…Airlines industry braces for huge hit
…81,400 confirmed cases worldwide, 2,771 have died
…China deploys robots for non-contact deliveries
THUR, FEB 27 2020-theG&BJournal- The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said Wednesday that as at 26 February 2020, 11 suspect cases of COVID-19 have been tested in Nigeria and all turned negative.
The Centre said they will continue to monitor the outbreak globally and will inform the public if a case is reported in Nigeria.
‘’We urge the public to disregard and discourage the spread of rumours,’’ the NCDC said in an apparent response to report of a first suspected case in the country which spread quickly Wednesday.
NCDC has been in intense collaboration with the African Centre for Disease Control (Africa CDC) which is also intensively building capacities of African Union Member states amid the spread of the deadly disease. The Africa CDC is currently in Tunisia as over 40 participants gather to begin training in Risk Communications.
In China, health officials Thursday said they received reports of 433 new confirmed cases of the infection and 29 deaths on Wednesday from 31 provincial level regions on the mainland. The country’s National Health Commission said 26 deaths were recorded in Hubei Province, and one in Beijing, Heilongjiang and Henan respectively. The officials say Wednesday saw 508 new suspected cases, as well as 2,750 people discharged from hospital after recovery and the number of severe cases down by 406 to 8,346. The overall confirmed cases in mainland China now stands 78,497 and 2744 has died of the disease.
Leading COVID-19 expert said Thursday at a press conference that China is confident that it will put the COVID-19 outbreak under control by the end of April.
China has deployed unmanned intelligent robots at a residential community in Guiyang, SW China’s Guizhou to support the ‘’non-contact delivery’’ amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Residents can pick up packages with a verification code from the robot that roams around.
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) Wednesday jointly called for ‘’responsibility and coordination’’ regarding the outbreak. The Both world bodies say they are committed to working together in guiding the travel and tourism sectors’ response to COVID-19 in the face of travel restrictions in some parts of the world and an expected drop in tourist numbers in the coming weeks and months.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) say the impact of the outbreak show a potential 13% full-year loss of passenger demand for carriers in the Asia-Pacific region.
‘’Considering that growth for the region’s airlines was forecast to be 4.8%, the net impact will be an 8.2% full-year contraction compared to 2019 demand levels. In this scenario, that would translate into a $27.8 billion revenue loss in 2020 for carriers in the Asia-Pacific region—the bulk of which would be borne by carriers registered in China, with $12.8 billion lost in the China domestic market alone,’’ IATA said.
Loss of passenger demand for carriers is beginning to hit Europe too as British Airways Wednesday cancelled dozens of flight to Milan, Italy due to demand drop. Italy has the highest confirmed case in Europe to date with 458 confirmed cases. Twelve people have died in the country from the disease.
Fresh cases also have emerged in Spain, France, Croatia Austria and Switzerland leaving Antarctica as the only continent in the world free of the virus.
Europe’s tourism experts are predicting tourism industry will be devastated by the rapid spread of the disease in the continent with airlines worldwide facing up to $30 billion loss because of the virus.
Latest figures show that 81,400 worldwide have been infected by the virus. 2,771 have died.
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