Yahoo News Coronavirus: Fifth death in South Korea as evacuated Brits from Diamond Princess begin first day of quarantine
A fifth person has died and infections rates from the coronavirus strain known as Covid-19 have soared in South Korea.
The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported there had been 123 new cases of the virus, taking the total to 556.
The agency said 113 of the new cases were in and around the south-eastern city of Daegu.
It comes as British nationals evacuated from a coronavirus-hit ship begin their first day of their quarantine period in Merseyside.
The passengers, who were trapped on the Diamond Princess cruise ship off the coast of Japan for more than two weeks, arrived at Arrowe Park Hospital on Saturday.
They will be isolated there for two weeks.
A repatriation flight carrying 32 British and European evacuees from the vessel touched down at Ministry of Defence base Boscombe Down in Wiltshire shortly after 11.30am on Saturday.
They arrived on the Wirral just before 6pm.
One passenger was pictured making a heart sign with her hands while another gave an OK signal through the coach windows.
Meanwhile, around 150 people who were brought to the Kents Hill Park hotel and conference centre in Milton Keynes earlier this month from virus-epicentre Wuhan, in China, are due to be released on Sunday.
It comes as the death toll in mainland China from the coronavirus strain known as Covid-19 has risen by 97 to 2,442, Chinese health authorities have said.
This marked a slight fall on the number of new deaths in the 24 hours to Sunday morning, compared to the previous day.
Officials also announced 648 new infections, representing a spike compared to the downward trend of recent days.
The number of daily new cases also surged in South Korea, while the death toll in Iran climbed to six, the largest outside China.
Italian authorities said the number of people infected with the virus has more than quadrupled due to an emerging cluster of cases in the country’s north.
The deaths of two people from Covid-19 forced the postponement of three Serie A matches, with many of the new cases represented the first infections in Italy acquired through secondary contagion.
The total number of cases in China is 76,510, most of which are in Hubei, the province where Covid-19 originated.
Prior to the spike in daily infections, China’s leadership sounded a cautious note about the country’s progress in halting the spread of the virus, after several days of upbeat messages.
The Politburo, made up of the senior officials of the ruling Communist Party, said the situation in Hubei and its capital Wuhan remains grave.
“We should clearly see that the turning point of the development of the epidemic across the country hasn’t arrived yet,” the Politburo said at a meeting led by President Xi Jinping and reported by state broadcaster CCTV.
