WHO warns of sustained community transmission; first death in UK; test kits delivered to San Francisco cruise ship. Follow live news: * Greece shuts schools as WHO warns about local transmission * Vietnamese curator dropped because of ‘coronavirus prejudice’ * Cruise ship held near San Francisco for testing as city confirms two cases * Has Covid-19 mutated into a more deadly strain? Busting the myths * Trump calls WHO’s global death rate from coronavirus ‘a false number’ * ‘Really stressful’: Italians struggle to cope with education closures * Coronavirus latest: at a glance 12.40am GMT “WOMEN WASH THEIR HANDS SIGNIFICANTLY MORE OFTEN”: MEN BEING TOLD TO 12.28am GMT In the US state of Maryland, a public health laboratory has confirmed three coronavirus cases, Governor Larry Hogan said in a statement on Thursday. The patients contracted the disease while traveling overseas and are in good condition, Hogan said. He provided no additional details. 12.26am GMT Related: Airlines could lose up to $113bn on back of coronavirus, says Iata 12.22am GMT Businesses in Australia are enacting emergency measures to address the threat of workplace transmission after concerns about staff exposure the novel coronavirus. 12.16am GMT 12.10am GMT 12.03am GMT 12.01am GMT In Italy, the coronavirus death toll has risen by 41 over the past 24 hours to 148, the Civil Protection Agency said on Thursday, with the contagion still showing no sign of slowing. The accumulative number of cases in the country, which is hardest hit by the virus in Europe, totalled 3,858, up from 3,089 on Wednesday. The head of the agency said that of those originally infected, 414 had fully recovered versus 276 the day before. While the contagion is focused on a handful of hotspots in the north of Italy, cases have now been confirmed in each of the country’s 20 regions. 11.54pm GMT Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared a 30-day state of emergency on Thursday after coronavirus cases were reported in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. The decree was announced hours after officials closed Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplaces of Jesus, and banned foreign tourists from West Bank hotels. “We have decided to declare a state of emergency in all Palestinian areas to confront the danger of the coronavirus and prevent it from spreading,” said Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh, reading from the decree. 11.46pm GMT US stock markets closed sharply lower again on Thursday as fears about fallout from the virus outbreak sent more shudders through the financial world. Related: US markets in sharp drop amid rollercoaster over coronavirus 11.44pm GMT Australian composer BRETT DEAN has been diagnosed with coronavirus, the ABC reports. He had withdrawn from an Adelaide Symphony Orchestra event fearing he had pneumonia, but has since tested positive for Covid-19. There are seven confirmed cases of the virus in the state of Adelaide. Three of the people he came into contact with have placed themselves in quarantine. 11.34pm GMT The Australian market has followed the lead set by the US and dropped 1.6% shortly after the opening bell as coronavirus fears once again grip traders. US markets were down about 3.5% overnight (Australian time) after California, the country’s biggest state by population, declared a state of emergency and infections in New York City surged. Travel agencies have taken a big hit on the back of bans on corporate travel and tourism. Corporate Travel Management, which has been falling for a fortnight, dropped again in early trade, shedding about 6%. It’s already been savaged this week, shedding 7.5% on Thursday and more than 9% on Wednesday. Flight Centre, which has also had a bad fortnight, fell about 5%. All the big four banks - ANZ, Commonwealth, NAB and Westpac – were down more than 2%, with NAB the biggest loser of the pack at almost 3.7%. 11.33pm GMT Local transmissions are an increasing worry, the WHO has warned, as global infection rates reach 96,500. Continue reading...
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