Faces of gloom: Revellers taking part in the Plague Doctors Procession at St Mark’s Square in Venice, Italy, during the usual period of carnival festivities which have been cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak. — AFP
Beijing: The Covid-19 epidemic has swelled after deaths soared in Iran and infections appeared in previously untouched countries, prompting dire warnings that the world was not ready to contain it.
The virus has rapidly spread in parts of Asia, Europe and the Middle East, even as the number of fresh cases and deaths decline at the disease epicentre in China.
Towns and cities have been sealed off in a bid to stop the contagion, while hotels in the Canary Islands and Austria were locked down on Tuesday due to suspected cases.In Iran, which has reported 15 deaths out of nearly 100 infections, even the country’s deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi said he had contracted the virus.
At the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Bruce Aylward, who headed an international expert mission to China, hailed the drastic quarantine and containment measures taken by the country.
But he told reporters that other nations were “simply not ready” to contain the outbreak.
“You have to be ready to manage this at a larger scale... and it has to be done fast, ” Aylward said.
Besides the cases in China, there have been more than 40 deaths and 2,700 cases across the world.
The disease has now reached dozens of countries, with Austria, Croatia and Switzerland the latest to declare cases.
Its disruption has also grown, with stock markets tumbling, restrictions imposed on travellers and sporting events cancelled.
The WHO has called for countries to “prepare for a potential pandemic” – a term describing an epidemic that spreads throughout the world.
In the Middle East, Iran has emerged as a major hotspot, with three more people dying from Covid-19 on Tuesday.
The country has been scrambling to contain the epidemic since last week when it announced its first two deaths in Qom, a centre for Islamic studies and pilgrims that attracts scholars from abroad.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whose country came to the brink of war with Iran earlier this year, said Washington was deeply concerned that Teheran “may have suppressed vital details” about the outbreak there.
Gulf countries announced new measures to cut links with Iran in an attempt to stop the spread.
Italy, which has reported 11 deaths and more than 300 cases, has locked down 11 towns and ordered Serie A football games to be played to empty stadiums.
In the United States, which has a few dozen cases, health authorities urged local governments, businesses and schools to develop plans such as cancelling mass gatherings or switching to teleworking as the country braces for the virus to spread further. — AFP
