Coronavirus cases continue to rise across world

Anadolu Agency

The number of novel coronavirus cases in Europe continues to rise, with more countries on the continent confirming their first cases.      

French Health Minister Olivier Veran said that the number of coronavirus cases in the country has risen to 38.     

According to French media, the National Assembly asked a lawmaker who travelled to China to stay at home for 14 days as a precautionary measure.     

In Italy, the worst-hit country in Europe, the number of coronavirus cases has risen to 650, according to local media.     

The death toll in Italy has risen to 17, according to the latest figures released by the country's head of civil protection.     

The Netherlands and Northern Ireland reported their first confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.     

Health authorities said the number of novel coronavirus cases in the U.K. had risen to 16.     

Landlocked Austria, which borders Italy to the south, confirmed two new cases of the virus, bringing the total to five.     

Spanish authorities said the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country had reached 23.     

Sweden's Public Health Agency said that the novel coronavirus was detected in five more people.     

The agency said the total number of confirmed cases had risen to seven.

New cases reported in the Middle East

Iraq and Lebanon both reported new cases of the novel coronavirus as it continues to spread throughout the Middle East.

The number of confirmed cases of the virus, officially known as COVID-19, has risen to seven in Iraq and three in Lebanon.

Two more cases were confirmed in Baghdad and Kirkuk, said a Health Ministry spokesman.

Measures tightened as coronavirus moves closer to Turkish borders

One of them, a 51-year-old man, was in Iran a short time ago, he said.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said the new type of coronavirus was detected in an Iranian who entered the country on Feb. 24.

At least nine countries in the Middle East currently have the coronavirus.

Uproar as Chinese plane lands in Kenya

A China Southern Airlines flight landed Thursday in Nairobi, Kenya with 239 people, triggering anger and shock across the East African country.

The incident comes after Kenya announced that it had resumed flights to China.

Kenyans raised concern on social media, questioning the country's preparedness to deal with the novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, at a time when many African countries have ceased operating China flights.

Activist Boniface Mwangi posed a question to Kenyan leader Uhuru Kenyatta. 

Death toll in China rises to 2,790     

Meanwhile, the death toll from the novel coronavirus outbreak in China has risen to 2,790, according to the country's National Health Commission.     

The commission said 44 more people have died in the past 24 hours while 327 new cases were detected by health authorities, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to more than 78,824.     

Some 7,952 of them are in critical condition, according to the commission.     

Forty-one of the deaths occurred in the epicenter of the outbreak, Hubei province, while two of them were in the capital Beijing and one in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region.     

The overall death toll in China hit 2,790, including two in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.     

Around 65,225 people are currently under medical care, while the number of discharged patients totals around 36,117.     

Outside mainland China, there are 93 registered cases in Hong Kong and 10 others in Macau. 

Mongolia's President Battulga Khaltmaa and other government officials have submitted to a 14-day quarantine after returning home from their visit to China, the state news agency Montsame reported.

Indonesia has temporarily shut down its mission in South Korea due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

According to Indonesian daily Republika, Indonesian Ambassador in Seoul Umar Hadi said the embassy and Indonesia Investment Promotion Center are temporarily closed as of Feb. 28, as a coronavirus case has been reported in the area.

California confirms 33 cases of new coronavirus   

California has 33 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, with five of those individuals having since left the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom said.

The state is monitoring an additional 8,400 people who have come in on commercial flights, Newsom added.     

 Of the 33 confirmed cases, 24 were from flights repatriated by the federal government, while seven others were travel related, another was due to person-to-person transmission and the newest case is from an unknown source, Dr.  Sonia Angell, California's Department of Public Health director, said while addressing reporters alongside Newsom and other California health officials.     

The novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, was first detected in Wuhan city in China's Hubei province last December.     

The global death toll is nearly 2,800, with China being the worst hit, with more than 78,000 cases and over 2,700 fatalities.     

The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak an international health emergency and said the global risk level remains high.