Covid-19: Fears intensify over European spread
Fears are intensifying over the spread of coronavirus in Europe as France reported its second death and the number of people in Italy with the virus continues to climb.
Authorities in Italy have reported that the number of people infected in the country grew to 400 and 12 people have now died.
Austria, Croatia and Switzerland also reported their first cases linked to the outbreak in Italy, while Spain and France recorded new ones, also involving people who had been to northern Italy.
France recorded its second death, a 60-year-old Frenchman who died in a Paris hospital.
The first positive test in South America has also been recorded in a 61-year-old Brazilian man who had recently been to northern Italy.
The Brazilian health ministry said the man had spent two weeks in northern Italy’s Lombardy region on a work trip, where he contracted the contagious virus.
Authorities had already said on Tuesday that a first laboratory test for Covid-19 had a positive result, and were waiting for a second test to confirm.
For the first time, the number of new cases officially reported outside China has exceeded new cases reported by Beijing, Reuters has reported.
It said figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO) showed there were 427 new cases reported in 37 countries on Tuesday, compared with 411 reported by Beijing.
In the UK 7,132 people have so far been tested. Of these, 13 have tested positive, of whom eight have been discharged from hospital.
Meanwhile, holidaymakers at a coronavirus-hit hotel in Tenerife have been told to take their own temperatures and said there is confusion over whether they should stay in their rooms.
An Italian man and his wife were diagnosed with coronavirus during their stay at the four-star H10 Costa Adeje Palace in the south-west of the Spanish island, and two more cases have been confirmed.
It is understood that guests without symptoms are able to move around the hotel grounds, although some guests say they are still being told to stay in their rooms.
The Italian doctor and his wife tested positive and were placed in isolation in hospital, the Canary Islands government confirmed.
It said the couple had travelled with eight other Italians.
The Canary Islands government added that more than 100 tourists at the hotel who are believed to have not had any contact with the couple will be allowed to leave.
China, where the outbreak began, has reported 78,064 cases and 2,715 deaths, while South Korea has the second-highest number of cases with 1,261 and 11 deaths.
