Nearly 300 million students worldwide missing class due to coronavirus outbreak: UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) says the new coronavirus outbreak has deprived nearly 300 million students of their schooling, as the highly-contagious disease has so far infected more than 95,000 people worldwide.

The UN agency said on Thursday that these students were told to stay at home as authorities closed schools in over a dozen countries in an attempt to combat the spread of the disease, known as COVID-19, which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

“The global scale and speed of the current educational disruption is unparalleled and, if prolonged, could threaten the right to education,” said Audrey Azoulay, director-general of Paris-based UNESCO.

More than 95,000 cases have been confirmed in some 80 nations and the number of deaths from the virus has exceeded 3,200 globally, although most of them remain confined to China, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

In a sign of how fast the new coronavirus has spread, China was two weeks ago the sole country where school closures were mandated.

UNESCO said nine other countries have also implemented localized school closures, warning that an additional 180 million students would temporarily miss their classes if these countries also ordered nationwide closures.

Italy replaces Iran as country with highest coronavirus cases after China

Italy replaces Iran as the country with the highest number of coronavirus deaths outside of China, as its fatalities exceed 100.

Coronavirus damage to airlines could top $100 billion

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) warned on Thursday that coronavirus epidemic could rob passenger airlines of up to $113 billion in revenue this year, more than three times a projection it made just two weeks ago as the virus continues to spread around the world.

The warning came as British regional carrier Flybe became the first big casualty of the slump in travel demand due to the crisis.

Norwegian Air also scrapped its profit forecast for 2020, while US budget carrier Southwest predicted a $200-300 million hit to its first-quarter operating revenues.

“There are lots of airlines that have got relatively narrow profit margins and lots of debt, and a cash flow shock like this could certainly send some into a very difficult situation,” IATA Chief Economist Brian Pearce told a media event in Singapore.

Airlines across the globe are rushing to cut flights and costs, and warning of a hit to earnings, as a new virus that started in China spreads, raising fears of a pandemic that could plunge the global economy into recession.

IATA projected the hit to passenger airlines in lost revenue from the crisis could be anywhere between $63 billion and $113 billion this year, depending on the virus’s progression. On February 20, it had forecast a hit of $29 billion.

The latest estimates equate to a drop of between 11 percent and 19 percent compared with its 2020 industry revenue forecast in December.

‘We are in uncharted territory:’ Coronavirus spreading faster outside China

The World Health Organization (WHO) says the new coronavirus afflicting the world has over the past 24 hours spread far more rapidly outside China than inside but its path is still unknown.

Infections may drop to zero by end-March in Wuhan: Expert

Zhang Boli, an expert with China’s top panel on battling the illness, said on Thursday that Wuhan, the epicenter of China’s coronavirus epidemic, would likely see new infections drop to zero by the end of this month.

He estimated that other cities in Hubei, whose provincial capital Wuhan was the birthplace of the new coronavirus, would hit such a target by mid-March, based on data on how the outbreak has evolved, but did not give details.

China had 139 new confirmed cases as of Wednesday, the National Health Commission (NHC) said, bringing the total accumulated number of cases to 80,409. Authorities reported 119 new cases the previous day and 125 the day before that.

New infections in Wuhan climbed to 131 from 114 a day earlier.

Chinese authorities have also turned their attention to stopping the virus being brought in from new coronavirus hot spots abroad.

South Korea working to contain coronavirus outbreak

South Korea — first hit with coronavirus on January 20 — is racing to prevent a third cluster of mass infections at Seoul’s Myeongseong Church, which could spread to hundreds in Seoul in days.

South Korea declares new ‘special care zone’ as coronavirus spreads

Additionally on Thursday, South Korea declared a “special care zone” around a second city hit hard by the coronavirus and the US military confirmed two new cases among relatives of its troops in the country, which is battling the biggest outbreak outside China.

The government declared a “special care zone” around Gyeongsan, a city of about 275,000 people 250 kilometers southeast of Seoul, promising extra resources such as face masks.

Gyeongsan has seen a spike in cases in recent days, many of them linked to a fringe Christian group at the center of South Korea’s outbreak. Similar zones have been declared around neighboring Daegu city and Cheongdo County.

About 75 percent of all cases in South Korea are in and around Daegu, its fourth-largest city, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

“Every day is sad and tough like a war. But our Daegu citizens are showing surprise wisdom and courage,” Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin told reporters on Thursday.

About 2,120 patients were waiting for hospital beds in Daegu, city officials said. Dozens of newly commissioned military nurses were due to begin work in the city on Thursday, the health ministry said.

The KCDC reported five more deaths from the virus, bringing the total to 37. The flu-like virus that emerged from China late last year has infected more than 95,300 people and killed almost 3,300 around the world, mostly in China, according to a Reuters tally.

South Korea also said it was banning the export of face masks, stepping up their production and would ration them to limit individual purchases to two a week, in a bid to ease shortages and curb hoarding.

People have flocked to supermarkets, pharmacies and online distributors to buy masks and other supplies, with hundreds lining up at some stores every morning.

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