RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Ministry of Health confirmed eight cases of coronavirus in Brazil, one of them an atypical case of a 13-year-old girl from São Paulo, whose second test came back positive, although she showed no symptoms of the disease.
The young woman, the fourth case of the disease in Brazil, returned from Italy last Sunday and was examined at Beneficiência Portuguesa Hospital, where a test performed in a private laboratory came back positive for the virus.
On Wednesday, the Adolfo Lutz Institute carried out the counter test and confirmed the result, but it took a meeting of experts in Brasília for the case to be classified as coronavirus.
Two new confirmed cases in São Paulo (which has six infected people in total) were contracted from the first patient identified with the disease, a 61-year-old man who had returned from Italy.
A 36-year-old man died of respiratory failure in Wuhan, the focus of the coronavirus (Covid-19) epidemic in China, five days after he was discharged, according to the Chinese newspaper The Paper.
The article, which was censored in the country but reported by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, reported that Li Liang had been admitted to hospital with mild symptoms on February 12th and was discharged two weeks later.
Uncertainty over coronavirus continues to affect Latin American stock markets
The São Paulo Stock Exchange collapsed on Thursday by 4.65 percent, and its benchmark index, the IBOVESPA, closed at 102,233 points. Last week, the Brazilian index accumulated a drop of 8.36 percent. In Mexico, the Stock Exchange closed down 2.44 percent due to the risk of suspension of mass events and school activities.
South Africa confirms its first case of coronavirus
On Thursday, South African officials confirmed the first coronavirus infection detected in a 28-year-old man who had traveled to Italy with his wife.
The National Institute of Contagious Diseases explained that this first patient visited a private doctor on March 3rd with symptoms. He remained in isolation since that day, according to the state television network SABC, which confirmed sending a team of experts to KwaZulu-Natal.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called for restraint after asking the population to see a doctor in case of symptoms, although he stressed that South Africans “should not panic”. “We are not the only country affected… It seems it will continue to spread to other countries,” he said, praising the “speed” of health authorities in addressing the case.
Wall Street tumbles for fear of the coronavirus and the Dow Jones loses 970 points
On Thursday, Wall Street closed with heavy losses and a 3.58 percent drop in its leading indicator, the Dow Jones Industrial, with markets again plagued by fear of the coronavirus and dropping to record lows the yield of the 10-year Treasury bond, which reached 0.899 percent.
At the close of the New York Stock Exchange session, the Dow Jones wiped out much of the nearly 1,200 points that it had climbed the day before. The S&P 500 dropped 3.39 percent to 3,024 points; and the Nasdaq market composite index, which includes the most significant technology companies, yielded 3.10 percent, standing at 8,739 whole numbers.
Hungary confirms its third coronavirus case
It is a Hungarian citizen who returned from Milan to the city of Debrecen (east of the country), as announced on Thursday by the Hungarian government. The patient had a fever upon his return and the Executive announced that it will provide further data on Friday. The first two cases, confirmed on Tuesday, affected two Iranian students who were in the country.
Palestinian authority declares emergency for 30 days
The measure was taken after the first cases of the coronavirus in the West Bank. The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, decreed an emergency month after the first seven cases of coronavirus were detected. The decree was announced by Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh following the decision to close the Church of the Nativity.
The ANP has also suspended mass events and sports competitions. Some of the prevention measures have been extended to Nablus and Jericho provinces. The Palestinian Ministry of Tourism has restricted the entry of visitors to the city of Bethlehem as of Friday and the cancellation of hotel bookings, less than a month after the start of Holy Week when the city welcomes a large number of visitors.
Source: El País