Coronavirus: Italy confirms first death; Lebanon, Israel report first cases

Coronavirus: Italy confirms first death; Lebanon, Israel report first cases

PanARMENIAN.Net - An elderly man in the northern city of Padua has died after being infected with the coronavirus, becoming the first Italian victim of the disease, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said on Friday, February 21, according to Reuters.

Health authorities announced earlier in the day 15 cases of the virus in the wealthy northern region of Lombardy and two in neighbouring Veneto where Padua is located — the first known cases of local transmission in the country.

Lebanon and Israel confirmed their first cases on Friday, while Iran's health ministry reported two more deaths among 13 new cases of the infection, known as COVID-19. That brings the toll in Iran to four and the number of infections to 18, Al Jazeera reports.

South Korea reported 142 new confirmed cases, almost all linked to outbreaks at a hospital in Cheongdo county and a church in Daego city, bringing the national tally to 346.

Attention has also turned to Iran, which only recently began reporting its first cases, and on Friday confirmed two additional deaths and 13 new infections.

In total, four people have died in the country and 18 infections have been confirmed, CNN says

Authorities in China's Hubei province confirmed an additional 366 cases of the virus on Friday, 45 fewer than the previous day, taking the total number of cases at the epicenter of the outbreak to over 63,400. The total number of cases in mainland China is now more than 76,200.

The global death toll from the outbreak has reached 2,360, after 109 deaths were reported in mainland China Friday, including 106 in Hubei, nine fewer than the previous day.

Health Minister Arsen Torosyan said Friday that Armenia is enhancing control of passengers passing through the Meghri border crossing point in the country’s south, as well as air travelers from Iran, as an additional anti-epidemic measure to counter the spread of the novel coronavirus.

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