A community doctor visits a family to check their health conditions in Havana, Cuba, March 31, 2020. Cuba announced the decision to suspend the arrival of international passenger flights and withdraw all foreign boats from the Carribean island. (Xinhua/Zhu Wanjun)
- COVID-19 death toll rises to 31 in Israel
- Australia calls on 40,000 former health professionals amid COVID-19 outbreak
- COVID-19 infections in Japan rise to 2,524
- India COVID-19 death toll rises to 50 as total cases reach 1965
- Fiji to lock down capital city following 2 more COVID-19 cases
BEIJING, April 2 (Xinhua) -- The world is now in a battle against COVID-19, a disease caused by a previously unknown coronavirus that has spread to over 200 countries and regions.
The following are the updates on the contagious disease.
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Surfers with face masks are seen in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on March 29, 2020. (Photo by Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua)
JERUSALEM -- Israel reported five new death cases from the novel coronavirus, bringing the death toll to 31, Israel's Ministry of Health said Thursday.
The five deceased, aged 72 to 95, all suffered from other serious diseases, the ministry added. Meanwhile, the number of the novel coronavirus cases in Israel has risen to 6,211.
The Israeli health minister went into isolation on Thursday after being diagnosed with COVID-19, his office said, forcing more senior officials into self-quarantine.
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Pedestrian crossing button is stopped using on a street in Sydney, Australia, on March 30, 2020. Social gatherings have been limited to two people in key Australian states. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)
SYDNEY -- Australia rolled out a plan to quickly add over 40,000 former health practitioners to join the frontline battle against COVID-19.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and National Boards announced on Wednesday that a new sub-register had been created to allow experienced and qualified former health practitioners quickly back to practice.
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Visitors are seen in the crowd in Asakusa in Tokyo, Japan, March 25, 2020. (Xinhua/Du Xiaoyi)
TOKYO -- Japan's health ministry and local governments said that 2,524 people had been infected with the COVID-19 virus in Japan, according to the latest figures released Thursday morning.
The death toll in Japan from the pneumonia-causing virus currently stands at a total of 82 people, according to the health ministry, with the figure including those from the virus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined in Yokohama, close to Tokyo.
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Women with masks are seen at a road during the nationwide lockdown in Kolkata, India, March 31, 2020. (Str/Xinhua)
NEW DELHI -- The death toll due to COVID-19 in India Thursday morning rose to 50 as the number of confirmed cases in the country reached 1965, the federal health ministry said.
"As on 9:00 a.m. (local time) today 50 deaths related to novel coronavirus have been recorded in the country," reads the information released by the ministry.
According to ministry officials, so far 151 people have been discharged from hospitals after showing improvement.
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Airplanes of Fiji Airways are seen at the Nadi International Airport in Fiji, March 28, 2020. From Thursday, Fiji has shut down the Nadi International Airport. (FIJI SUN/Handout via Xinhua)
SUVA -- Fiji announced on Thursday to lock down the capital city of Suva from early Friday morning following two more COVID-19 cases have been confirmed.
Announcing it in a televised speech on Thursday afternoon, Fiji's Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said the sixth confirmed case is a 21-year-old woman and the seventh confirmed case is her 33-year-old husband. They are from Suva and are now in isolation at Navua Hospital, about 39 kilometers west of Suva. ■
