Number of infected people in South Korea doubles: sect becomes coronavirus breeding ground

Number of infected people in South Korea doubles: sect becomes coronavirus breeding ground
12:24: A sect has developed into a breeding ground for the new coronavirus in South Korea: 38 members of the religious community Shincheonji Church of Jesus in Daegu alone have contracted the virus so far, as the authorities announced on Thursday. They were infected by a 61-year-old sect who had initially refused virus tests and had continued to attend religious fairs.

According to the authorities, around a thousand people who had previously attended the same services as the sick woman were called on to go to self-imposed quarantine. The authorities asked Daegu residents to stay at home if possible. The emergency rooms of all major hospitals were closed for security reasons.

The Shincheonji community has since closed its facilities nationwide. "We deeply regret that one of our members, who thought his condition was a cold, has infected many in our church," said a statement.

Two passengers of the "Diamond Princess" died
Thursday, 07:21: Two passengers infected with the novel coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 aboard the cruise ship "Diamond Princess" in Japan have died. As the Japanese television broadcaster NHK reported on Thursday, citing government circles in Tokyo, the victims are an 87-year-old Japanese and an 84-year-old Japanese woman. They had tested positive and were taken to the hospital by the ship, where they now died. Japan has now mourned three deaths as a result of virus infections in the country. Meanwhile the disembarkation of the passengers of the "Diamond Princess" in Yokohama continued.

Up to the previous day, 621 infections had been detected among the people on board the cruise ship. All of those affected came to hospitals. The government said the disembarkation of the approximately 3,000 people on the ship would take at least until Friday.

Cruise ship
dpa / Yuta Omori / Kyodo News / dpa buses are parked near the cruise ship "Diamond Princess". The first passengers can disembark.
Number of new coronavirus cases in China at its lowest level in almost a month
Thursday, February 20, 10:19 a.m .: The number of cases of coronavirus cases officially registered in China every day has dropped to its lowest level in almost a month. As the Chinese government announced on Thursday, only 673 new cases of infection have been recorded since the previous day. 628 of these occurred in the Hubei province, from where the epidemic started.

The official total number of cases of infection in China rose to almost 75,000. Hubei remains by far the region most affected by the epidemic. The authorities have largely isolated the province from the outside world.

"I have never been so scared": Infectiologist talks about chaos on quarantine ship
4.30 p.m .: In a step that is completely unusual for Japan, a respected infection expert has publicly criticized the authorities and their handling of the coronavirus crisis on board the "Diamond Princess". The conditions on the ship are "completely chaotic," said Professor Kentaro Iwata from the Faculty of Infectious Diseases at Kobe University. He had "fear" in an inspection of the ship like never before in the course of his career.

Dealing with the virus on the ship was "completely inappropriate," said Iwata, who had received permission from the authorities to board the ship on Tuesday after a long struggle. "There is no clear demarcation between the green (healthy) zones and the red (potentially infected) zones. And the staff is running back and forth," the professor reported in videos distributed on the Internet, which were viewed hundreds of thousands of times within a very short time. Such public criticism of the authorities and the country's leadership is extremely rare in Japan.

"I was in Africa to fight Ebola. I was in other countries because of cholera. I was also in China in 2003 to deal with the Sars epidemic," said Iwata. "I've never been so afraid to infect myself." Dealing with the coronavirus crisis on board the "Diamond Princess" was wrongly left to bureaucrats and not experts.

When asked about Iwata's videos, government spokesman Yoshihide Suga rejected the criticism. From the start, "strict measures" were ordered on the ship to prevent the virus from spreading on board. This primarily included "wearing masks, regular hand washing and the use of disinfectants," said Suga, assuring him: "We are doing our best."