The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern at the number of coronavirus cases with no clear link to China or other confirmed cases.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’s comments follow Iran’s announcement of two more deaths, bringing the total there to four.
The window of opportunity to contain the virus was “narrowing”, he said.
Iranian health officials said the virus may already be in “all Iran’s cities”.
Outside China 1,152 cases of the virus have been confirmed in 26 countries and there have been eight deaths.
They include two deaths in South Korea, which has the biggest cluster of confirmed cases apart from China and a cruise ship quarantined in Japan.
An evacuation flight carrying 32 British and other European passengers has taken off from Japan and is due to land in England later on Saturday.
On Friday, doctors in Italy said a 78-year-old man became the first person in the country to die from the new coronavirus, Ansa news agency reported.
Earlier in the day Italy announced 16 more cases and its health minister said schools and offices would be closed and sports events cancelled in the affected regions.
China has reported 75,567 cases including 2,239 deaths. The new virus, which originated last year in Hubei province in China, causes a respiratory disease called Covid-19.
What did the WHO chief say?
Dr Tedros said the number of coronavirus cases outside China was “relatively small” but the pattern of infection was worrying.
“We are concerned about the number of cases with no clear epidemiological link, such as travel history to or contact with a confirmed case,” he said.
The new deaths and infections in Iran were “very concerning”, he said.
But he insisted that the measures China and other countries had put in place meant there was still a “fighting chance” of stopping further spread and called on countries to put more resources into preparing for possible outbreaks.
What about the Iran cases?
In Iran the outbreak is centred on the holy city of Qom, south of the capital Tehran, which is a popular destination for Shia Muslims in the region.
Iran reported two more deaths in Qom on Friday, adding to the two deaths it reported on Thursday. A total of 18 cases have been confirmed in the country.
Lebanon has reported its first confirmed case – a 45-year-old woman who was detected as she arrived in Beirut from Qom. The UAE, Israel and Egypt have also reported cases.
Meanwhile Canadian officials said one of the nine cases there was a woman who had recently returned from Iran.
WHO officials said both Iran and Lebanon had the basic capacity to detect the virus and the WHO was contacting them to offer further assistance.
But Dr Tedros said the organisation was concerned about the virus’s possible spread in countries with weaker health systems.
What is the latest in South Korea?
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said it was now an emergency as 100 new cases and the country’s second death were confirmed. The country now has 204 cases.
The southern cities of Daegu and Cheongdo have been declared “special care zones”. The streets of Daegu are now largely abandoned.
All military bases are in lockdown after three soldiers tested positive.
About 9,000 members of a religious group were told to self quarantine, after the sect was identified as a coronavirus hotbed.
The authorities suspect the current outbreak in South Korea originated in Cheongdo, pointing out that a large number of sect followers attended the funeral of the founder’s brother from 31 January to 2 February.
The sect – known as Shincheonji – which has been accused of being a cult, said it had now shut down its Daegu branch and that services in other regions would be held online or individually at home.
As of Friday, more than 400 members of the church were showing symptoms of the disease, though tests were still ongoing, the city mayor said.
Hand sanitizers and warning signs
By Hyung Eun Kim, BBC Korean Service, Seoul
Many people in South Korea are wearing masks on a daily basis.
Hand sanitizers have been placed at public transport stops and building entrances.
Warning government signs are everywhere. They say: “Three ways to prevent further infection: wear a mask at all times; wash your hands properly with soap for more than 30 seconds; and cover yourself when coughing.”
Koreans have also developed several apps and websites that tell you how much risk you face where you are. They show where the infected people are within a 10km radius.
“I can’t miss work, what I can do is minimise contact with others and stay at home during the weekend,” Seung-hye Lim, a Seoul resident, told the BBC.
“I do wonder if we reacted too laxly initially or if it really is because of the specific service practices of the Shincheonji sect.”
So-young Sung, a mother of two in Seoul, told the BBC: “It feels like my daily life is collapsing.”
She said she was struggling to find pharmacies that had masks.
She added that checking coronavirus-related alarms from her children’s schools and kindergartens was now a daily routine for her.
What about China and elsewhere?
The virus has now hit the country’s prison system, with more than 500 inmates confirmed infected.
They include 230 patients in a women’s prison in Wuhan. More cases have been found in a prison in the eastern province of Shandong and the south-eastern province of Zhejiang.
Some 36 people at a hospital in Beijing have also tested positive.
Senior officials have been sacked for mishandling management of the outbreak.
Passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise ship who have tested negative continue to disembark the ship in Yokohama after more than 14 days quarantined on board.
However 11 US evacuees from the ship tested positive after arriving in the US, officials said. More than 300 other US nationals have arrived back in the US after disembarking. Source: bbc.com
