Afghanistan confirms first coronavirus patient

KABUL (Reuters) -  Afghanistan’s minister of public health said on Monday the country had identified its first case of coronavirus. Ferozuddin Feroz, the minister of public health, told a press conference in Kabul one of three suspected cases had been confirmed in the Western province of Herat. He announced a state of emergency in the province, which borders Iran where dozens of cases of the disease have been confirmed and eight people have died. On the other hand, the deadly coronavirus epidemic spread further outside China on Monday as a surge of infections in South Korea made it the biggest hotspot abroad, while authorities in Europe and the Middle East battled to curb outbreaks. The number of fatalities in China also continued to soar, with 150 more confirmed deaths taking the official death toll to over 2,600. Chinese authorities insist they are making progress in containing the virus, citing slowing infection rates thanks to unprecedented travel lockdowns and quarantines in or near the outbreak’s epicentre. But a rising number of new cases and deaths in other parts of the world have deepened fears about a potential pandemic, with South Korea, Italy and Iran emerging over the past week on the frontlines. South Korea has seen a rapid surge in infections since a cluster emerged from a religious sect in the southern city of Daegu last week. Another 161 infections and two more deaths were reported in South Korea on Monday, bringing the total cases to more than 700 people — the most outside China. South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Sunday raised the country’s virus alert to the highest “red” level, to strengthen the government response to the spiralling outbreak. The government has extended kindergarten and school holidays by one week nationwide and plans to enforce tighter two-week monitoring of arrivals from China.