1. Critics are calling for the resignation of Japan’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, for his handling of the country’s outbreak.
2. Japan is struggling to cope with widespread testing for the virus that has been limited to 900 patients per day whereas neighboring countries are testing up to 10,000 daily.
3. Italy reported 41 new coronavirus deaths on Thursday, a big jump in the toll there (now 148 overall).
4. At sea: The Grand Princess, a cruise ship with thousands of people on board, is being held off the coast of California, after officials learned that a patient who had died from the coronavirus had earlier traveled on the ship and about 20 people had symptoms.
5. New York: Two new confirmed cases in New York City, eight more cases in the Westchester suburbs, one case in Fort Lee, N.J. Few of them were found tracing the contacts of one patient from New Rochelle, N.Y., but others had no known connections to that case.

March 6 (GMT):

5 new cases in the United States: first 2 cases in Colorado (Summit County): 1 is a 30-year old man who had traveled to Italy in February and was in contact with a confirmed case outside of Colorado.    first 3 cases in Maryland (Montgomery County): they had all recently traveled overseas.  

8 new cases in Canada (British Columbia): 1 has no travel history, 2 had recently returned from Iran, 4 are linked to a previously confirmed case, 1 is connected to University Canada West where a presumptive case is being investigated.  

March 5:

1 new case in Argentina is a 23-year old man who had recently traveled to Italy  

1st confirmed case in Costa Rica is a woman who had traveled to Italy and Tunisia. 

1 new confirmed case in Chile is a Cook County resident in his 20s who had flown into O’Hare after traveling from Italy from where he caught the illness.

2 new confirmed cases in Hungary includes a man in Debrecen who works in Milan, Italy.  

1 new confirmed case in New Zealand is the partner of a previously confirmed case.

63 new confirmed cases and 1 new death in the United States, includes 1^st case in Colorado, 1^st case in Middlesex County, Massachusetts,  5^th case in Illinois is a person who returned from Italy. He’s in isolation at Rush.   - second case in New Jersey: a 32-year-old man from Fort Lee   - 2 cases in Harris County, Texas: both are travel-related  

- 1 new death in King County (Washington State): a woman in her 90s

- a resident of Sonoma County (second case there) who traveled internationally on the Grand Princess ship from San Francisco to Mexico  

- 4 in Los Angeles County, California  

- the 1st cases in San Francisco, California  

- 11 in New York State that includes three are in serious condition and are treated in intensive care units   

New confirmed cases include a man in his 40s and a woman in her 80s. 

- the 1st case in Nevada  

- 1 in Tennessee (Williamson County)  

- a Facebook worker in Seattle  

- the 1st case in New Jersey is a man in his 30s hospitalized in Bergen County  

138 new cases and 3 new deaths reported in France that includes the first 3 cases in Corsica     

7 new confirmed cases in Ireland includes the first in Cork, with no recent history of travel and is being treated in an intensive care unit.  

1 new death in Iran today is of a senior Iranian politician, Hossein Sheikholeslam, Iran’s former ambassador to Syria and former advisor to current Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. He was 67 years old  

5 new cases in Brazil  

1 new case in Luxembourg: a person who had recently returned from Northern Italy  

 283 new cases in Germany  

 First 7 cases in Palestine, West Bank. 5 new cases in addition to the first 2 reported earlier. Palestinian Authority closes Bethlehem churches and mosques for two weeks     

 1st death in the UK is an older patient with pre-existing conditions.  

 769 new confirmed cases and 41 new deaths in Italy, which makes them the country with the largest daily increase in cases and deaths in the world.  

Among the 3,296 active cases, 1,790 patients (54%) are hospitalized, 331 patients (representing 11% of active cases) are in intensive care.

Among the 562 closed cases, 414 patients (74%) have recovered and 148 (26%) have died.

42 new confirmed cases in Sweden with the total number of cases in the country to 94.  

5 new cases in Slovenia  

5 new confirmed cases in Denmark includes former Danish footballer Thomas Kahlenberg  

28 new cases in the UK  

2 new cases in Israel  

1 new case and 1 new death in Iraq: a 65-year-old person in Baghdad     

1 new case in Israel  

2 new cases and 1 new recovery in Canada (Ontario)  

3 new cases in Ecuador: all linked to the first confirmed case  

1 new case in Oman: a man who had recently traveled to Milan, Italy  

Regarding Diamond Princess Cruise ship: The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has rectified the number of cases from 706 to 696. After inspecting the results of the virus test, it was stated that some people were counted twice.  

4 new cases in the Czech Republic  

1 new case in Lebanon is a Lebanese woman coming from Britain  

3 new confirmed cases in Portugal includes two males, aged between 40 and 50, admitted to São João Hospital in Porto, and a man in Lisbon who had traveled to Italy recently. 

44 new confirmed cases in the Netherlands.  

26 new confirmed cases and 1st death in Switzerland includes of a 74-year-old woman who had been hospitalized since 3^rd March. The woman was suffering from a chronic illness and the source of infection is still unclear.     

54 new cases and 1 death in Spain  

33 new cases in Japan, including 8 in Tokyo and 8 in Aichi

5 new confirmed cases in the Republic of San Marino bringing the total to 21: 15 are hospitalized, 3 patients are in serious condition. 

1 new confirmed case in India (Ghaziabad)

22 new confirmed cases in Greece  

1 new confirmed case in Canada (Québec)  

5 new confirmed cases and 2 new recoveries in Singapore  

3 new confirmed cases in Saudi Arabia  

 1st confirmed case in South Africa is a 38-year-old man who had traveled with his wife to Italy. They were a part of group of 10 people who arrived back in South Africa on 1^st March.  

9 new confirmed cases in Iceland  

1 new confirmed case in Egypt with the total of 3  

3 new confirmed cases and 3 new recoveries in Bahrain  

5 new confirmed cases in Malaysia  

27 new confirmed cases in Belgium  

6 new confirmed case in Georgia is a person who had visited Italy recently.  

3 new confirmed cases in Azebaijan and all had visited Iran.  

3 new confirmed case in Estonia includes a resident of Tallinn who was on the same flight from Bergamo, Italy, to Riga as the second confirmed case.   

1 new confirmed case in Slovenia: a person who was in contact with the first case.  

 591 new confirmed cases and 15 new deaths in Iran

5 new confirmed cases in Finland includes 3 in the Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital district, 1 case is in Pirkanmaa and 1 case in Kanta-Häme. The case in Kanta-Häme is a child in Hämeenlinna who had returned from northern Italy with family on Tuesday.  

3 new confirmed cases in Scotland (UK)  

1 new confirmed case in Russia is an Italian citizen.  

 1st confirmed case in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a middle-aged man and his child who visited Italy recently. His wife is tested negative and he is in stable condition but hospitalized in isolation in Banja Luka. School children who have had contact with the infected child will also be tested immediately.  

1 new confirmed case in Morocco is a Moroccan woman who recently returned to Casablanca from Italy.  

2 new confirmed cases in Kuwait     

8 new confirmed cases in Norway  

15 new confirmed cases in Austria  

4 new confirmed cases in Thailand   

- a 29 year-old Italian man arrived in Thailand on March 1

- a 42 year-old Thai male office worker returned from Italy

- Chinese male student, 22 years was screened with symptoms during transit at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport while traveling from Iran to China.

- a 20 year-old Thai male student who had arrived from Iran on 27^th February.

467 new confirmed cases, 5 new deaths, and 47 new recoveries reported in South Korea     

139 new confirmed cases (134 in Hubei), 31 new deaths (all in Hubei) and 2,189 new discharges occurred in China on March 4, as stated by the National Health Commission (NHC) of China. 

Dr KK Aggarwal

President CMAAO, HCFI and Past National President IMA