March 4

119 new confirmed cases with 38 new deaths (37 in Hubei) has been reported. On March 3, almost 2,652 new discharges occurred in China, as stated by the National Health Commission (NHC) of China.  

142 new cases confirmed in South Korea  

3 new cases confirmed in Canada (British Columbia)

March 3

Bruce Aylward, World Health Organization Joint Mission to China stated that the key learning from China is speed. The faster one can find the infected cases, then isolate them and track their close contacts, then the more successful we all be.

People say that it can be [the cases] tip of the iceberg. But they couldn’t find that. There’s a lot of people who are infected cases and a lot within close contacts — but not a lot of asymptomatic circulation of the coronavirus is seen in the bigger population. It is different from flu.

China found patients started treatment early and had very sophisticated health care treatment procedures. They are very good in keeping people alive with this disease. They have a survival rate (with a mortality rate of below 1% outside of Hubei province) for this disease. He also stated that he would not generalize to the rest of the world. But in Italy and Iran, a lot of people are dying because of the disease.

Panic and hysteria are not right as this disease is in the infected cases and their close contacts. It is not any hidden enemy waiting behind bushes. Thus, get organized and educated to get working.

1 new case confirmed in New Zealand as the woman arrived in Auckland from Singapore on 25^th February with Air New Zealand flight from Italy.  

3 new cases confirmed in Canada with the total to 30 in the country. 20 cases in Ontario, 9 cases in British Columbia and 1 case in Quebec.  

1 confirmed case in British Columbia of a man in his 50s who has returned from Iran recently.   

2 confirmed cases in Ontario of a woman in her 70s with travel history to Egypt and a man in his 50s who also returned from Iran.

The United States CDC reported a total of 122 cases on March 3: 74 domestic and 48 repatriated (45 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, and 3 from Wuhan, China).

1 new case in Ireland "a female in the east of the country and is associated with travel from northern Italy." Dr Tony Holohan, Ireland’s chief medical officer told Reuters.

1st case in Chile  

1st case in North Carolina, United States.   Authorities said the case is linked to the Life Care Center in Kirkland, northeast of Seattle, where 5 residents (among the about 200 people living or working there), got infected and later died of the virus.

6 new cases in the United Arab Emirates.    Schools closed for 4 weeks    Concerts, sports events cancelled to reduce the spread of coronavirus  

Kenya suspends flights from Milan and Verona, Italy.  

3 new cases in Algeria

1 new case in Senegal  

6 new cases in Denmark including:  

2 cases who were on holiday in Northern Italy and both returned to Denmark on 29^th February.

2 new confirmed cases in Portugal, the one is in Lisbon and another one is in Porto.  

1 new confirmed case in Estonia.  

6 new confirmed cases in Sweden, all of them in Stockholm.  

3 new deaths in the United States reported for a total of 9 deaths, all of them in Washington State.  

USA: a total of 108 cases and 6 deaths have been officially confirmed in 12 states of the United States:   60 domestic cases (out of which 22 were travel-related, 11 were person-to-person spread, and 27 were under investigation), 48 among persons repatriated (45 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, and 3 from Wuhan, China)

 45 new cases and 1 new death (first in the country) in Spain  

 1st case in Argentina  

5 new cases in Iraq  

466 new confirmed cases and 27 new deaths in Italy for a total of almost 2,502 infected cases and 79 deaths till now.     

Among the 2,263 active cases, 1,034 infected people (46%) are hospitalized and 229 of them (representing 10% of active cases) are in intensive care.

Among the 239 closed cases, 160 cases (67%) have recovered and 79 (33%) have died.

1st confirmed case in Liechtenstein is a young man who had contacts with an infected person in Switzerland.  

1st confirmed case in Sweden has recovered who is a 20 year-old woman who had tested positive to the virus on 31^st January after returning home from Wuhan in China on 24^th January.  

6 new infected cases in Austria     

 851 new infected cases and 4 new deaths in South Korea        

 21 new infected cases and 1 new death in France  

2 new infected cases in Oman which are all travel related to Iran. Four of them are Iranian nationals and other two are Bahraini citizens.  

2 new infected cases in Iceland and 1 new recovered case. The two new infected cases had boarded flights from Verona in Italy on Saturday and were staying in ski areas in northern Italy.   

12 new infected cases in the UK. The government is working and it will take 2 - 3 months after the first continued human to human transmission for the outbreak to peak. This key point on time frames was predicted by Sir Patrick Vallance, Britain’s chief scientific adviser, It would take more 2 - 3 months to taper off.  

1st infected case in Gibraltar who is a person recently returned from Northern Italy. Public Health England earlier reported the number of cases on March 2 as 40, but this has dropped to 39 after a patient suspected over the weekend had a negative test.

2 new confirmed cases in Singapore.  

China: A Beijing official said that travelers from the coronavirus hotspots of South Korea, Japan, Iran, and Italy who are arriving in the capital will be isolated and placed in a 14-day quarantine. Also, Shanghai and Guangdong announced similar restrictions previously. Out of the 11 new confirmed cases in China outside of Hubei, 7 where Chinese citizens who returned from Italy. They were working at a restaurant in Bergamo and were in close contacts with a previous infected case.  

1 new confirmed case in Romania is a man from Timisoara, who came in contact with a already diagnosed patient who had returned from Italy recently.

1 new confirmed case in Croatia.  

2 new confirmed cases in San Marino.  

5 new confirmed cases in the Netherlands  

5 new confirmed cases in Belgium.  

8 new confirmed cases in Norway.   

31 new confirmed cases in Germany.

9 new confirmed cases in Sweden. Out of which, 4 are in Stockholm County, 3 are in Gothenburg County, 1 is in Skane County, and 1 is in Jonkoping County. All of these cases are related to recent travel in Northern Italy.     

1st confirmed case in Ukraine is a man who traveled recently from Italy and hospitalized on 29^th February in the western city of Chernivtsi.

 835 new confirmed cases with 11 new deaths and 144 new recovered cases in Iran.  

1 new confirmed case in the Czech Republic is a classmate of an infected American woman in Prague. The first case of Czech fell ill after her return from an Italian university and was tested negative the first time.

28 new confirmed cases in Switzerland.  

6 new confirmed cases in Australia, out of which at least 4 cases are in New South Wales.  

(2 new cases in Portugal that includes a 24-year-old doctor and a doctor from Vila Real, has not been confirmed yet.)  

1 new confirmed case in Qatar is a Qatari citizen who was evacuated on 27^th February from Iran by Qatar on a private plane.  

1 new confirmed case and 1 new discharged case in Hong Kong.  

7 new confirmed cases in Malaysia.  

1 new confirmed case in Taiwan.  

1 new confirmed case in Pakistan.  

19 new confirmed cases in Japan.             

8 new confirmed cases in the United States that includes 1 case in New York, 2 cases in Georgia, a person who was in Milan, Italy and a close contact in the household.  1 case in Massachusetts is a woman in her 20s who lives in Norfolk County and had traveled to Italy with a school group recently. She is improving at home.  

1 new confirmed case in Ecuador.  

1 new confirmed case in Australia (Queensland).  

On March 2^nd, 125 new confirmed cases, 31 new deaths (all of them in Hubei) and 2,742 new discharged cases occurred in China, as reported by the National Health Commission (NHC) of China. 

  Dr KK Aggarwal

President CMAAO, HCFI and Past National President IMA