March 3 coronavirus news

Twenty-three members of Iran’s 290-member “Majlis” or parliament have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to Iran’s Deputy Parliament Speaker Abdul Reza Misri.

That's about about 8% of all members of parliament.

Misri made the announcement while speaking to reporters in Tehran today, citing an open letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei from Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani. 

In the letter, MPs were also called on to halt contact with the public to avoid further spread of the disease.

Larijani also advocated for a continuance of the suspension of open sessions in parliament in his open letter to Khamenei, which was enacted last week amid Iran’s growing outbreak.

The Archdiocese of Miami issued a press release yesterday outlining some “suggested practices” following two confirmed cases of coronavirus.

Here are some of the changes:

The Archdiocese of Miami is home to over half a million Catholics in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties.

Japan’s minister for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, Seiko Hashimoto, said the Tokyo 2020 “games could be postponed until later this year”.

She added that the city's government is working under the assumption the games will go on as planned.

“The organizing committee, the IOC, and the Tokyo government are working hard on the assumption of opening the games on July 24 as scheduled. The government will put all its effort into supporting this," she added.

Jailed British-Iranian woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is “in good health," Iran’s Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said at a press conference on state TV on Tuesday.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family released a statement at the weekend saying she believes she contracted coronavirus in Evin prison. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, now 42, was arrested in Iran in 2016 then jailed on espionage charges.

Although authorities have not tested Zaghari-Ratcliffe for the virus, she said in the statement that she has been sick “all week” and described her symptoms as those reported of the coronavirus. 

Esmaili said Zaghari-Ratcliffe called her family yesterday and said she was alright, but that the media “are not reporting her healthy condition and do not take corrective action in their previous news.”

When contacted by CNN on Tuesday, Nazanin’s husband Richard Ratcliffe said Iranian authorities have still not tested her for coronavirus. He said they did have Nazanin call her parents last night and tell them she was okay. He did not receive a call.

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said Saturday the British government is “urgently seeking information” from the Iranian authorities. CNN has reached out to the FCO for an update Tuesday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it is "highly likely" that the UK will see a growing number of coronavirus cases, but added that it will be a "mild disease" for the "overwhelming majority" of patients.

His statement on Tuesday comes as the UK unveiled its action plan for a coronavirus outbreak, after confirmed cases in the country rose to 40 on Tuesday.

So far there are 91,940 confirmed cases worldwide and 3,129 deaths -- many of which are in mainland China. In recent weeks, however, regions such as the Middle East and Europe have seen a dramatic jump in confirmed cases and deaths.

The bulk of Google's staff at its European headquarters in Dublin have been told to work from home after a worker reported flu-like symptoms, Irish public broadcaster RTE reports. 

That person has not tested positive for coronavirus. 

There are over 8,000 employees at the Dublin office according to Google.

The head of European football's governing body has insisted that the Euro 2020 soccer tournament will go ahead as planned

Speaking at a press conference in Amsterdam, UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin said: “Let’s be optimistic and not talk about dark scenarios.”

“You don't know how many concerns we have when we organize a big competition […] We have security concerns, we have political instability concerns and one of those concerns is the virus. We are dealing with it and we are confident that we can deal with it," he said.

Čeferin added that UEFA is in constant close contact with the World Health Organization and European governments on public health advice.

Theodore Theodoridis, UEFA General Secretary, added that the governing body “didn’t want to overreact” when it came to speculation about moving games during this summer’s tournament.

He stated that the immediate priority for the organization was the UEFA Euro 2020 play-off semi-finals and finals which are due to be played on Thursday 27 and Tuesday 31 March.

UEFA also confirmed that it has set up a working group with the European Leagues association to handle any fixture congestion which may be caused by coronavirus postponements.

South Korea has reported three new deaths from people who had the novel coronavirus --taking the national toll to 31.

This comes as health authorities announced that they are looking into two Shincheonji religious group members who traveled to South Korea in January from Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak in China.

Kwon Joon-wook, vice-director of South Korea’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told a press briefing that one member tested negative while the other tested positive for the virus.

However, the positive case was confirmed late February and it will be difficult to establish whether that second case influenced the massive transmission among Shincheonji members, Kwon added.

Some 77 people with the coronavirus have died in Iran and there are now at least 2,336 confirmed cases in the country, Deputy Health Minister Alireza Raisi said on state TV on Tuesday.

Concern has been mounting about the situation in Iran, which is battling an outbreak amid an ongoing economic crisis.

The country reported its first cases on February 19. State radio reported Monday that an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei died after contracting coronavirus. 

Mohammad Mirmohammadi, 71, was a member of the Expediency Council that advises Khamenei.