All 16 coronavirus sufferers cured

HANOI: All 16 people in Vietnam infected with a new coronavirus have been cured, the health ministry said on Tuesday, adding that no new cases have been recorded since Feb. 13.

The last known patient, a 50-year-old man infected by his daughter who returned from China’s central city of Wuhan, where the virus first emerged, has recovered and is in good condition, the ministry said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear when the last patient would be discharged from hospital.

Countries around the world are stepping up efforts to prevent a pandemic of the flu-like virus that has now infected more than 80,000 people, 10 times more cases than the SARS coronavirus.

Hubei had 499 new confirmed cases on Feb. 24, the National Health Commission said, up from 398 a day earlier. Mainland China reported 508 new cases, up from 409 on Feb. 23, bringing the total number to 77,658.

Italy on Monday became the new frontline in the fight against the coronavirus with 220 cases reported from just three on Friday. The death toll stands at seven.

Italy may need to call on the European Union to offer leeway on budget targets due to the outbreak, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Italian authorities have sealed off the worst-affected towns, closed schools and halted the carnival in Venice, where there were two cases.

The European Parliament advised staff to self-isolate if they have travelled to virus-hit regions of Northern Italy in the last 14 days, according to an email sent on Monday evening.

Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Afghanistan and Iraq reported their first virus cases, all in people who had been to Iran where the toll was 12 dead and 61 infected. Most of the Iran infections were in the Shi’ite Muslim holy city of Qom.

The number of coronavirus cases in South Korea rose to 893 on Tuesday, as health authorities said they plan to test potentially more than 200,000 members of a church at the epicenter of the outbreak.