February 27 coronavirus news

In the past week, new outbreak clusters have formed across Europe and the Middle East, sparking fears and emergency measures.

The outbreaks are centered largely around Italy and Iran; Italy now has 400 cases and 12 deaths, and Iran has 141 cases and 22 deaths. Nearby countries have begun closing borders and implementing travel bans, as the virus spreads across the region.

20 countries have confirmed their first coronavirus cases in the past week:

At least seven European countries have reported their first cases of novel coronavirus in the past two days, as the outbreak spreads across the world.

Elsewhere in Europe, Italy is struggling to contain its outbreak -- the largest outside Asia. Meanwhile, authorities in the Middle East are also racing to contain the virus spread.

In Asia, the epidemic is far from over -- South Korea has reported its largest number of new infections yet on Thursday.

What you need to know:

South Korea has announced another 171 cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the total to 505 in the past 24 hours.

It is the largest jump in one day for South Korea since the outbreak began. In total, there are now 1,766 infections across the country, which has left 13 people dead.

Out of the 171 new cases, 115 are from Daegu and 24 are from the North Gyeongsang province that surrounds the southern city.

South Korea’s total new case count reported Thursday has overtaken China’s announcement today of 433 new cases.

A top Chinese respiratory expert says he is confident “the epidemic (will) be basically under control at the end of April.”

Speaking a news conference on Thursday, Zhong Nanshan, the director of China’s National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, said he had so far reasonably accurately projected the course of the virus.

The Chinese expert said that his original global projections regarding the outbreak had needed to change due to the increased cases outside of China.

New job for Zhong: iPhone maker Foxconn announced this week that it had appointed Zhong as a chief consultant to the company as it continues to resume operations at facilities throughout China.

Zhong is seen as one of the heroes in China’s battle against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, and is also currently leading the country’s national research team on the novel coronavirus outbreak. 

##Asia

A man in his 80s has become the eighth person in Japan to have died from the novel coronavirus since the outbreak began.

Local government officials in Hokkaido announced the death today, saying the patient had died from pneumonia. He tested positive for the virus on February 22.

The victim was from a town called Shiriuchi in Hokkaido and had no known links with the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

He also had not traveled abroad recently, making it unclear how he caught the virus.

Mask production stepped up: At least 186 cases of the coronavirus have been detected in Japan outside of the Diamond Princess.

Speaking at a news conference today, Japan's Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga announced the government has asked manufacturers of masks nationwide to work around the clock to provide face masks for the public.

He said the government will attempt to increase production of masks from 100 million in January to 600 million in February.

The government spokesperson urged people to only buy the masks if they they need them, due to shortages.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said while the risk of a global pandemic is growing, there is no need yet for Australians to avoid large public events.

“As a government, we need to take the steps necessary to prepare for such a pandemic," he said at a news conference today.

He said that this was all possible because Australia had "acted quickly" to avoid further infections.

Travel ban reinstated: As part of those precautions, Morrison said Australia would extend its travel ban on mainland China for another week. Australia has barred any travelers entering from or having transited in mainland China since early February.

Morrison added that “further travel bans are not recommended” and the bans are reviewed on a weekly basis. Australia has 22 cases of the novel coronavirus, 10 of whom have already recovered.

Foxconn, a major electronics maker and supplier to Apple, has started making surgical face masks for all of its factory workers.

The Taiwanese tech giant said in a statement today that it had ramped up production significantly to meet its internal requirements of making approximately a million masks per day for employees at its facilities.

“Having previously dealt with SARS, Foxconn has a good understanding of how to care for our employees’ health and how we will need to allocate resources in the manufacturing and production departments,” the company told CNN Business earlier this month. 

Foxconn also announced this week that it had appointed Zhong Nanshan, a renowned respiratory scientist, as a chief consultant to the company as it continues to resume operations at facilities throughout China.

Zhong is seen as one of the heroes in China’s battle against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, and is also currently leading the country’s national research team on the novel coronavirus outbreak. 

A top Japanese government adviser has admitted that the quarantine measures enacted on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama may have allowed additional infections to spread among the ship's crew and passengers.

At least 705 people contracted the virus during the quarantine, four of whom have died. For a time, the ship had the largest concentration of cases outside of mainland China, where the outbreak began. 

In an interview with CNN, government adviser Dr. Norio Ohmagari said that the quarantine of the cruise ship "may not have been perfect."

He said a "tough decision" had been made by the Japanese government to allow the cruise workers to keep working aboard the vessel, despite the risk of infection, to ensure the smooth running of the cruise ship.

But by failing to isolate the crew of the Diamond Princess from the beginning of the quarantine, he said infected workers may have passed on "secondary or tertiary" infections to their fellow crew members and passengers, thereby exacerbating the deadly outbreak. 

Read the full story here.

A man in Iraq’s capital Baghdad tested positive for coronavirus after returning from Iran, the Iraqi health ministry said in a statement today.

It is the first case of the virus in Baghdad and brings the total number of cases in Iraq to six.

The man is currently under quarantine. He tested positive after he went to a medical facility in Baghdad.

Middle East outbreak: Iraq's neighbor Iran has the largest concentration of coronavirus patients in the Middle East.

Nearly 140 cases of the virus have been confirmed in Iran, and 19 deaths.

Several neighboring countries have cut off travel to Iran, while Qatar has ordered the evacuation of its citizens from the country, and will also help Kuwaitis to evacuate.