Live Updates: Coronavirus Floods S Korea, Europe Begins To Isolate Italy, Iranian Lawmaker: 50 Deaths From Coronavirus

"Tsunami-Like" Coronavirus Floods South Korea With New Cases; Europe Begins To Isolate Italy: Live Updates

• In a report that was 4 hours "late", China reported an additional 409 coronavirus cases across the entire nation, and 150 additional deaths as of February 23 compared to 648 additional cases and 97 deaths on February 22; this brought total China cases to 77150 and total deaths 2592
  • China's Hubei province said it has 398 New Coronavirus Cases As Of Feb 23 and 149 New Coronavirus Deaths.
• South Korea raised its national threat level to “red alert” for the first time since the H1N1 swine flu outbreak in 2009. The total number of confirmed cases in the country reached 763, a jump of 161 overnight, and a 25-fold increase in the past week.
• The Italian government said it has 152 confirmed cases, up from three in a matter of days. Three people have died. Authorities have locked down about a dozen small towns and canceled events across the north, including Venice’s Carnival.
• Iran has confirmed eight deaths related to the coronavirus, the most outside of China, media reported Sunday. South Korea confirmed its seventh death.
• 4 more cases confirmed in UK
• 200 Israelis quarantined
• Japan confirms more cases; Japanese Emperor expresses hope for Tokyo Games
• Trump says US has everything 'under control' as he asks Congress for more money
• EU's Gentiloni says he has 'full confidence' In Italian health officials
• Turkey, Pakistan close borders with Iran as confirmed cases soar
• Global Times says virus may not have originated at Hunan seafood market
• Axios reports shortages of 150 essential drugs likely.

Update (2200ET): In a release that was about 4 hours late, China's Hubei province said it has 398 New Coronavirus Cases As Of Feb 23 and 149 New Coronavirus Deaths. Overall, China reported an additional 409 coronavirus cases across the entire nation, and 150 additional deaths as of February 23 vs. 648 additional cases and 97 deaths on February 22. This brings the total number of cases across China to 77,150, and total deaths to 2592.

None of these numbers are even remotely credible any more, and serve merely the propaganda purpose of giving the impression that Beijing is winning the war against the spread of the Coronavirus, when in reality nobody has any idea anymore what is going on on the ground in China, and is why workers refuse to show up to their place of business. Consider this: two days ago, WaPo reporters pointed to a clear case of manipulation where the authorities suppressed the true number of cases.

Authorities in Hubei province reported good news Thursday: There were only 349 new coronavirus cases the previous day, the lowest tally in weeks. The bad - and puzzling - news? Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, reported 615 new cases all by itself.

And then there was the Hunan doctor who said he had treated no less than 50 patients with coronavirus on the same day official data reported just one new case.

惊恐：湖南中医药大学第二附属医院的这位医生一天确诊50个冠状病毒患者，累到浑身湿透，没力气说话…… pic.twitter.com/kMh2Wl2Zl2

— 实话实说 (@jMcSVGx9oRuiEir) February 22, 2020

Earlier in the day, S.Korea elevated the virus alert level to “red”, the highest in its four-tier system. According to Yonhap, in escalating the virus alert level, President Moon said, "a few days from now is a watershed moment.” In the first 30 days, S. Korea seemed to have been effectively combating the Covid-19. But within the past few days, the number of confirmed cases spiked, first linked to a religious sect and now starting to spread across the country. Yet, the city of Daegu and the Gyeongbuk area have a higher concentration of virus cases – representing 84% of the total number of infections – than other regions. Tied to this, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) estimates 329 cases, accounting for more than half of the total cases, to be related to the church services.








Iranian Lawmaker Says 50 Have Died From Coronavirus Outbreak In Qom

Tyler Durden

Heading into yet another week where headlines across the world are dominated by the coronavirus outbreak, it looks like the market has finally accepted the fact that this virus isn't 'just the flu' as US stocks look headed for a sharp drop at the open, set to build on their losses from last week.

Following the release of the latest batch of infection numbers from China and South Korea, the focus Monday morning has shifted back to Iran, where the true scope of the outbreak is rapidly becoming apparent: News reports claim the death toll in the city of Qoms has already hit 50. If true, that would be far and away the largest number of deaths in a single country outside mainland China (at least, that we know of). Iran alone has seemingly tripled the death toll ex-China overnight (even if the deaths haven't yet been counted by Johns Hopkins, SCMP or the other running databases that have been cataloguing the crisis).

But according to a lawmaker who spoke to the Associated Press, the 'true' death toll is 50:

A staggering 50 people have died in the Iranian city of Qom from the new coronavirus this month, a lawmaker was quoted as saying on Monday, even as the Health Ministry insisted only 12 deaths have been recorded to date in the country.

The new death toll reported by the Qom representative, Ahmad Amiriabadi Farahani, is significantly higher than the latest number of nationwide confirmed cases of infections that Iranian officials had reported just a few hours earlier, which stood at 12 deaths out of 47 cases, according to state TV.

Health Ministry spokesman Iraj Harirchi rejected the Qom lawmaker's claims, insisting the death toll from the virus remains at 12.

However, he raised the number of confirmed cases from the virus to 61. Some 900 other suspected cases are being tested, he said.

"No one is qualified to discuss this sort of news at all," Haririchi said, adding that lawmakers have no access to coronavirus statics and could be mixing figures on deaths related to other diseases like the flu with the new virus, which first emerged in China in December.

While the health ministry insists that lawmakers don't have access to officials statistics, we suspect that a representative of a community would know roughly how many people have succumbed to the virus in his community. That is not at all far-fetched. The same lawmaker said another 250 have been quarantined in Qoms, which, based on the death toll, sounds like not nearly enough.

Farahani, the lawmaker from Qom, was quoted in local media saying more than 250 people are quarantined in the city, which is a popular place of religious study for Shiites from across Iran and other countries. He spoke following a session in parliament in Tehran on Monday, and was quoted by ILNA and other semi-official news agencies.