUSSIAN DISINFORMATION BLAMES U.S. FOR CORONAVIRUS.

State Department officials say that thousands of Russia-linked social media accounts are spreading disinformation about the coronavirus, including a conspiracy theory that the United States is behind the Covid-19 outbreak.

American monitors identified the campaign in mid-January. Agence-France Presse first reported on the assessment on Saturday.

“Russia’s intent is to sow discord and undermine U.S. institutions and alliances from within, including through covert and coercive malign influence campaigns,” said Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia.

“By spreading disinformation about coronavirus, Russian malign actors are once again choosing to threaten public safety by distracting from the global health response.”

The effort was described as being carried out by several thousand Russia-linked accounts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, which post similar messages at similar times in English, Spanish, French, German and Italian.

Fringe theories of uncertain origin have accused China of engineering the virus, including suggesting that it is an escaped bioweapon.

Misinformation about the virus — whether shared purposefully or unwittingly — is so rife that the World Health Organization has called it an “infodemic.” The W.H.O. has been working with big tech companies to try to quell the flood of rumors and falsehoods.

IRAN’S DEATH TOLL FROM THE VIRUS REACHES SIX, THE HIGHEST OUTSIDE CHINA.

Iran, which insisted as recently as Tuesday that it had no coronavirus cases, confirmed 28 cases and six deaths on Saturday, according to Iranian state media, making it the country with the highest death toll outside of China, where the number climbed to 2,345 on Saturday.

On Saturday, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization’s director, said the organization was “especially concerned about the increase in cases in the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Iran was the first country in the Middle East to declare deaths related to the virus. The head of public relations at the country’s health ministry, Kianush Jahanpur, wrote in a tweet that most of the infections came from Qom, 80 miles south of the capital, Tehran. Officials also confirmed cases in Tehran, and in the northern city of Rasht.

The number of deaths suggest the virus is being transmitted far more widely than Iranian officials have acknowledged. Infectious health experts note that, if, as Chinese doctors have reported, the virus kills about 2 percent of known victims, multiplying the number of deaths by 50 offers a rough case estimate. On that logic, Iran could have 300 cases.

Already, cases of travelers from Iran testing positive for the virus have turned up in Canada and Lebanon, and on Saturday, the United Arab Emirates said two Iranian travelers had the virus, raising that country’s total cases to 13.

State media in Iran reported that universities and institutions of higher education were closed for a week in 10 provinces and schools were closed for three days in Tehran because of the virus. Seminaries in Qom were also closed.

Concerts, movies and other cultural events were canceled across the country for a week, state media said. And spectators were barred from soccer games countrywide.

Kuwait Airways announced Saturday that it would evacuate more than 700 Kuwaiti nationals from Mashhad, Iran.

As Iran holds parliamentary elections this weekend, many voters in Qom lined up in front of voting stations wearing masks, according to videos from Iranian news agencies.

Conflicting news reports emerged on Saturday about the mayor of a district of Tehran, who was said to have been hospitalized with coronavirus symptoms on Friday. But the semiofficial news agency Fars later denied that the mayor, Morteza Rahmanzadeh, had been hospitalized, saying he was in good health.

[ FEARS OF A PANDEMIC RISE: Health officials warn that the number of cases outside of China may be greater than previously acknowledged. READ BELOW]

THE C.D.C. LIFTS RESTRICTIONS ON WESTERDAM CRUISE SHIP PASSENGERS.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised American passengers of the Westerdam cruise ship that they do not need to self-quarantine and are no longer subject to travel restrictions after their lives were upended when a fellow passenger was found to have the coronavirus.

No other infections have been found among passengers on the Westerdam, a C.D.C. spokesman said on Saturday, adding that the organization had sent an advisory to state and local health departments this past week.

An American woman, 83, who had disembarked from the Westerdam in Cambodia along with more than 2,000 other passengers and crew members, had tested positive for the coronavirus after arriving at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on a subsequent layover, Malaysian officials said on Feb. 15. Only a small number of passengers had been tested before they were allowed to disembark.

The American passenger’s diagnosis, which Malaysian officials said was confirmed in a second test, had raised fears that another vector of transmission was going global. Cambodia has called the Malaysian diagnosis flawed.

That no other Westerdam passengers have become ill is not proof in itself that the American woman’s diagnosis was flawed, said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

But Dr. Schaffner said the C.D.C. has been “very meticulous about implementing a containment policy in the U.S. and has been assiduous about finding and monitoring people who’ve had contact or previous exposure.”

On Saturday, the Malaysian health director general, Noor Hisham Abdullah, said that the American passenger was now clear of the coronavirus and was being monitored in the hospital with a “slight cough,” after an antiretroviral treatment.

People who have recovered from the infection will test negative as their bodies clear the virus.

Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Sen, who had personally welcomed the ship’s passengers after they had been turned away from several other ports, called Malaysia’s diagnosis into question again on Saturday. The woman never had coronavirus at all, he said.

Mr. Hun Sen is a close ally of China and his claims have cast doubts on the seriousness of the coronavirus outbreak.

JAPAN ADMITS RELEASING SOME UNTESTED CRUISE SHIP PASSENGERS BY MISTAKE.

Just days after releasing nearly 1,000 passengers from the cruise ship quarantined for two weeks in the port of Yokohama that has been a coronavirus hot spot, Japan’s health minister admitted that 23 passengers had been mistakenly cleared to leave without taking a valid recent test.

In a news briefing on Saturday night, the health minister, Katsunobu Kato, apologized for the error that allowed the passengers, who had not been tested since before the ship went into lockdown on Feb. 5, to leave the Diamond Princess.

The Japanese Health Ministry said it had tested them and checked for symptoms, and certified that they posed “no risk of infection.”

Mr. Kato said that all 23 mistakenly cleared passengers had boarded some form of public transportation after disembarking. He said none of them had reported any symptoms so far and 20 had already agreed to be retested, with three negative tests so far.

Although several governments that evacuated citizens from the ship — including those in the United States, Australia, Hong Kong and South Korea — confined them for an additional 14 days at home, Japan said that passengers who had tested negative for coronavirus and showed no symptoms could leave starting this week.

On the subject of the passengers released untested, Mr. Kato said that public health officers who had been conducting the tests missed the 23 passengers as they went door to door.

“While they made their multiple rounds to take samples, some passengers left their rooms to go outside and do exercise or something,” he said, “so they were unavailable.”

A total of 634 people tested positive on board the cruise ship, and two passengers infected with the coronavirus have died.

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Reporting and research were contributed by Hannah Beech, Liz Alderman, Vivian Wang, Choe Sang-Hun, Elian Peltier, Donald G. McNeil Jr., Farnaz Fassihi, Amy Harmon, Steven Lee Myers, Elaine Yu, Marc Santora, Matt Philips, Niraj Chokshi, Amie Tsang, Keith Bradsher, Amber Wang, Yiwei Wang, Ed Wong, David Halbfinger and Derrick Bryson Taylor.

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‘All Hands on Deck’: Health Workers Race to Track Thousands of Americans Amid Coronavirus

Local health departments around the United States are scrambling to monitor thousands of people returning from travel in China and elsewhere. Among the tasks: daily calls, emails, texts.

By Amy Harmon and Farah Stockman | Published Feb. 22, 2020 Updated 11:13 a.m. ET | New York Times | Posted February 22, 2020 |

After a long journey at sea on the Westerdam cruise ship, which was denied entry at ports across Asia over fears of the coronavirus, Holley Rauen finally returned home to Florida on Wednesday night. Moments later, she discovered that she had joined a cast of thousands who are being meticulously tracked by local health officials across the United States.

As Ms. Rauen’s plane from overseas touched down, one message was already waiting on her phone, from a nurse at the local public health department in her Florida county. Should she develop a fever or cough over the next 14 days, she should report it immediately, the nurse explained when Ms. Rauen called back.

“I was so impressed,” said Ms. Rauen, who is herself a retired public health nurse from the same health department in Lee County. “We are really truly in uncharted waters.”

Preventing the spread of infectious disease is the essence of public health work, but the scale of efforts by state and local health departments across the country to contain the virus known as COVID-19, experts said, has rarely been seen. Since early February, thousands of people returning to the United States from mainland China, the center of the outbreak, have been asked to isolate themselves at home for 14 days.

Local health officials check in daily by email, phone or text. They arrange tests for people who come down with symptoms, and in some cases, groceries and isolated housing. There is no centralized tally in the United States of people being monitored or asked to remain in isolation, and they are scattered across the nation’s nearly 3,000 local health jurisdictions.

People arriving from mainland China are added each day, while those who have completed 14-day “self-quarantine” periods are released from oversight. In California alone, the department of public health has been monitoring more than 6,700 returning travelers from China, while health officials in Washington State have tracked about 800, and officials in Illinois more than 200.

The nationwide mobilization is taking a financial toll, health officials say. The cost to local health departments is unknown, but some experts say it has reached into the tens of millions. Even as the first of 34 confirmed coronavirus patients in the United States have recovered in recent days, health officials say they are preparing for what some fear could still be a much wider outbreak. Worldwide, the virus, which is known to be highly contagious, has infected 75,000 people and killed more than 2,000.

“All hands on deck are being pulled into this,’’ said Dr. Marcus Plescia, the chief medical officer for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, a nonprofit organization that represents public health agencies across the country. “If it really blows up, at some point, it could overwhelm state and local health departments.”

So far, officials say, the containment effort in this country has been largely orderly. The only known transmission of the virus in the United States has involved people in the same household. But no matter how effective health workers are in monitoring their charges, “there will always be some leakage,’’ said Dr. John Wiesman, the Secretary of Health in Washington State.

In Washington, where the first coronavirus patient in the United States was confirmed on Jan. 21, health officials tracked down and monitored 69 individuals with whom the man had come in contact, including work colleagues, health workers and other patients present in a clinic he visited when he first felt sick. Still, there have been issues. One person the man had been in contact with and who had developed symptoms of illness flew on a plane to Wisconsin during the 14-day period when she was supposed to be isolated at home.

“There is no way, with something this large, that you can make it seal-proof,’’ said Dr. Wiesman, who has started twice-weekly conference calls with the chief health officers in every state and territory to share tips and seek advice on how to manage the shifting challenges of the coronavirus response. While enforcing total compliance with isolation orders may not be possible, Dr. Wiesman said, “We have to try for 80 to 85 percent, and hopefully that will work.’’

Federal authorities are in charge of setting guidelines to manage the danger, such as deciding how much risk a returning traveler poses and who should be tested for the coronavirus. But the day-to-day work putting those policies in place and tracking thousands of people falls to the vast, decentralized network of local health departments across the country. Travelers’ data, culled from federal customs officials, is passed on to state health agencies, who farm out lists of people returning from China to local health departments.

In the Chicago area, public health officials are using an electronic monitoring system originally developed to track the measles to monitor more than 200 travelers. Each day, they receive a link asking their temperature and symptoms.

The costs associated with containing the virus have reached more than $150,000 a week for the Chicago public health department alone, according to its commissioner, Dr. Allison Arwady. Among the costs: $17,000 for a quarantine facility at an undisclosed location for people who can’t isolate themselves at home. So far, fewer than five people have used it, she said.

“If you are quarantining them under a legal order, you have to think about food, their medications, their communication needs and their mental health,” she said.

Some jurisdictions have negotiated with hotels to host people who may harbor the virus. Washington State has RV’s.

Ruth Jones, public health commissioner in Quincy, Mass., a town of about 100,000 people south of Boston, says that her department has been receiving lists of between three and 10 people each day who are returning from China and are being asked to stay isolated from other people. Quincy’s two public health nurses and two translators have been working long hours to call them and make sure they understand how to monitor and report any symptoms.

“It’s overtime for our nurses,’’ Ms. Jones said. “It’s been extremely busy,”

Local officials in places that have had confirmed cases have been under particular strain. In Madison and Dane County, Wis., a local health staff of 160 has been forced to rearrange its operation to focus on monitoring anyone who may have been exposed to a resident who tested positive for the virus after falling ill and remains in self-isolation.

“We’re in this new normal, but it’s not normal,” said Janel Heinrich, the county’s director of public health.

Along with monitoring individuals who are seen as at risk of having been exposed to the virus, state and local health officials have been scrambling to prepare for worst case scenarios in the months ahead. State officials in Washington said they will hold a webinar next week to brief school superintendents on best practices for cleaning and planning for home schooling should schools need to shut down.

“People are doing contingency planning,’’ said Julie Sullivan-Springhetti, spokeswoman for the Multnomah County Health Department in Oregon, which has devoted resources to preparing a regional hospital system for a potential case. “Just like we plan for the Cascadia earthquake, which may or may not happen in our lifetime.”

As for the returning passengers from the Westerdam, the cruise ship, passengers at first thought they had no reason to worry about the coronavirus because no one on the ship had traveled through mainland China during the outbreak. But after passengers began leaving the ship to head home, an 83-year-old woman was reported to have tested positive on a layover in Malaysia, creating confusion and chaos.

Erin Carney, 70, a retired nurse and midwife from Mendocino County, Calif., flew out on the same flight as the woman who was reported to have tested positive, though questions have been raised about that finding and the C.D.C. has since said that other passengers do not need to isolate themselves.

Given the initial reports of a positive test, Ms. Carney called hospitals to figure out what she and her partner should do.

“The person that we spoke to read the C.D.C. guidelines and thought that everything seemed fine and we didn’t have to self-quarantine,” Ms. Carney said. “They said, ‘If you have symptoms, go see your doctor.’”

But then a nurse from the Mendocino County Health and Human Services Department called Ms. Carney. She recommended that they quarantine themselves at home, and offered to supply groceries.

“We had kind of talked about doing that anyway,” Ms. Carney said. “They’ve called every day since.”

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Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs contributed reporting.

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With 4 Deaths in Iran and More Cases on 3 Continents, Fears of Coronavirus Pandemic Rise

Health officials called the surge in reported infections “very worrisome,” as cases soared in South Korea. Europe and North America reported a big uptick in infections.

By Vivian Wang, Donald G. McNeil Jr., Farnaz Fassihi and Steven Lee Myers| Published Feb. 21, 2020 Updated Feb. 22, 2020, 12:52 a.m. ET | New York Times |

HONG KONG — An alarming surge of new coronavirus cases outside China, with fears of a major outbreak in Iran, is threatening to transform the contagion into a global pandemic, as countries around the Middle East scrambled to close their borders and continents so far largely spared reported big upticks in the illness.

In Iran, which had insisted as recently as Tuesday that it had no cases, the virus may now have reached most major cities, including Tehran, and has killed at least four people, according to health officials. Already, cases of travelers from Iran testing positive for the virus have turned up in Canada and Lebanon.

The number of cases also soared in South Korea, with the sudden spread tied to a secretive church where hundreds of congregants attended services with numerous people infected with the virus.

The United States now has 34 cases, with more expected, and Italy experienced a spike from three cases to 17 and ordered mandatory quarantine measures.

“The cases that we see in the rest of the world, although the numbers are small, but not linked to Wuhan or China, it’s very worrisome,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said Friday at a news conference at the agency’s headquarters in Geneva. “These dots are actually very concerning.”

As uneasiness about the breadth and duration of the outbreak grew, stocks fell for the second straight day on Friday amid worries the virus would drag down global demand and hurt the world economy.

The disturbing reports out of Tehran suggested the virus was being transmitted far more widely there than officials had previously acknowledged. While the country’s health officials confirmed only 18 cases by Friday, the number of deaths indicates the total is likely to be far higher.

Four reported deaths probably mean at least 200 cases, said Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. If the virus kills about 2 percent of known victims, as Chinese doctors have reported, then the number of deaths can be multiplied by 50 to get a rough case estimate, he explained.

“People don’t die right away of this virus — it usually takes two or three weeks after cases start to spread for the first death,” Mr. Osterholm said. “So there may be a lot more cases, and a lot more deaths on the way. And we didn’t even know there was a problem in Iran before yesterday.”

Minou Mohrez, who is on the infectious disease committee of the Iranian Health Ministry, told the official IRNA news agency on Friday that it was clear the virus was spreading across Iran’s cities.

“A coronavirus epidemic has started in the country,” she said. “It’s possible that it exists in all cities in Iran.”

A spokesman for the Health Ministry, Kianush Jahanpur, said on Friday there were more than 735 people hospitalized with flulike symptoms who were being tested for the virus.

Kuwait’s civil aviation authority on Friday stopped all flights to and from Iran, which shares a long border with both Afghanistan and Iraq, where health officials have a limited capacity to stop the spread of the virus should it find its way to those countries.

Dr. Sylvie Briand, the director of infectious hazards management for the W.H.O., said the rapid increase in cases in Iran was disquieting.

“We are wondering what the extent of the outbreak in Iran is,” she told reporters on Friday. “We are wondering about the potential for more cases to be exported in the coming days. We want all countries to be aware of this and to put in place detailed measures to pick up these cases as early as possible.”

As concern grew that Iran was emerging as an important new vector of transmission, the country where the coronavirus originated was also responding to significant negative developments.

Officials in China, already straining to deal with an outbreak that has infected more than 76,000 people and resulted in 2,300 deaths, announced a new front in its war on the virus on Friday as officials reported clusters of infections in at least four prisons in three provinces.

The outbreaks, affecting at least 512 prisoners and guards, raised the specter of the disease spreading through the country’s extensive prison system.

More than 200 of the infections occurred in one prison in the city of Jining, 450 miles east of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province and the center of the outbreak; officials there suggested that the cluster may have been tied to a prison guard.

In South Korea, the total number of cases surpassed 340 on Saturday morning, and the authorities were racing to trace all the people who had come in contact with members of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. Members of that church, along with their relatives and others who got the virus from them, account for more than half of the country’s confirmed infections.

More than 1,250 other church members have reported potential symptoms, health officials said, raising the possibility that the nation’s caseload could skyrocket.

As of Saturday, more than 700 members of Shincheonji, which mainstream South Korean churches consider a cult, still could not be reached, according to health officials, who were hoping to screen them for signs of infection.

In response, the government is shutting thousands of day-care facilities and community centers, even banning the outdoor political rallies that are a feature of life in downtown Seoul.

All four virus-related deaths in Iran occurred in Qom, a holy city popular with Shiite pilgrims across the Middle East.

People have already tested positive in Qom, Tehran and Gilan, near the Caspian Sea, said Mr. Jahanpur, the Health Ministry spokesman.

“Most of these people were residents of Qom or they had traveled to Qom in the past days or weeks,” he said.

In Qom, schools and religious seminaries were shut down on Thursday as officials urged people to avoid gathering in large groups. But on Friday, as Iranians went to vote in parliamentary elections, polling stations were open and the communal pools of ink for people to dip their fingers proving they voted were in wide use.

With rumors spreading across the country on instant messaging services like Telegram, a confused and increasingly worried public watched as Tehran’s largest metro station was suddenly closed. Workers wearing protective gear descended on the station, apparently responding to reports of sick commuters. It remained closed Friday night.

There was growing skepticism over the government’s handling of the outbreak. Mahmoud Sadeghi, an outspoken member of Parliament from Tehran, accused the government of “covering up the spread of an epidemic.”

While the source of the outbreak in Iran could not be pinned down, officials speculated that it began in the large population of Chinese workers in the country.

Critics accused the government of playing down the disease, and failing to take strict precautions to prevent its arrival in the country, in order to avoid provoking China, a key trading partner and a lifeline for Iran’s economy in the face of U.S. sanctions.

The sanctions against Iran could hamper its ability to contain the spread of the virus and diminish the country’s ability to mobilize international support.

“Iran does have problems accessing specialized medication for rare and special diseases because of sanctions — either private companies or banks refuse to work with Iran in fear of U.S. secondary sanctions,” said Tara Sepehri Far, an Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The new global clusters showed, again, the difficulty in judging the true number of infections, amid concerns about underreporting and rapidly shifting definitions of confirmed cases.

Further bolstering the idea that the virus is spreading widely, an epidemiological modeling team from Imperial College in London estimated Friday that two-thirds of the people infected with coronavirus who left mainland China before restrictions were imposed had traveled throughout the world without being detected.

The team, one of several modeling groups regularly consulted by the W.H.O., calculated how many cases were detected in different countries and how many should have been detected based on flights that left Wuhan just before most air travel out of China ended.

Detection failures “potentially resulted in multiple chains of as-yet-undetected human-to-human transmission,” the modeling team’s study concluded.

The virus is spreading even in places that might be expected to have the closest monitoring and prevention. In Beijing, a spike in cases at two hospitals raised fears that the epidemic could be growing in a city so far largely exempt from extensive infections.

The infections — and in some cases, deaths — of medical workers have become a potent symbol of the epidemic’s toll for many Chinese. On Thursday, another doctor in Wuhan died. The doctor, Peng Yinhua, 29, had postponed his wedding to continue treating patients, according to local news reports.

Earlier this week, a high-profile doctor, Liu Zhiming, the director of the Wuchang Hospital in Wuhan, died.

The almost random nature of new reports and new deaths is an indication the virus is moving much faster than countries are reporting to the W.H.O., Dr. Osterholm said.

“How many of these clusters and travel cases and prison outbreaks do we have to see before we realize that we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg?” he said. “Testing is just getting set up around the world. There’s barely any in Africa right now. Even in the U.S., we’re testing travel cases — but we’re not testing in any meaningful way that will pick up cases that we didn’t suspect were there.”

_____

Vivian Wang reported from Hong Kong, Donald G. McNeil Jr. and Farnaz Fassihi from New York, and Steven Lee Myers from Beijing. Marc Santora contributed reporting from London and Choe Sang-Hun from Seoul, South Korea.

*********

[cardamomoespeciado]

In Southern China, Guangzhou (Guangdong Province), discrimination against African-born people related to the new coronavirus became more serious, and rebound from African countries that had built a honeymoon relationship with China spread. However, many African countries have vulnerable medical systems, and China's support is essential for preventing infections, so their reaction is limited. With the spread of new coronavirus infections that started in China in Africa, the influence of China is also expanding.

◇ Prejudice against Africans

According to Hong Kong media and others, it was discovered in late March in Guangzhou that a Nigerian man who had just arrived in Japan was infected with the new coronavirus. On April 1st, when a man was placed in an isolated ward, he escaped by hitting and biting a nurse. Then, the authorities found it and gave it treatment under supervision. In addition, it was also found that four Nigerians who had been confirmed to have been in and out of restaurants in the city many times. There is a growing tendency among Chinese to be wary of Africans, and the hoax that "more than 1,000 Africans have been infected" has been swept away.

When Guangzhou City entered into April and tested 4,53 African people in the city for viruses, 111 people detected a positive reaction. Nineteen of them were found to have been infected outside China, prompting the locals to become more alert.

According to Reuters news agency, Africans were forced to leave their homes, and the hotel refused to stay. There were a lot of situations where you couldn't get food from any store.

This situation was spread on SNS, and the African media also regarded it as a problem. A Kenyan TV station said as a voice of the Kenyan people living in the country: ▽ The landlord was driven away for no reason ▽ The subway ride was refused ▽ Some pregnant women were refused medical examinations.

This time, the voice of repulsion against China increased on SNS, and the governments of African countries responded to it. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kenya announced a statement criticizing as "unfair behavior". In addition to the Nigerian and Ghanaian Foreign Ministry, the African Union (AU), which is a member of 55 countries and regions in Africa, called the local Chinese ambassadors. Raised concerns. Approximately 20 African nations blamed group inspections and quarantine measures for Africans as "equal to racial discrimination" and prepared a joint letter protesting to the Chinese government.

/> The Chinese side, who was wary of such movements, stated that "We will not discriminate against African brothers" (at the press conference on April 13, Zhao Jianken, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to extinguish the fire.

The business and trade markets of China, especially Guangzhou, have greater profits than Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. From around 2002, people from Africa started to gather in Guangzhou to buy Chinese products, and Yuexiu District of the city became an African residential area called “Little Africa”. On the other hand, because of cultural differences and misunderstandings, as well as the caution that "some Africans have problems with illegal stays," local Chinese have shunned the area.

◇ China's influence is expanding due to the spread of infection

-China and Africa have continued to strengthen their economic relations since the 2000 China-Africa Cooperation Forum Ministerial Meeting. China has promoted infrastructure development in various parts of Africa using its own companies and funds to raise the African economy. On the other hand, Africa has become an important partner for China in securing resources and developing new markets.

▽ Upon this new coronavirus infection, China sent medical supplies and human resources to African countries one after another as if to overwrite the problems that occurred in Guangzhou, and is strongly developing "mask diplomacy".

According to the German media “Deutsche Welle” (Chinese version), the arrival of containers from China with masks, ventilation devices, and protective clothing has been reported in African countries. Of these, Chinese doctors are acting as advisors in Ethiopia and Burkina Faso. The founder of the largest e-commerce (EC) Alibaba Group, Mr. Maun, and his foundation have sent large sums of money to many countries, including Rwanda and Cameroon.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the infection spread rapidly in Africa from around the end of March, and the number of infected people in Africa as of April 24 was 28,159.

Professor Stephen Chan (Politics and International Relations) of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, analyzes Deutsche Welle as saying that "All China supplies is short of Africa." There is no choice on the African side, and we believe that in order to survive the new coronavirus crisis, we will be forced to maintain closer ties with China more than ever.

[innonurse]

Perspectives from Kenya and Ghana on coronavirus preparations

- By Abdhalah Ziraba , Peter Kojo Quashie , The Conversation -

Chinese officials have identified a novel coronavirus which belongs to a family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases. Countries across the world have heightened their disease surveillance systems and, in some cases, issued travel advisories. The Conversation Africa asked experts from Ghana and Kenya about their preparedness.

What measures need to be put in place to contain the virus?

Abdhalah Ziraba, Kenya: Public health education, particularly for travellers and airport public health staff, is critical. National newspapers and broadcast channels, as well as various social media outlets, should be used. People in all countries, not just Kenya, need to be made aware of the symptoms which include fever, cough, difficulty breathing, sneezing, and body aches.

The other important intervention is to maintain vigilance at entry ports to screen for fever and vet travel histories, particularly incoming flights from China and the region. Kenya has announced that it will screen all passengers arriving from China and increased the levels of vigilance at all entry points.

All suspected cases need to be assessed further. A major consideration will be whether someone has a history of travelling from Wuhan, the Chinese epicentre of the outbreak, and other cities that have reported cases or being in contact with a person suspected of having the disease.

After being assessed, any suspected cases should be reported to the country’s health authorities immediately, and the subjects isolated and managed as per protocol.

Peter Kojo Quashie, Ghana: A number of measures need to be put in place. Due of the previous and ongoing response to Ebola, some measures are already in place.

Arriving passengers need to be screened for elevated temperatures. Those with high ones need to be quarantined

travel history needs to be established

Secure quarantine areas at airports and selected hospitals

Rapid testing protocols must be put in place

Port and airport health officials and everyone who will get in contact with travellers should be properly educated on how to behave and what personal protective equipment (PPE) is required.

On top of these, additional steps should include:

Routing passengers arriving from China and other South East Asian countries to another terminal or section, and screening them individually.

Continuous monitoring of passengers from China and South East Asia for at least a month as was done in some countries for people who returned from Ebola endemic regions. These travellers should be counselled on the need to avoid large crowds and non-essential contact with people.

It is important to establish health support for Ghanaians in China, especially in Wuhan. It is also imperative to keep track of Ghanaians in China, providing them support as well as knowing when they return.

What systems, already in place to deal with Ebola, will come in handy? What more needs to be done?

Abdhalah Ziraba, Kenya: Airport public health officials have got better at screening at ports of entry, especially for international arrivals. Basic screening is done using thermal cameras to detect fever. Kenyan officials have the equipment in hand and the trained personnel to swing into action fast.

Public health officials need to vigilant and have a high index of suspicion to be able to identify potential cases. They will then be able to flag travellers who seem unwell, more so if they have a matching travel history.

To support their work, public health authorities also need to mobilise a rapid surveillance and response team so that they can manage any suspected cases- including taking samples, isolation and reporting on developments.

Peter Kojo Quashie, Ghana: Temperature screening protocols have been in place since the onset of the 2014 Ebola crisis. I believe they need to be revisited to screen at a lower threshold (for example temperature > 37.5C) to avoid missing patients who are just beginning to show signs of the disease.

Scientists in the national influenza control lab at the University of Ghana have written standard operating procedures and testing protocols to allow for rapid laboratory detection of this new virus. This effort, in collaboration with Ghana Health Service, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the West African Health Organisation, has been ongoing since the virus was first detected.

Steps that were effective during the Ebola crisis and helped reduce the spread of the virus included hand washing, as well as educating the public about what precautions they have to take for their personal and public health.

What lessons can African countries bring to bear given their experience of handling outbreaks like Ebola?

Abdhalah Ziraba, Kenya: Many countries are now readying themselves to mount a response bringing together specialists and other players from different sectors with centralised coordinating. Several countries also have epidemic outbreak response plans in place, as well as resources and facilities to deal with situations like this. But the comprehensiveness of these varies greatly.

Finally, with lessons from the Ebola, SAR and MERS outbreaks, there is a greater ability to coordinate a response and to keep the public accurately informed. This prevents a panic situation that often fuels the spread of outbreaks. Public health authorities are now more likely to avoid knee jerk interventions not supported by evidence. These can often be counterproductive, as was the case with the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Peter Kojo Quashie, Ghana: There are significant differences between the Ebola virus and this coronavirus. First, the spread of Ebola was limited to villagers who crossed border freely, health workers, and a few immigrants who visited their villages and then returned. Second, it is transmissible by bodily fluids, and requires direct contact with an infected individual or surface.

If the latest coronavirus virus is transmitted like MERS or SARS, then it transmits like a the common cold. It is therefore likely to be much more infectious than Ebola.

Fortunately, the preparedness of most African countries were not tested during the West African Ebola epidemic. Unfortunately, that means infection control protocols were never challenged.

In terms of a rapid laboratory diagnosis, we have protocols in place and skilled laboratory personnel. But we have to effectively isolate the risk. That’s the part that must continuously be worked on and reworked.

We should look at how countries like Canada managed to track down infected people and keep the SARS epidemic in check in 2003. In addition, the WHO protocols published in 2004 for SARS will be more effective than protocols for Ebola. Lessons learned from the still ongoing MERS epidemic would be useful, as well as understanding the issues of stigma and cultural issues that are the main challenges of the response to Ebola in Africa.

Other things to consider are the fact that, unlike SARS and unlike Ebola, there are reports that patients infected with 2019-nCoV are infectious even during the incubation period, before they get a fever. This would mean that temperature screening won’t work. What would be required is stronger, and different, terminal and individualised screening.

But there are a few recommendations for personal safety that were effective during the SARS and Ebola outbreak. These included avoiding large crowds and stuffy areas as well as not shaking hands. Health sector workers should used enhanced personal protective equipment and change gloves regularly. Finally, masks can help. But they should be changed regularly and disposed of safely.

Lastly, if you have cold or flu-like symptoms and have been in contact with travellers from China, alert public health officials and avoid non-essential contact with others.

Abdhalah Ziraba, Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research Center and Peter Kojo Quashie, Senior Research Fellow,West African Institute for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens, University of Ghana

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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[indiarightnow]

Many African Countries Toughen Covid Restrictions as Fourth Wave Spreads

Many African Countries Toughen Covid Restrictions as Fourth Wave Spreads

NAIROBI, Kenya — In just the past three weeks, the percentage of Kenyans who tested positive for the coronavirus jumped from less than 1 percent to more than 30 percent — the country’s highest positivity rate yet. In Uganda, nearly 50 lawmakers and their staff members, some of them vaccinated, tested positive this week after attending a sports tournament in neighboring Tanzania. And in Zimbabwe,…

[reportwire]

Many African Countries Toughen Covid Restrictions as Fourth Wave Spreads

Many African Countries Toughen Covid Restrictions as Fourth Wave Spreads

NAIROBI, Kenya — In just the past three weeks, the percentage of Kenyans who tested positive for the coronavirus jumped from less than 1 percent to more than 30 percent — the country’s highest positivity rate yet. In Uganda, nearly 50 lawmakers and their staff members, some of them vaccinated, tested positive this week after attending a sports tournament in neighboring Tanzania. And in Zimbabwe,…

[yessadirichards]

Berlin Marathon returns after break with 25,000 participants

BERLIN

It already promises to be a Berlin Marathon unlike any other.

The world’s fastest marathon returns on Sunday after its forced one-year absence. Organizers are claiming it is the biggest marathon in the world since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Some 25,000 runners are registered to take part amid strict hygiene measures, down from a record 43,987 finishers in 2019. Participants must be either fully vaccinated, recovered from COVID-19, or have a negative PCR test result. Spectators along the 42.2-kilometer (26-mile, 385-yard) route are being asked to keep their distance and wear face masks as they watch.

For the elite athletes, the Berlin Marathon is a chance for personal glory on a course where more world records have been set than any other.

Ethiopia’s Hiwot Gebrekidan is favored in the women’s race after winning Milan this year with a personal best of 2:19:35 – the fastest time any woman has run a marathon in 2021.

Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele is the favorite for the men’s race. He came within two seconds of beating the record when he won the 2019 event in 2 hours, 1 minute, 41 seconds. Bekele, now 39, also won in 2016.

Compatriots Guye Adola, Tadu Abate, Olika Adugna, Tesfaye Lencho all have personal bests under 2:07, as do Kenyan rivals Eliud Kiptanui, Philemon Kacheran, Festus Talam, Michael Njenga and Japan’s Hidekazu Hijikata.

Two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge set the world record of 2:01:39 in Berlin’s race in 2018. It was the seventh time the record was lowered in the German capital since Khalid Khannouchi’s then record of 2:05:38 at the London Marathon in 2002.

[nipashe411]

Covid-19: Kenya cases rise to 700 Kenya's confirmed coronavirus cases have risen to 700 after 28 more people tested positive, Health Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Rashid Aman has said today.

[bountyofbeads]

Coronavirus Travel Restrictions, Across the Globe https://nyti.ms/2Wdr0kk

CORONAVIRUS TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS, ACROSS THE GLOBE.... Nations across the world have imposed travel restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Here, the current list of countries limiting entry.

By Ernesto Londoño and Aimee Ortiz |

Published March 14, 2020 Updated March 15, 2020, 3:42 p.m. ET | New York Times | Posted March 15, 2020 |

Countries across the world have imposed travel restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus. This list, pulled from official government reports and the United States State Department, will be updated as new measures are announced.

AFRICA

KENYA 🇰🇪

On March 15, the Kenyan government announced the suspension of all travelers from countries that have reported Covid-19 cases. Only Kenyan citizens will be allowed into the country “with self quarantine or government-designated facility,” officials said on Twitter. The measure is in place for 30 days.

“All who arrived within the last 14 days must self quarantine,” officials added.

MOROCCO 🇲🇦

As of March 15, the Moroccan government has suspended all flights to Algeria, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, as well as passenger ferry services. The government also shut down the land borders with Ceuta and Melilla, the autonomous Spanish territories on the coast of Morocco.

Travelers arriving in Morocco “will be asked to fill out a health questionnaire on arrival and may be subject to temperature and other screening,” according to officials.

AMERICA'S

ARGENTINA 🇦🇷

Starting March 17, Argentina is halting all flights from Europe and the United States for at least 30 days.

People arriving to Argentina from areas with a significant number of cases — including the United States, Europe, South Korea, Japan and Iran — will be required to go into quarantine for 14 days.

BRAZIL 🇧🇷

As of March 14, Brazil had not imposed travel restrictions. Its health ministry recommended that all passengers who arrive on international flights remain at home for at least seven days and seek medical help if they develop coronavirus symptoms.

CANADA 🍁

Canada has not banned the entry of any foreigners. But it has required that anyone arriving in Canada from Hubei Province in China, Italy or Iran “self-isolate and stay at home” for 14 days and contact public health authorities within 24 hours of arrival.

The government added that all other passengers returning from overseas consider self-isolating for 14 DAYS.

COLOMBIA 🇨🇴

The government announced on March 13 that it would shut down the seven border crossings along its border with Venezuela. Starting March 16, Colombia will bar entry to any foreigner who has been to Europe or Asia within the past 14 days. Colombians who return from affected areas will be subject to mandatory quarantine for 14 days.

EL SALVADOR

On March 11, El Salvador announced it would bar entry to all foreigners, except accredited diplomats and legal permanent residents.

GUATEMALA 🇬🇹

Effective March 16, Guatemala will bar the entry of citizens of the United States, Canada, South Korea, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, China and Iran.

MEXICO 🇲🇽

As of March 14, Mexico had not imposed any travel restrictions.

PERU 🇵🇪

Peru on March 12 announced it would halt all flights from Asia and Europe, but it did not specify when the measure would take effect.

UNITED STATES🇺🇲

On March 11 the United States barred the entry of all foreign nationals who had visited China, Iran and a group of European countries during the previous 14 days.

The ban applies to countries in the Schengen Area, which are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Effective March 16, the ban will apply to foreign nationals departing from the United Kingdom and Ireland.

As of March 13, all American citizens and legal permanent residents who have been in high-risk areas and return to the United States are required to fly to one of the following 13 airports:

Boston-Logan International Airport (BOS), Massachusetts

Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), Illinois

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Texas

Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW), Michigan

Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL), Hawaii

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Georgia

John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), New York

Los Angeles International Airport, (LAX), California

Miami International Airport (MIA), Florida

Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), New Jersey

San Francisco International Airport (SFO), California

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), Washington

Washington-Dulles International Airport (IAD), Virginia

URUGUAY 🇺🇾

On March 13, Uruguay announced that all passengers arriving from China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Iran, Spain, Italy, France and Germany must go into mandatory quarantine for 14 days.

VENEZUELA 🇻🇪

On March 12, Venezuela announced it would suspend all flights from Colombia and European countries for at least a month.

ASIA

CHINA 🇨🇳

Travelers in China who have recently visited South Korea, Japan and Italy — countries with “severe outbreaks” — and are headed toward Beijing or Shanghai, or provinces such as Guangdong and Sichuan, will be quarantined for two weeks in a Chinese facility.

INDIA 🇮🇳

As of March 13, the Indian government suspended most travel and tourism visas, with the exception of “diplomatic, official, U.N. or International Organizations, employment and project visas” until April 15.

Additionally, the country is enforcing a two-week quarantine on all passengers, including Indian nationals, “arriving from or having visited China, Italy, Iran, Republic of Korea, France, Spain and Germany” after Feb. 15.

JAPAN 🇯🇵

As of March 15, Japan had banned entry for foreign travelers with Chinese passports issued by Hubei/Zhejiang Provinces as well as those who had visited regions in China that have affected by the virus, South Korea, Iran or Italy within the last 14 days.

SINGAPORE 🇸🇬

As of March 15, “all new visitors with recent travel history to France, Germany, Italy and Spain within the last 14 days will not be allowed entry into or transit through Singapore,” according to officials.

Singapore residents and pass-holders who have been to those countries in the past 14 days will be issued a “Stay-Home Notice,” which will require them to quarantine for two weeks.

SOUTH KOREA

South Korea has restricted the entry of travelers with passports from China’s Hubei Province as well as anyone who has visited that region in the past 14 days. Additionally, Korean visas that were issued to travelers in Hubei are canceled.

Visa-free entry to Jeju Island for all foreigners, as well as visa-free entry for Chinese nationals and travelers who are headed to China, are both suspended.

THAILAND 🇹🇭

As of March 12, travelers from China, Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Italy and Iran who are headed to Thailand need to present a health certificate confirming a negative coronavirus test when checking in before their flight. These travelers must also show proof of insurance with coverage of at least $100,000.

All passengers arriving in Thailand will need to answer a questionnaire and their temperatures will be taken. Anyone transiting the restricted countries for less than 12 hours will not have to present a certificate or fill out the questionnaire, but they will be subject to enhanced screening.

As of March 13, according to officials, “travelers entering the Kingdom of Thailand who have been in the United States within the prior 14 days are subject to self-monitoring and reporting requirements.”

VIETNAM 🇻🇳

As ofMarch 15, Vietnam will refuse visitors from Europe’s Schengen Area and Britain, according to officials.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

🇦🇺 AUSTRALIA

On March 15, the Australian government announced that all international arrivals will have to self-isolate for 14 days and that cruise ships arriving from foreign ports will be banned for 30 days.

NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand announced tight border control measures on March 14 that include requiring all incoming travelers, including its own citizens, to self-isolate for two weeks.

ISRAEL 🇮🇱

Since March 12, foreign travelers, including United States citizens, who arrived in Israel from any country have been “required to remain in home quarantine until 14 days have passed since the date of entry into Israel.”

The quarantine also applies to Israeli citizens and residents. Self-quarantine in a hotel or dormitory is not allowed.

EUROPE

AUSTRIA 🇦🇹

Citizens from countries outside the European Union who have been in coronavirus hot spots, which the Austrian Foreign Ministry currently lists as France, Iran, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and parts of China in the past 14 days will have to present a medical certificate confirming a negative test result for the new coronavirus upon entry to the country. The Austrian government also announced that all passengers, regardless of citizenship, will also have to provide a certificate confirming a negative test result if they’re entering Austria from Italy, Switzerland and Liechtenstein (from March 16).

The certificate, which must be dated within four days of arrival, needs to be signed by a licensed medical practitioner and be in English, German, Italian or French.

🇭🇷 CROATIA

Travelers arriving in Croatia from specific hard-hit areas, such as Italy, Iran and China’s Hubei province, must spend two weeks in government quarantine facilities at the expense of the traveler, according to officials.

The Croatian government also implemented health monitoring for passengers from several countries affected by the virus like Spain, the United States and Sweden. Travelers from these countries should self-isolate for two weeks, according to officials, “and report their condition to the nearest epidemiologist for further instructions.”

CZECH REPUBLIC

The Czech Republic, which declared a state of emergency, has banned passengers from “high risk countries” and prohibited Czech citizens from visiting these places.

As of March 14, bus, train and boat transport from the Czech Republic to Germany and Austria was also banned. Air travel was also partially restricted, according to officials.

🇩🇰 DENMARK

Denmark closed its borders to most foreign travelers for the next month as of March 14.

“All tourists, all travel, all vacations, and all foreigners who cannot demonstrate a credible reason to enter Denmark will be denied entrance at the Danish border,” Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister, said at a news conference, according to Reuters.

🇩🇪 GERMANY

Starting March 16, Germany will close its borders with Austria, Denmark, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland, the country’s interior minister said on March 15.

🇮🇹 ITALY

In Italy, where the virus has taken hold and already killed more than 1,000 people, government officials implemented strict orders placing the country on lockdown in an attempt to stop the spreading infection.

As of March 3, passengers with a temperature higher than 99.5 degrees were not allowed to board flights to the United States.

All travelers flying into Italy are subject to temperature screening in Italy’s major airports, and the country has suspended flights from China and Taiwan.

🇳🇱 NETHERLANDS

On March 13, the Dutch government announced the suspension of flights from “risk countries” — mainland China, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy and South Korea. The ban is in place through at least March 27.

🇳🇴 NORWAY

On March 12 the Norwegian Directorate of Health said that regardless of whether they have symptoms or not, anyone coming into Norway from outside Nordic countries should be quarantined at home for two weeks from their arrival. The measure is set to last through March 26.

On March 13, the municipality for Oslo, the nation’s capital, said on its website that “foreign travelers from countries outside the Nordics arriving at Oslo airport will have to return home.” Reuters reported.

🇵🇱 POLAND

As of March 15, Poland will ban foreigners from the country, suspend international air and rail services for citizens and border controls will be temporarily restored, the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland said on Twitter. All Polish citizens returning from abroad must voluntarily quarantine for two weeks, according to officials.

🇷🇺 RUSSIA

The Russian government banned entry of Chinese nationals, except for transit, on Feb. 20, and on Feb. 28 it banned the entry of all Iranian citizens. On March 1, Russia restricted travel by South Koreans, mandating they enter the country only via Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow. As of March 13, the government banned Italian citizens from entry into Russia.

“Effective March 16, air travel between Russia and countries of the European Union, Norway, and Switzerland will be limited to flights between Moscow and capital cities,” according to officials.

On March 14, Russian officials announced plans to close the country’s land border with Poland and Norway to foreigners, according to Reuters.

Slovakia 🇸🇰

The Slovak Republic closed all three international airports on March 12, and since March 13, “all the persons coming to Slovakia from abroad are obliged to remain in quarantine for 14 days.”

Additionally, international bus and rail travel have been suspended, according to officials.

Ukraine 🇺🇦

On March 14, Ukraine announced the suspension of all commercial passenger travel, including flights, trains and buses, to and from Ukraine, starting March 17. The Ukrainian government said all foreigners would be barred from entering the country starting March 16.

______

If you know of a travel restriction that should be on this list, please email us, including an official source, at travel@nytimes.com.

*********

[globalnewsafrica]

Four Kenyan football players tests positive for Covid-19 in Togo.

Four Kenyan football players tests positive for Covid-19 in Togo.

Kenyan team Harambee Stars has suffered a big blow following the suspension of its four key players who tested positive for coronavirus. The team led by its coach Ghost Mulee is in Togo in their 2022 Afcon qualifier match against the hosts. The team captain Michael Olunga, Joash Onyango (defender), Lawrence Juma (midfielder), and the goalkeeper Ian Otieno will miss the match. The team left the…

[covid19updater]

COVID19 Updates: 03/29/2021

World:  WHO'S TEDROS SAYS IT HAS RECEIVED EXPERTS REPORT ON ORIGINS OF VIRUS, WILL ISSUE PUBLICLY ON TUESDAY AFTER BRIEFING DIPLOMATS.  WHO'S TEDROS SAYS WILL DISCUSS NEXT STEPS WITH MEMBER STATES AFTER VIRUS ORIGIN REPORT, ALL HYPOTHESES ARE ON THE TABLE AND WARRANT FURTHER STUDY

US:  Shots Fired “We’ve got real concerns about the methodology and the process that went into that (WHO covid) report, including the fact that the government in Beijing apparently helped to write it.” - Sec State Tony Blinken

World:  #Breaking now from @ap: Joint WHO-China study on how #COVID19 started says transmission from bats to humans through another animal is most likely.  Adds a lab leak of the coronavirus is “extremely unlikely.” (More lies from WHO)

World:  A clotting disorder may cloud the world's hopes for AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine LINK

Philippines:  Philippines reports record daily rise of 10,016 #coronavirus cases: WSAU

US:  U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL DIRECTOR WALENSKY SAYS U.S. SURPASSED 30M COVID CASES SUNDAY ||  SAYS COVID DEATHS HAVE STARTED TO RISE

US:  Covid Hospital Cases Rise in 25 States as CDC Sees Fourth Wave LINK

UK:  Secret filming at a major UK Covid testing lab reveals poor working practices that could lead to people getting an incorrect test result LINK

Kenya: Kenyan capital, 4 other counties in lockdown as virus cases surge LINK

Spain:  Spain's rising COVID-19 rate gathers pace LINK

Pakistan:  Pakistan's president tests positive for COVID-19 LINK (so, both President and Prime Minister are positive)

Canada:  Canada suspends the use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine in those under 55

US:  CDC director warns of COVID-induced 'impending doom' as cases, hospitalizations increase LINK

US:  Researchers discovered two mutant strains of #SARSCoV2 emerged last summer in U.S. mink -- that came FROM people TO the animals. The mutations are unique, unlike human variants. This is a preprint, implications bear further scrutiny. LINK

World:  A very clear shift': Younger people getting sicker, faster with COVID, doctors say LINK

[newscheckz]

Kenya Pipeline Company: Pushing Boundaries and Soaring

New Post has been published on https://newscheckz.com/kenya-pipeline-company-pushing-boundaries-and-soaring/

Kenya Pipeline Company: Pushing Boundaries and Soaring

Inadequate infrastructure has been blamed for the slow pace of commercialization of crude oil in Kenya as the country seeks about $5 billion (Sh500 billion) to develop and expand fuel facilities.

One state parastatal however is now banking on its vast infrastructure countrywide to foster the future of energy.

Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) is the country’s prime institution charged with the mandate to enhance, operate and maintain pipeline infrastructure in Kenya.

Now, the oil distribution company seeks to grow in scale as it leverages its comparative advantage in the oil and gas niche.

KPC operates 5 storage and distribution depots for imported refined petroleum products, located in Eldoret, Kisumu, Nakuru, Nairobi and Mombasa and which feed from the Kipevu Oil Storage Facility (KOSF)  in Mombasa.

The company also operates two aviation fuel depots at  Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, and  Moi International Airport, Mombasa.

The company is mandated to transport petroleum products from Mombasa to the hinterland, and through this mandate generates revenue for the Government of Kenya through dividends and taxes.

Unlike some State corporations, KPC does not depend on government subsidies, but is a self-funded commercial enterprise.

OIL

Oil mishandling and pollution can have devastating effects on the environment, and in cases of spillage, it can spread over any surface in a thin film thereby suffocating living organisms beneath.

KPC, however, has been at the forefront of maintaining international standards and quality of oil, mitigating oil-related incidents and setting rules and regulations that govern transportation and usage of petroleum products in the country since its inception in 1978.

As part of its expanding role in the oil and gas subsector, KPC leased Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited (KPRL) in 2017 and has continue to develop the facility to receive trucked crude oil from the Lokichar Basin which culminated in the first ever crude oil export from East Africa.

The company’s growing investments in KPRL include rehabilitation of crude oil tanks, receipt and discharge pipelines and the connection to the new oil jetty at Kipevu Oil Terminal (KOT). This will culminate in the full acquisition of the facility slated for the current fiscal year 2020/21.

SAFETY

KPC has state-of-the-art product testing laboratories meant for testing all petroleum products before they are admitted into its system.

This ensures all such products meet the applicable international quality standards which translates into safe handling and use by consumers.

The company transports products through pipelines built to international standards; a safe mode of transportation aimed at limiting product exposure to the surroundings.

While within the depots, products are handled in storage facilities fitted with advanced fire detection and protection systems to ensure their safety.

In addition, customer trucks that lift products from KPC depots are subjected to thorough safety inspections as a means of ensuring they are safe to handle such highly flammable products.

Those found not to conform to standards are prevented from accessing depots because they would not only be unsafe to handle petroleum products, but also pose a danger to the depots KPC operates and owns.

TRANSPORTATION AND LOGISTICS

In a bid to ensure that KPC alongside other key government parastatals runs smoothly, His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta issued Executive Order No. 5 of 2020 on 7th August, 2020 establishing a framework for the management, coordination and integration of port, railway and pipeline services under the Kenya Transport and Logistics Network (KTLN).

The network brings together Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) and Kenya Pipeline Company Limited (KPC) under the co-ordination of the Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC).

This joint agreement will establish a unified and coordinated national transport and logistics network whose aim is to lower the cost of doing business through the provision of port, rail and pipeline services in a cost-effective manner within acceptable shared benchmark standards.

The collaboration is expected to go a long way in bolstering the business relationship that has existed between KPA, KPC and KRC over decades.

KPC’s funding collaboration has also enabled the Kenya Railways Corporation, the Kenya Defence Forces and the National Youth Service rehabilitate the Nairobi-Nanyuki Railway, which is going to be transformative for the Mt Kenya and Northern Kenya regions.

In effect, the extra revenue generated by Kenya Pipeline has been used to partly fund the President’s Big 4 Agenda being: food security, affordable housing, manufacturing and affordable healthcare for all.

KPC, through special dividends remitted to the Exchequer, has contributed Sh1.8 billion for the Nairobi-Nanyuki railway refurbishment; Sh2.7 billion for the Nakuru-Kisumu railway line rehabilitation and Sh400 million for the Port of Kisumu upgrade.

It further remitted an extra Sh11.2 billion to the Government in the 2019/20 financial year. All this revenue contributes to stimulation of Kenya’s economic recovery and growth.

COVID-19 MEASURES

As the effects of Covid-19 ravaged the country, KPC rolled out a free sanitizer campaign. “Amidst the hard-economic times, we unburdened the poor and vulnerable members of our society from buying sanitizers.

The trust between us, the Oil Marketing Companies and other like-minded stakeholders ensured that we successfully rolled out the campaign.

We produced over 1.6 million litres of sanitizer which was distributed to the most vulnerable groups in all 47 counties,” said Dr. Irungu.

In addition, KPC donated Sh55 million to the National Youth Service to produce masks which went a long way in assisting the less fortunate access masks.

Over 1.5 million masks were produced and distributed to the most vulnerable groups in the society across the 47 counties in Kenya.

FIBRE-OPTIC CABLING

To keep up with the developments and rate of growth in the sector, KPC has embraced modern technologies and trends to ensure work is quicker, more efficient and secure.

According to Dr. Irungu, the Corporation has capitalized vastly on a modern 96 core fiber optic cable that is about 1,000 KMs long across the cable plant.

“This network cable runs along the company’s pipeline network from the port city of Mombasa to Nakuru where it branches off to both Eldoret and Kisumu.

We are licensed by the Communications Authority of Kenya to lease the fiber resource to telecommunications providers who in turn use it to carry data traffic through a Tier 2 Network Infrastructure License.

Our partners in the data carrier space include Safaricom PLC, Jamii Telecom, & Wananchi Telecom,” he mentioned.

The cable design is so flexible that it enables these telecommunication service providers to serve their clients in townships along the Mombasa-Nairobi-Nakuru-Eldoret & Kisumu commercial corridor and the surrounding areas comfortably without experiencing lagging and downtime.

Despite stiff competition in high speed internet provision in the region, KPC’s fiber cable offering remains the most sort after and secure over the competition’s due to its enhanced protection against damage or fiber cuts.

This is also coupled with the fact that it runs underground next to the oil pipeline thus making it highly available and extremely reliable for internet and other data services at 99% availability. 

MORENDAT INSTITUTE OF OIL AND GAS

Morendat Institute of Oil & Gas (MIOG), is a Centre of Excellence established through an EAC Heads of State Summit resolution to offer capacity building in oil pipeline management, operations and maintenance in the Great Lakes Region.

The institute embraces the competency-based education and training model which calls for 70% practical, and 30% theory training.

This methodology which embodies theoretical and skills-based training, offers programs which can be accessed both online and offline; thus it prepares and assesses trainees through real life, hands-on training.

Programs are embedded in two standard classrooms with more than 80 specialized training programs which can be accessed by between 24 to 30 students simultaneously.

The 80 programs contain 4,800 lessons and about 1,000 interactive experiments.

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted the smooth running of MIOG’s training schedule due to the need for social distancing.

The new normal occasioned by the coronavirus reality has compelled the Institute to embrace an online competency-based curriculum, despite other learning institutions having closed their educational facilities for almost a year.

The most affected courses were technical ones which cannot be considered complete without the trainees’ undergoing the actual hands-on training experience.

To ameliorate these effects, the Institute made use of its Smart Classroom technology which was introduced in 2019 and established in line with KPC’s Vision 2025 which aims at setting up an oil and gas investments hub in the region, thus entrenching Kenya as the gateway to East & Central Africa.

Among the online courses successfully conducted during the pandemic were: Workplace Safety, Health and Environment, Fundamentals of Oil and Gas Operations, permit to Work (PTW) Systems, and Domestic Safety.

MIOG is accredited by Technical, Vocational and Education Authority (TVETA) and complies with the Kenyan TVET Act, Curriculum Development Assessment and Certification Council (CDACC), and the National Qualification Authority (NQA) rules and regulations.

CORPORATE SOCIAL INVESTMENT

KPC has established strong Corporate Social Investment (CSI) programs where its collaborates closely with all the communities in Kenya, and especially those neighbouring our installations which include depots, pump stations and other facilities along our easement which stretches from Mombasa, traversing 14 Counties to Kisumu and Eldoret.

These CSI programs include a scholarship program famously known as “Inuka”, meant to benefit the needy and People Living with Disability (PWDs).

The twofold program; Inuka Social Empowerment Program, is aimed at enabling PWDs – access skills-based training and other economic opportunities; and the Inuka Scholarship Program enables PWDs access secondary level education.

Since its inception in 2016, the Company has consistently sponsored beneficiaries in all the 47 counties through the Inuka Scholarship Program, educating one child per county.

“Through the company’s CSR, we have been able to offer scholarship to children living with disabilities to access secondary school education.

I can happily confirm that we have enrolled a total of 188 girls and 188 boys under the special program,” said Dr Irungu.

Those who will successfully complete their secondary school education will continue to enjoy the company’s support until they achieve their aspirations in their chosen fields.

Through the scholarship program, KPC has spent approximately Sh52 million, translating to Sh14 million every year.

In addition, the Company has built a girls’ dormitory at Karare Secondary School in Marsabit County to retain girls in school where they are encouraged and mentored to take up science courses as well as motivate them to value education.

Considering that the locality in the past has considered girl-child education a waste of time and resources, this is a great feat.

Educational sponsorship is just one of many programs the company is supporting through its Foundation.

Such programs are aligned with focused areas as detailed in its CSI policy. These programs cover different sectors such as: education, health & environment, water and sanitation, sports for development and support for special groups, among others.

Other successful CSI projects include: Kochodin High School in Turkana County where KPC donated Kshs 10 Million towards the construction of a dormitory, two classrooms and two pit latrines.

This is in realization of an earlier promise by His Excellency, President Uhuru Kenyatta, to the people of Ngamia 1 in Turkana County.

At the cost of Sh5 Million, KPC also constructed a modern science laboratory at Lokitaung Girls High School in Turkana South.

This in line with the company’s policy to empower girls in science related subjects. Other key projects backed by the Company include the construction of four classrooms at Uswet Primary School the construction of a modern Library at Hema Secondary School in Kisii County, sponsorship of medical camps across the country as well as sponsoring various sports disciplines and clubs.

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Covid in Kenya - President Kenyatta's Full Speech

Covid in Kenya – President Kenyatta’s Full Speech

Fellow Kenyans, Today we mark exactly one year since Kenya recorded its first case of Covid-19 on March 12, 2020. That new global threat that was sweeping across the world had arrived at our doorstep. In its wake, the coronavirus disease has left our national consciousness wounded and scarred; every aspect of our life tested to the limit. As part of our national response; to contain the spread of…

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Covid-19: Kenya cases rise to 672 as 23 more test positive Kenya's coronavirus tally has risen to 672 after 23 people tested positive in the last 24 hours.

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The spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Africa is poorly described. The first case of SARS-CoV-2 in Kenya was reported on 12 March 2020, and an overwhelming number of cases and deaths were expected, but by 31 July 2020, there were only 20,636 cases and 341 deaths. However, the extent of SARS-CoV-2 exposure in the community remains unknown. We determined the prevalence of anti–SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G among blood donors in Kenya in April–June 2020. Crude seroprevalence was 5.6% (174 of 3098). Population-weighted, test-performance-adjusted national seroprevalence was 4.3% (95% confidence interval, 2.9 to 5.8%) and was highest in urban counties Mombasa (8.0%), Nairobi (7.3%), and Kisumu (5.5%). SARS-CoV-2 exposure is more extensive than indicated by case-based surveillance, and these results will help guide the pandemic response in Kenya and across Africa.