EU raises risk of coronavirus infection as global deaths pass 3,000

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Benoît Tessier/Reuters

The level of risk of contracting coronavirus within Europe has been raised to moderate to high, as the global death toll swept past 3,000 and continued to rise.

“The virus is spreading very fast,” the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said after the latest assessment by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Indonesia, Russia, Ireland, Portugal, Jordan, Iceland, Tunisia, Senegal, Saudi Arabia and Andorra all confirmed their first cases as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warned global economic growth rates could be slashed.

Official statistics indicate that within the EU, the European economic area and the UK, 2,199 people have so far contracted the Covid-19. virus, of whom 38 have died. Across the world, some 89,000 are believed to be infected.

“While we should not give in to panic, the situation is likely to get worse,” the European commissioner for crisis management, Janez Lenarčič, said of the unfolding epidemic.

During a press conference in Brussels, Von der Leyen expressed her “full sympathy for those who are suffering” as she launched a coronavirus response team of commissioners to coordinate efforts to stem infection and deal with the economic fall out.

© Photograph: Benoît Tessier/Reuters Tourists wearing face masks outside the Louvre in Paris, which has remained closed amid fears over the coronavirus.

Paolo Gentiloni, a former Italian prime minister who is European commissioner for the economy, said the transport, tourism and carmakers were among the sectors most affected, adding that recent predictions of a “V-shaped” economic recovery from the epidemic, involving a sharp downturn and sharp recovery, could prove optimistic.

More than two months on, most cases and deaths from the virus are still confined to China, whose health commission reported 202 new infections on Monday – the lowest daily rise since late January – and 42 new deaths. All the fatalities were in the Hubei province.

But as the death toll in China crept up to 2,912, there were signs of the rate of infection speeding up elsewhere.

Amid fears that the real spread of infection in Iran may be much greater than is being acknowledged, governments and international organisations on Monday offered the Islamic Republic assistance fighting the epidemic.

The UN World Health Organisation sent its first planeload of assistance as the official death toll in Iran was raised to 66 – the highest outside China – with 1,501 confirmed cases.

Tehran rejected an offer from the US, which has subjected the country to tightening sanctions, but China announced it had sent a Chinese Red Cross team to help in epidemic prevention.

The German foreign ministry disclosed that France, Germany and the UK had also offered Iran a €5m package of assistance.

State radio reported that a 71-year-old member of the council advising Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had died on Monday and that other senior officials had tested positive, as 300,000 Iranian soldiers and volunteers were mobilised.

Around the Gulf region, 129 cases have been confirmed in the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.

Cases in the US rose to at least 76 with two deaths, both in Washington state. The second victim was a man in his 70s who died on Saturday in a nursing home where several other people are infected, local health authorities said. New York state also confirmed its first positive test.

South Korea, which has the highest number of infections outside China, reported 599 new cases, bringing its total to 4,335, with 26 deaths.

More than half of its infections have been linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a religious sect in the south-eastern city of Daegu. Its founder, Lee Man-hee, apologised and called the epidemic a “great calamity” on Monday, telling a news conference: “We did our best but were not able to stop the spread of the virus.

“I never thought this would happen, even in my dreams,” he said, bowing low twice in a traditional sign of humility and regret.

Several protesters shouted slurs at the reclusive leader, who spoke a day after the Seoul city government asked prosecutors to begin a murder investigation against him.

Australia reported two cases of person-to-person transmission, the first of its 33 confirmed cases.

In Italy, the European country most heavily impacted by the virus, infections have risen to 1,835 cases, with 52 fatalities.

All members of the local government of Lombardy, the region worst hit by the outbreak in northern Italy, will undergo tests after a councillor was found to have the illness.

The number of confirmed cases in France jumped from 100 to 130 in 24 hours, with a woman in her eighties who lived in Crepy-en-Valois, northeast of Paris, where a 60-year-old teacher died last week, becoming the third fatality.

The Louvre in Paris has remained closed after the museum’s staff exercised their “right to withdraw” their services.

In Spain, it was reported that the number of cases had doubled from Saturday to 120 on Monday, prompting Fernando Simón, the doctor coordinating the country’s response, to suggest the government could take action against the kissing of religious images.

There were four new cases in England reported on Monday bringing the total to 40 across the UK. Health officials in Ireland said they would decide on Monday whether to restrict mass gatherings, including the St Patrick’s Day festival as the leader of Sinn Fein, Mary Lou McDonald, said she would be staying at home after a pupil at her children’s school was diagnosed with the virus.