Mainland China reported 573 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, up from 427 the previous day, but only three of the new cases were reported outside the epicentre of Hubei province, while South Korea reported 376 new cases. There were 35 new deaths reported in mainland China, down from 47 the previous day, taking the total death toll there to 2,870 as of Saturday, the National Health Commission said, while 41,625 patients had recovered. The commission said the three new infections reported outside Hubei represented the lowest figure recorded outside the province since January 23, when lockdowns and other massive emergency measures were implemented. Of the new Hubei cases, 565 were reported in the provincial capital Wuhan, suggesting the condition facing the city remained serious. South Korean baby diagnosed, church cases set to rise South Korea said its total number of infections stood at 3,526 as of Sunday morning, and reported its youngest patient so far, a 45-day-old boy whose father is a follower of the Shincheonji religious sect . Health authorities said on Sunday that the boy had tested positive, three days after his father did so. The baby and his mother had entered self-quarantine at their house in Gyeongsan. The country’s officials warned that a large number of additional new cases were expected to be reported in Daegu, the epicentre of its outbreak, where the sect is located. South Korea wages ‘all-out responses’ to biggest outbreak outside China The health authorities said they had surveyed 88 per cent of the 210,000 followers of the church, and about 2 per cent of them (about 4,200 people) had shown symptoms, Yonhap News Agency reported. South Korea on Saturday reported its first case of reinfection by the coronavirus. A 73-year-old woman, who had been discharged from hospital a week earlier after apparently making a full recovery, began showing symptoms again on Thursday and was found to be infected again on Friday. 98-year-old woman recovers from coronavirus A 98-year-old woman has become the oldest person in China to recover from a coronavirus infection, according to state news agency Xinhua. The woman, identified only as Hu, was discharged from Wuhan’s Leishenshan Hospital along with her 55-year-old daughter on Sunday morning, after both fell ill on February 13. Doctors have identified Hu as a serious case because she already had high blood pressure and had a fever and pneumonia symptoms. Her temperature went back to normal four days after being treated and she was able to recover even after suffering a minor stroke during her time at the hospital. Thailand’s first death Thailand has recorded its first coronavirus death , a 35-year-old man who also had dengue fever, Suwanchai Wattanayingcharoen, director general of the country’s Department of Disease Control, said on Sunday. The country has recorded 42 infected people since January, of whom 30 have recovered and 11 are still being treated in hospital, according to the department. Australia reports cruise ship passenger has died Australia has reported its first coronavirus death, a 79-year-old man from Perth. He was reportedly among the 164 Australians who recently returned from Japan after being quarantined aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship . Australia has reported at least 24 infections. Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week said the country considered the coronavirus to be a pandemic, going a step beyond the World Health Organisation, as he extended a travel ban on visitors from China. The Australian government on Sunday was set to place a travel ban on people arriving from Iran, where the health ministry on Saturday reported nine new deaths, taking Iran’s total to 43. First fatality in the US The United States on Saturday reported its first death from Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The death, in the northwestern Washington state, followed confirmation by US health authorities of the country’s first community outbreak – cases involving people who have not recently travelled to countries hit by the illness or had known contact with a person known to be infected. Two such cases were confirmed in California and one in Oregon. Washington state’s governor Jay Inslee declared an emergency that directed all state agencies “to use all resources necessary to prepare for and respond to the outbreak”. Coronavirus aid arrives in Tehran as Iran rebuffs US offers In response to the growing number of cases domestically, US Vice-President Mike Pence announced new measures including “expanding existing travel restrictions on Iran” to deny entry to any non-US citizen who has been in the Middle Eastern country in the preceding 14 days, and issuing “do not travel” warnings for areas of Italy and South Korea that have Covid-19 cases. Further spread in Europe Ireland and Luxembourg have confirmed their first cases of coronavirus infection. Authorities in Luxembourg tested about 50 people and diagnosed a man in his 40s who had just flown back from Italy to Charleroi. Italian tourism officials warned that the country’s outbreak could do more damage to the industry than the September 11 terror attacks, as its number of confirmed cases shot up past the 1,000 mark and deaths climbed to 29. Authorities reported early on Sunday that Italy’s total confirmed cases had grown to 1,128, up 27 per cent from a day earlier. The vast majority were in three northern regions that are among the most visited in the country: Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia Romagna. Eight further people infected with the coronavirus had died since Friday night, all of them elderly and in the same three regions, the authorities said. Prisons, retirement homes are weak links: Hubei chief Hubei’s new Communist Party chief Ying Yong told a local virus response meeting he chaired on Saturday that the outbreak was still at a “critical” stage in the province, despite some progress in containing the epidemic. He said the government needed to improve efforts to prevent new infections in prisons and pensioners’ homes, where there have been outbreaks in recent days. “There are still many problems and weaknesses in our work,” Ying was quoted as saying by local media on Sunday. “Special places such as prisons and retirees’ homes are the weaker links, and key parts of epidemic prevention and control in our province.” Ying also stressed that accuracy and speed of data collection on the outbreak was “fundamental” for identifying trends and improving the response. “Behind the data there are lives, and data is about the credibility of the party and government,” he said. “We must strengthen the party’s leadership, improve the ability and level of epidemic prevention and control.” Additional reporting by Associated Press, Reuters Purchase the China AI Report 2020 brought to you by SCMP Research and enjoy a 20% discount (original price US$400). 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