now there are fears that the corona
virus outbreak could become a pandemic
we now know there are confirmed cases in
35 countries it's already classed as an
epidemic but is an update from the BBC's
medical correspondent Fergus Walsh
saying the combined situation in South
Korea Iran and Italy point to the early
stages of a pandemic appendant being
when a disease has spread worldwide
here's the assessment of the World
Health Organization this is not the time
to focus on what word we use that will
not prevent a single infection today or
save a single life today this is a time
for all countries communities families
and individuals to focus on preparing we
do not live in a binary black-and-white
world it's not either/or we must focus
on containment while doing everything we
can to prepare for a potential pandemic
look at these statistics the corona
virus has overtaken the 2003 SARS
epidemic and the Middle Eastern
respiratory syndrome MERS in both the
number of cases by far and also the
number of deaths - the SARS outbreak
lasted around eight months here's the
w-h-o again on why it is very difficult
to put a time frame on this virus we
don't know is what the reality will be
in two months or in six months time
there there is still a possibility that
we can contain the virus and interrupted
strands interrupt its transmission but
the virus may settle down into an
endemic pattern of transmission into a
seasonal pattern of transmission or
could accelerate into a full-blown
global pandemic and at this point it is
not possible to say which of those
realities is going to is going to happen
well Italy is one of the countries where
numbers are escalating there's been a
fifth death today there have been more
than 200 new cases since Friday several
towns in Lombardy and in veneto are on
lockdown that means around 50,000 people
cannot leave without permission and
see how that's working in these pictures
this is a police roadblock that's been
stared up to stop people moving in or
out this is just outside a town called
Cassell boost and leng go if you go a
little bit further north well this is a
train heading through the Alps but it
was stopped from crossing from Italy
into Austria because two passengers were
suspected of having the virus hours
later they tested negative and the train
was able to continue next these pictures
are from Milan just look at these empty
shelves that's because people have been
stocking up on food and supplies they
want to be ready in case a lockdown is
imposed here - and already the city is
taking different types of action it's
famous cathedrals being closed as have
some schools and some universities well
let's focus on one town that is locked
down the town of cadeaux no just to the
southeast of Milan and the BBC's mark
Lowen it's just outside it well this is
the exclusion zone now on the road to
cordon you're the center of the outbreak
and you can see there stopping all the
cars trying to enter here and all those
trying to leave depends where they've
got me they've got the authorization as
to whether they can pass through and the
Carabinieri and military are deciding
whether or not to widen this exclusion
zone in an attempt to control the
coronavirus spread and Mark's been using
his phone to speak to some of the
residents who are stuck on the other
side of that barrier I feel a bit
abandoned the news we get comes through
whatsapp or Facebook there's a lot of
false rumors around at Uralla gentle
panic on people panicked yes people are
panicking some convince themselves it
will blow over others are worried and
can't sleep this perspective one school
teacher also in a town which is locked
down called San Fiorano support passage
our economy ain't a simple Sheila called
can respond we can take walks
we can walk our dogs we can go jogging
we can ride bikes but authorities
suggested to us to avoid contact with
other people in fact about them all we
know that we may be infected and that we
may already have contracted the Corona
fire
and we wait for these days to pass by
living day by day if these symptoms
appear we know what we have to do hoping
that the emergency numbers are free to
call because from what I know it is
really difficult to contact the health
professionals so we've heard from
Catania we've heard from San Fiorano
it's got a little bit further south just
outside the lockdown area to a place
called PHN Sur and the BBC's Bethany
Bell is there well certainly there is a
lot of concern we've been wandering
around piensa today people concerned
about the possible spread of this they
don't know how long quarantine in
neighboring towns is going to last for
we're just a few kilometers away from
the exclusion zone here a lot of the
cafes and restaurant owners that we've
spoken to here say they're worried about
the impact on their business very few
people out and about and in some areas a
bit closer to the exclusion zone the
cafes and restaurants are completely
shut well it's made from Italy to South
Korea it has the largest number of
infections outside of China over 830 and
most of those are linked to a religious
group in the city of daegu right in the
south of South Korea this was the scene
on Monday how many people are in this
queue it's outside a supermarket and all
of these people want to buy surgical
masks and other supplies well the BBC's
Laura Baker has been in Daegu over the
weekend here she explains how technology
is being used in an effort to restrict
this virus they're using your phone to
locate where you are and then they'll
send you an emergency alert if you're
anywhere near where a confirmed
coronavirus patient has been well let's
shift now from South Korea to the Middle
East because we have a number of new
infections and deaths across the region
in Afghanistan Oman Bahrain Kuwait and
Iraq as well all reporting their first
cases we know that those cases are
linked to a cluster of cases in Iran
centered around the religious city of
Qom which is just to the south of Tehran
is visited by millions of Shia Muslim
pilgrims every year
he is run around bought from BBC Persian
on what we know about what's happening
in the city there are introducing some
measures about the security in the
shrine the shrine that Shia shrine there
and they said they said that there won't
be any public prayers anymore for a
while and they put some some fences
between the shrine so people that don't
touch it but the problem is that they
are lacking infrastructure and they're
lacking accurate reporting let's look at
that last point because the official
death toll in Iran is currently 13 but a
parliamentarian who represents calm he's
claiming that the true figure is at
least 50 in the city alone and he's
accusing the authorities of lying about
the extent of the problem
the Deputy Health Minister has responded
saying if the number of deaths in calm
reach is 1/2 or 1/4 of this figure I
will resign but that local
parliamentarian has responded I've given
the names of 40 dead people to the
deputy minister now we await his
resignation
well his Rahner again at least in seven
provinces in Iran there have been
confirmed cases of coronavirus and many
of them are religious hotbed so the for
instance the city of Mashhad which hosts
one of the shrines of the office years
that is open and the authorities haven't
even confirmed any cases in Mashhad but
we know that kuwait had to evacuate at
700 P of its people have confirmed that
there were three cases that that had
come from Iran but that shrine is open
tonight thousands of people are
celebrating a shyah shyah celebration
and they are just next to each other
celebrating this event it's unbelievable
how many people are there while we know
that there is growing a virus and how
and you and your colleagues of BBC
Persian getting good information about
the virus inside Iran given that it's
hard to get good information on anything
connected to the government it's very
difficult the numbers that we heat we
hear from our viewers is far more than
what the Iranian authorities are
confirming and there are it's it's a
serious concern because they say 61
confirmed cases and 13 people have died
but what people are telling me is far
more than that
and when the ratio between the confirmed
cases and deaths it's much higher than
the rest
the world so it's about nearly 20% of
people have been killed so that this
shows that there's lack of transparency
as a result people are very worried and
they contrast anything that the
authorities are saying and we have other
cases elsewhere in the Middle East we
think connected to the outbreak in Iran
so are there any restrictions on
movement between Iran and other
neighboring countries most neighbors
have closed down their borders and and
they have suspended their flights to
several cities in Iran and remember
because the city of Qom is a religious
city Masch hive is a religious city they
have many foreign pilgrims there and in
the city of form there is a seminary
what the most important sheer seminary
there so there are many Shia students
there who have then travelled back to
their countries that's how it has
quickly spread in many of the Muslim
countries in the region now this crisis
is very much a global of concern of
course but China very much remains at
its center these are the latest
statistics on the situation there over
77,000 confirmed cases over two and a
half thousand deaths and China's
government's now taken the hugely
symbolic decision of postponing its
annual parliamentary gathering that's
the National People's Congress it was
due to take place in Beijing next month
Steve McDonald's there this is the most
important political gathering of the
year and to be putting it off it really
will make everybody pay attention in
China certainly I mean it would have
been you'd have to get back to the
probably the Cultural Revolution for the
last time that the National People's
Congress didn't go ahead as planned at
the right time but you know you can
understand why imagine three thousand
delegates all coming to Beijing from
across the country including from whom a
province which is at the heart of the
problem now apart from potentially
getting infected themselves some of them
could be carrying the corona virus into
the Great Hall of the People where
China's senior leadership our weather
you know the heads of military business
leaders and the like are all at that
gathering now imagine potentially
infecting all of those people with
theirs
this disease which can be deadly so
Stephen with a political dimension to
the story makes his John sad worth also
in Beijing with an update on what China
is doing to combat the spread of the
virus more broadly China is going
all-out to contain the virus this is an
infection control squad in training but
there are still questions over its early
response and the silencing of medics who
try to raise the alarm
today though the World Health
Organization was full of praise
China has rolled out probably the most
ambitious and I would say agile and
aggressive disease containment effort in
history to what extent do you think
cover-up and censorship played a role in
allowing this virus to accelerate at the
rate it did
I don't know frankly didn't didn't look
at that under being completely honest
but what worries me most is has the rest
of the world learned the lesson of speed
once China woke up to the danger it did
move fast quarantine in cities and
effectively shutting down its economy as
the virus was allowed to spiral out of
control in the province of Hebei it
spread in smaller but significant
pockets to every province in China this
is the picture of a disaster and it
forced the government to act and here's
what happened the official figures show
that in who Bay although the numbers are
still high they are stabilizing and for
the rest of China even better news the
numbers kept low by those containment
measures and if we have a closer look
for more than a week now they've been
falling China has been so effective the
World Health Organization says it's now
safe to get the economy going again
welcome news on this farm with the roads
all blocked
of course it's brought sales down Wei
Hong kun tells me if China's control of
information helped start the crisis its
control over its people
might help solve it John said worth BBC
News Beijing almost every day we're
doing these comprehensive round ups of
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