February 24 coronavirus news

Cna is delaying the annual gathering of nearly 3,000 national legislators in Beijing, according to state media.

The National People’s Congress’ Standing Committee voted today to delay the plenary session, which was due to open March 5. No new date has been announced.

Why this is significant: The National People’s Congress (NPC) is the country’s rubber-stamp parliament. The annual plenary session, one of the biggest political events each year, has not been delayed or suspended since the end of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970s.

It went ahead as scheduled in 2003 amid the SARS epidemic, which originated in China and hit the country hard. SARS eventually spread across the world to infect more than 8,000 people, killing at least 774.

Wan officials have walked back an announcement from earlier today, which claimed travel restrictions were easing in the Chinese city where the outbreak began.

The earlier announcement has been ruled “invalid,” according to a post on social platform Weibo by the city’s government.

The initial announcement was “issued by the traffic prevention and control team in a circumstance that was not discussed with the command office and was not agreed by major leadership,” said the Weibo post.

It added that the city is “resolutely” implementing the instructions by Chinese President Xi Jinping to prevent the virus spreading further, and that the “relevant personnel” had been “criticized."

Some context: Wuhan has been under lockdown for over a month now, with no movement in or out. Earlier, the now-invalid announcement had suggested some healthy citizens would gradually be allowed to exit and Wuhan residents elsewhere in China could apply to return.

Six Chinese provinces have lowered their coronavirus emergency response levels, according to local health commissions.

Liaoning, a province in northeastern China that borders North Korea, was the first to downgrade the coronavirus emergency response level from the highest level -- Level 1 -- to Level 3 on Saturday, according to a statement by the provincial government.

Shanxi, Guangdong, Yunnan, Gansu, and Guizhou provinces also downgraded their levels on Sunday and Monday. All previously had the highest response levels; Shanxi and Guangdong lowered the response to Level 2, while Yunnan, Guizhou, and Gansu provinces downgraded the response to Level 3.

What this means: China has a four-tier emergency response system for natural disasters, accidents, public health emergencies, and social security incidents. The highest level mandates the State Council to lead the coordination work in response to the emergency.

Lowering the emergency response levels will give local governments more autonomy and flexibility in implementing epidemic control efforts and resuming economic activities.

Afghanistan has confirmed its first case of the coronavirus, in the country's Herat province, the Minister of Public Health Ferozuddin Feroz said today.

Three suspected cases were identified yesterday. They lived in Herat and had recently returned from Iran, where there are 43 confirmed cases.

“After testing their blood we came to know that one of them were coronavirus positive. Those three suspected had recently returned from Qom city of Iran,” said Feroz today.

Feroz declared an emergency in Herat, calling for restrictions on air and ground transport to and from the province. 

Three people tested positive for coronavirus in Kuwait, after returning from the Iranian city of Mashhad, the country's health ministry said today.

The trio includes a 61-year-old Saudi citizen and a 53-year-old Kuwaiti national. The third person's nationality was undisclosed.

Kuwait evacuated 800 citizens from Iran on Sunday citing the coronavirus outbreak there, according to state news agency KUNA.

“(All of them) showed no symptoms of the disease,” the health minister Abdullah Al-Sanad said, KUNA reported.

South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced 231 new cases today, bringing the country’s total to 833 in a massive jump.

161 cases were announced this morning, and another 70 in the afternoon.

Among the 70 cases, 41 are from the city of Daegu, and 12 are from North Gyeongsang Province -- two places where the outbreak has been concentrated. The other cases are spread out across Seoul, Busan, Daejeon, Ulsan, and Gyeonggi Province.

The total number of deaths related to the coronavirus is now at seven, with the latest death happening yesterday.

About half of all cases nationwide are linked to a religious group in the south of the country.

Two more Japanese government health workers who went on the Princess Diamond during its 14-day quarantine have tested positive for novel coronavirus.

The Ministry of Health confirmed that a quarantine officer in his 50s and an administrative staffer in his 40s were hospitalized after they developed fevers. 

In total, six of the ministry’s staffers have tested positive for the virus after working aboard the ship.

Qatar Airways announced today it would ask all travelers arriving in Doha from Iran and South Korea to isolate themselves at home or in a quarantine facility for 14 days.

Spike in cases: This move comes after both countries reported a spike in cases over the weekend. Iran now has 43 cases and eight deaths, while South Korea has 763 cases and seven deaths.

The novel coronavirus began in December in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, Hubei province. Now, it's reached more than 30 other countries and territories, and is spreading in Europe and the Middle East. Take a look at how we got here: