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A family wearing protective face masks walks towards the U.S. at the Paso del Norte International Border bridge after the United States and Mexico have agreed to restrict non-essential travel over their shared border in an effort to limit the spread of the new coronavirus (COVID-19), in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico March 20, 2020. - Sputnik International

Live Updates: Coronavirus Nears 600,000 Infected Globally

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COVID-19 continues spreading across the world with most of the new cases registered in the United States, who has the highest numbers of those infected. At the same time, Italy and Spain have confirmed the highest numbers of deaths from the disease.

The coronavirus is nearing 600,000 confirmed cases across the world with the death toll surpassing 27,000 people. At the same time, over 133,000 infected individuals have recovered from the disease. The virus has reached almost every country, forcing nations to impose travel bans and introduce severe quarantine measures to curb the outbreak.

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01:32 GMT 29.03.2020

A US physician working in a hospital emergency room in the state of Washington was fired after he publicly criticized the hospital’s lack of protection against COVID-19, The Seattle Times reported.

"I got a message that said, ‘Your shift has been covered,’" Ming Lin, who has worked at the PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham for 17 years, told The Seattle Times. The doctor then phoned his supervisor and was told, "You’ve been terminated."

A spokesperson for PeaceHealth St. Joseph confirmed to The Seattle Times that Lin had been fired but had no further comment.

Lin told the newspaper that his supervisors had threatened to fire him over a week ago after he spoke to reporters and made social media posts accusing the hospital where he worked of not protecting health care workers from the COVID-19 virus.

Lin said he was asked to take down his social media posts about the hospital but refused. The physician has criticized the hospital on Facebook, saying that the emergency room was crowded, that people were not being tested outside, where extra space could reduce the spread of COVID-19 and that unnecessary flu tests were being carried out, which delayed coronavirus testing that was urgently needed. Lin also pointed to difficulties in obtaining permission for coronavirus tests.

00:45 GMT 29.03.2020

The first coronavirus-related death in New Zealand has been confirmed in a statement by the country’s Ministry of Health on Sunday morning.

“Sadly, New Zealand had its first death linked to COVID-19 on the West Coast early this morning. The death was in a woman in her seventies who had initially been admitted four days ago with what was thought to be influenza complicated by a underlying chronic health condition,” the statement read.

Medical professionals who came into contact with the woman immediately after she was hospitalized were not wearing suitable protective equipment against the coronavirus disease, and 21 members of staff are currently self-isolating, the ministry stated.

00:31 GMT 29.03.2020

An infant younger than one year who had tested positive for COVID-19 has died in Chicago, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH).

"There has never before been a death associated with COVID-19 in an infant," IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said on Saturday, as quoted by WLS-TV. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, it is the first coronavirus-related death of a child under one year of age in the United States.

An investigation is now underway to determine the exact reasons behind the infant’s death, according to Ezike.

"We must do everything we can to prevent the spread of this deadly virus. If not to protect ourselves, but to protect those around us," the IDPH director said.

00:17 GMT 29.03.2020

The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), scheduled to take place in the US city of Detroit in June, has been canceled as the planned venue will be used as a treatment center for patients who have tested positive for COVID-19, local media reports, citing a memo from the organizers.

According to the Detroit Free Press newspaper, the Federal Emergency Management Agency chose the TCF Center to be the location of a field hospital amid the ongoing coronavirus disease outbreak, forcing the cancellation.

“The health and welfare of the citizens of Detroit and Michigan is paramount. TCF Center is the ideal location for this important function at this critical and unprecedented time,” NAIAS Executive Director Rod Alberts said in a memo delivered to event sponsors on Saturday, as quoted by the newspaper.

The 2021 edition of the auto show is still scheduled to take place as planned. The event is regularly attended by 800,000 people, according to the newspaper.

00:03 GMT 29.03.2020

China has registered only 45 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, all but one of them imported; five people have died from COVID-19 in China in the past 24 hours, the country’s National Health Commission informs.

The total death toll from COVID-19 in mainland China now stands at 3,300, while the total number of coronavirus cases in the country is 81,439, according to the health commission. A total of 75,448 people have recovered.

A day earlier, 54 new coronavirus cases were registered in China, all of them imported.

00:14 GMT 29.03.2020

The first coronavirus case has been confirmed in the Russian Siberian city of Irkutsk, the patient is a 62-year old woman who has recently returned from the United Arab Emirates, regional authorities report.

"The first case of the coronavirus infection has been officially confirmed in Irkutsk. A woman who has returned to Irkutsk from the United Arab Emirates has tested positive. The flight was carried out through Novosibirsk," the Irkutsk regional government said in a statement.

The woman arrived in Irkutsk on 17 March. Forty seven passengers from the same flight have been sent for coronavirus testing. A search is underway for 30 other passengers who need to be tested.

23:19 GMT 28.03.2020

Romania has experienced its largest day-on-day increase in the COVID-19 death toll as eleven more people have died after contracting the disease, taking the total since the start of the outbreak to 37, according to a national broadcaster.

The Digi24 television station reported three more deaths from the disease at 23:50 local time [21:50 GMT], raising the total number of confirmed deaths on Saturday to 11.

On Saturday, the Romanian Ministry of Health announced that 1,452 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been registered in the country since the start of the outbreak.

22:52 GMT 28.03.2020

There are now more than 121,100 coronavirus cases in the United States and the death toll from COVID-19 in the country has surpassed 2,000 according to the Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Centre.

New York City alone has recorded 517 deaths from COVID-19. Over 100 fatalities have been reported elsewhere in New York state. King County (Washington) has 136 coronavirus deaths registered.

More than 960 people have recovered from COVID-19 in the United States.

18:34 GMT 28.03.2020

France has confirmed 37,575 cases of the coronavirus infection, up from 32,964 announced a day earlier, the French health agency said on Saturday.

The number of COVID-19 fatalities reached 2,314 after 319 people died from coronavirus-related complications in the past 24 hours, according to the health authorities.

18:18 GMT 28.03.2020
18:10 GMT 28.03.2020
17:33 GMT 28.03.2020
17:27 GMT 28.03.2020

"[Over the past 24 hours] 889 people have died. [Overall] 12,384 people have recovered, compared with yesterday, the number [of recoveries] increased by 1,434", Angelo Borrelli, the head of Italy's National Civil Protection Agency said.

Moreover, Italy confirmed 3,651 new cases of COVID-19, and the number of active coronavirus cases in the country has reached 70,065, according to Borrelli.

16:51 GMT 28.03.2020
16:42 GMT 28.03.2020
16:19 GMT 28.03.2020
15:41 GMT 28.03.2020

Russian Sports Ministry decided to suspend the operation of all of its training facilities starting from Sunday until further notice due to the spread of COVID-19, the statement published on the ministry’s official website said on Saturday.

"In order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus infection COVID-19 and in accordance with the decisions of Russian President [Vladimir Putin] and the Russian government, the Russian Sports Ministry decided to suspend the operation of training facilities from March 29, 2020, and until further notice. All members of sports teams must leave the territory of the training facilities. The salaries of the staff will be paid during the closure of the training centers,” the statement said.

14:51 GMT 28.03.2020
14:50 GMT 28.03.2020
14:47 GMT 28.03.2020

The Russian operational headquarters monitoring the coronavirus situation said on Saturday that an elderly woman with pre-existing health conditions became the country's sixth COVID-19 fatality.

“In Moscow, a patient who had tested positive for the coronavirus infection died. Upon admission to the hospital, a 69-year-old patient was confirmed to be suffering bilateral pneumonia. Doctors have performed all the necessary checks, comprehensive treatment, including in the intensive care unit, but the woman could not be saved. The patient also suffered from cardiosclerosis, second degree atherosclerosis and chronic pyelonephritis," the center said.

According to the statement, the woman was an epidemiologist who worked in a university and had no contacts with the coronavirus carriers.

13:34 GMT 28.03.2020
13:25 GMT 28.03.2020

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Finland increased to 1,163 from 1,025, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) said on Saturday.

“By March 28, a total of 1,163 laboratory-confirmed cases of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) have been diagnosed in Finland. This figure is based on laboratory-confirmed figures collected manually by THL directly in the regions," the THL said.

Nine patients with coronavirus have died in Finland.

13:23 GMT 28.03.2020
13:22 GMT 28.03.2020
13:01 GMT 28.03.2020

"If this line continues, in a few days it will be possible to conclude whether the (social distancing) measures taken are working", the Netherlands National Institute for Health (RIVM) said.

12:29 GMT 28.03.2020
12:10 GMT 28.03.2020
12:02 GMT 28.03.2020

"When I see today how almost everyone has completely changed their behaviour, how the vast majority of you really do avoid any unnecessary contact, precisely because it can also contain the risk of infection, then I would simply like to say: thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart", Merkel announced.

 

11:42 GMT 28.03.2020
11:37 GMT 28.03.2020
11:21 GMT 28.03.2020
11:06 GMT 28.03.2020
10:51 GMT 28.03.2020
10:50 GMT 28.03.2020
10:46 GMT 28.03.2020
10:42 GMT 28.03.2020

Spain's death toll from coronavirus-related complications reached 5,690 people on Saturday after the Health Ministry reported that another 832 patients had died over the past 24 hours.

The number of COVID-19 cases has exceeded 72,200, with 8,189 patients having tested positive in the past 24 hours.

About 4,500 patients are in serious condition. Meanwhile, 12,300 people have recovered from the illness.

The capital city of Madrid and the surrounding region remain the worst-hit, with some 21,500 cases and 2,800 dead. The autonomous region of Catalonia has recorded 14,300 cases.

09:56 GMT 28.03.2020
09:45 GMT 28.03.2020
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09:23 GMT 28.03.2020
09:07 GMT 28.03.2020
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08:48 GMT 28.03.2020

"The measures that we put in place last night were so significant that they cannot be kept in place for too long. You cannot ask people to sustain this for a very long time", Health Minister Simon Harris stressed.

08:46 GMT 28.03.2020

According to statistics from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases, the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Germany has risen to 48,582, while 325 people have died of the virus.

07:59 GMT 28.03.2020
07:57 GMT 28.03.2020
07:33 GMT 28.03.2020
06:56 GMT 28.03.2020
06:36 GMT 28.03.2020
06:34 GMT 28.03.2020
06:30 GMT 28.03.2020

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) – The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Mexico has risen by 132 to 717 within the past 24 hours, with four new fatalities, the Health Ministry's director of epidemiology said.

"The number of confirmed cases amounts to 717, 12 patients have died", the official said late Friday in a press conference that was broadcast on the ministry's Twitter page.

Meanwhile, president Obrador stated that the health system may not be able to cope with the outbreak, urging people to stay home to prevent the spread of the disease.

06:21 GMT 28.03.2020
06:20 GMT 28.03.2020
05:29 GMT 28.03.2020

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The number of people who have been infected with coronavirus in Canada has surpassed 4,600, and 53 of them have died from the disease, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

Previous reports indicated 4,043 COVID-19 cases and 39 fatalities across the country.

"A total of 4,689 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Canada as of March 27, 2020, at 6 pm EDT (Figure 1). 53 deaths have been reported", the statement read.

04:46 GMT 28.03.2020

According to the new measures, all travellers returning from abroad will have to be quarantined in hotels for two weeks at the government's expense. At the moment there are 3,378 infected individuals in the country (with most of the cases registered in Victoria and New South Wales), while the death toll currently stands at 14.

04:41 GMT 28.03.2020
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