InBrief
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Tourists outside the Coliseum in downtown Rome, Italy, on Jan 31, 2020.
PHOTO: AFP
DeeperDive is a beta AI feature. Refer to full articles for the facts.
Italy declares state of emergency
ROME • The Italian government declared a state of emergency for six months yesterday to fast-track efforts to prevent the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus after two cases were confirmed in Rome.
Italy had said on Thursday that it was stopping all flights to and from China following the news that two Chinese tourists holidaying in Italy had tested positive for the virus.
The state of emergency, a fairly common procedure after natural disasters like earthquakes or floods, gives the regional authorities special powers and cuts red tape.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Russia, Britain each confirm two cases
MOSCOW • Russia said yesterday that two Chinese citizens had tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the country's first cases since the outbreak emerged in China.
The two cases were registered in the Zabaikalsky and Tyumen regions of Siberia, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said. The two patients have been put in isolation, and Russia will evacuate some of its citizens from China, she added.
Meanwhile, in Britain, two people from the same family have tested positive for the coronavirus, the first such cases there.
Britain's chief medical officer Chris Whitty said the two infected patients had been transferred to a specialist infectious disease unit in Newcastle. Officials were tracing those who had been in close contact with the pair.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
First human-to-human infection in Thailand
BANGKOK • Thailand has its first case of human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus inside the country, a health official said yesterday, as the authorities raised the total number of cases in the country to 19, the second-highest after China.
The first patient to contract the virus in Thailand is a Thai taxi driver who was likely infected by a sick traveller from China, said Mr Tanarak Pipat, deputy director-general of the Department of Disease Control.
The authorities have conducted virus scans on 13 people, including three family members whom the taxi driver came into contact with. None of them tested positive for the virus after initial tests.
REUTERS
