Coronavirus: at least 10 dead in Chinese quarantine hotel collapse, as Italy imposes lockdown on quarter of population
- Mainland China reports 44 new infections, mostly in Wuhan, and 27 deaths
- South Korea confirms 367 more cases, while US has its first domestic military case
China registered its first day of no new domestic coronavirus cases outside the central city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.
Meanwhile, Italy announced sweeping quarantine measures, imposing restrictions on the movement of about a quarter of the country’s population to contain the outbreak there.
China’s National Health Commission said 44 new cases of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, had been reported by the end of Saturday – the lowest number since mainland China started reporting daily totals on January 20.
All the new cases were in Wuhan except for three imported cases, of which two were in Beijing and one in Gansu province in the country’s northwest. There were 27 new deaths, all in Hubei province, taking mainland China’s death toll to 3,097. In all, the country has reported 80,695 confirmed cases.
Experts said the new coronavirus might be sensitive to temperature, but with the epidemic spreading to the southern hemisphere and infections detected in a range of humidity, people in the northern hemisphere should not pin their hopes on the virus disappearing with the return of warm weather.