International fears grow with rise of coronavirus deaths outside China

New cases and fatalities from the new coronavirus outbreak outside China have seen a major spike, days after the World Health Organization has warned against a global overreaction to the epidemic. WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, later said that the window of opportunity to stem the global outbreak was “narrowing”.
On Saturday, the second coronavirus death was reported in Italy. Ten towns in the north of the country are now locked by the authorities. The country’s prime minister Giuseppe Conte has called an emergency meeting with the health authorities and announced “extraordinary measures” to fight the spread of the virus. Last Sunday, an 80-year-old Chinese tourist died from the virus in France.
The number of cases nearly tripled in South Korea on Saturday. Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that, in less than 24 hours, the total number of confirmed cases in the country rose from 156 to 433.
A number of cases have also been reported across the Middle East, including the first ones in Israel and Lebanon. The death toll reached 8 in Iran. All of the victims are believed to be Iranian citizens. Iran on Saturday reported 10 new cases, after the first infections surfaced in the country on Wednesday. According to state media, authorities ordered the closure of schools and universities in 14 provinces across the country.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused foreign media of trying to use the outbreak to “discourage” people from voting in the general election that was held on Friday. “This negative propaganda began a few months ago and grew larger approaching the election and in the past two days, under the pretext of an illness and a virus, their media did not miss the slightest opportunity to discourage people from voting”, Khamenei said. He also told Iranians in a speech that it is a religious obligation to vote, after he casted the first vote. The low turnout was widely forecast with the rise of public anger over a worsening economic crisis and escalating tensions with the United States.
Meanwhile, thousands of Russian-linked social media accounts have jointly spread alarm about the virus by promoting conspiracy theories that the US is behind the outbreak. Some accounts have said the US is waging “economic war on China” and that the virus is a biological weapon manufactured by the CIA. The US accused Russia of spreading misinformation and disrupting global efforts to fight the epidemic. “The number of coronavirus cases globally hasn’t reached its apex, so the Russian strategy is to very cheaply but very effectively take advantage of the information environment to sow discord between us and China, or for economic purposes”, a US official said.
Just a few days earlier, Russia, with only three confirmed cases of the virus, announced it will temporarily ban Chinese nationals from entering the country. Local media reported that an email was sent to public transit operators, urging them to call the police if Chinese nationals boarded their buses. The state-owned transport company that reportedly sent the email said on Twitter that the leaked email was fake. However, it created chaos following the bus drivers’ efforts to identify Chinese citizens.
On Thursday, Ukrainians threw stones at buses carrying 72 people which were evacuated from China, triggering clashes with the police. In sign of solidarity, the country’s health minister Zoryana Skaletska went into quarantine together with the evacuees.
Earlier this month, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation committed up to $100 million for the global response to the virus outbreak. The foundation said it would direct $20 million to organizations like the WHO, the US Centers for Disease Control and Protection, the National Health Commission of China and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.