i) China's financial news magazine Caixin reported (March 4) that confirmed cases of coronavirus in China had climbed to 80,303 as of March 3, with the death toll reaching 2,947. Outside China, 11,896 confirmed cases and 184 deaths were reported in 73 countries. It said even as new coronavirus infections have been declining in China, cases imported from abroad have been rising and quoted Zhang Wenhong, Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Shanghai Huashan Hospital, affiliated with Fudan University, as saying  “This is a bad sign and very worrisome. It will bring difficulties to China’s outbreak control.” 

(Comment: The Foreign Policy magazine said by March 4, the figures had climbed to -- Worldwide: 94251 confirmed cases and 3214 deaths attributed to coronavirus; and in China: 80270 confirmed cases and 2981 deaths.) 

ii) China's social media separately disclosed (March 3) that PLA Major General (Ms) Chen Wei who is is leading the effort to combat the coronavirus from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a laboratory with the highest biosafety classification, had taken the first injection of the potential vaccine against the disease that day as "R&D had made major breakthroughs".

iii) Meanwhile the Beijing municipal government said it has tightened its quarantine rules and visitors who enter Beijing from South Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan are required to undergo a 14-day quarantine. The Beijing government has also banned all taxis and carpooling services from traveling in or out of the city in its latest measure to control the spread of the coronavirus.

iv) Yang Yunyan, Deputy Governor of Hubei Province told reporters (March 3) that the situation in Hubei is still severe and the lockdown of Wuhan and other draconian measures will still be kept in place. There are more than 20,000 patients in the province that are receiving treatment, including more than 6000 in critical condition. In addition, the authorities have not yet been able to stop the increase of new case. He also admitted that some discharged patients tested positive again for carrying the virus, and some patients with no symptoms also tested positive.

v) European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a news conference on March 2, that the European Union had raised the risk alert level for the coronavirus from moderate to high. France announced the closure of more than 100 schools in the north central Oise region, affecting more than 28,000 students. The schools were closed until March 14 as part of precautionary measures.