* Newsletter updated at 9:25 on March 14

South Korea: more than 8,000 cases, 72 deaths

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said on March 14 that South Korea has recorded an additional 107 cases of COVID-19 yesterday, bringing the total number of cases to 8,086. The current death toll is 72.

According to data published by the National Health Commission of China (NHC), as of the end of March 13, the whole mainland China had 11 more COVID-19 cases, 13 deaths and 1,430 discharge cases. Thus, mainland China currently has a total of 80,824 cases, 3,189 deaths and 65,541 hospital discharge cases.

The Philippines has also reported 1 more deaths due to COVID-19, bringing the number of deaths to 6. The number of infections in this country is currently 64.

In the US, The AP News Agency said it had closed offices in Washington D.C. after one of their journalists - recently exposed to a suspected COVID-19 - showed symptoms of the disease. This journalist was one of hundreds of journalists present at the press conference in New Orleans last week.

Mexico's Ministry of Health announced that the number of COVID-19 cases in the country has increased from 15 to 26 cases. In Panama, the number of cases increased from 27 to 36 cases.

Meanwhile Prime Minister Andrew Holness of Jamaica on March 13 declared the island nation a disaster area because of the threat of COVID-19. "We are trying as much as we can to control the epidemic," he said. To date, Jamaica has recorded 8 cases of COVID-19.

"Europe is the epicenter of the epidemic"

According to AFP news agency, speaking at an online press conference on March 13 in Geneva, Switzerland, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General, Mr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that Europe is now "the heart pandemic "caused by a new strain of corona virus globally".

Tedros also warned that it was not known when the epidemic in Europe would peak. According to the head of WHO, at this time, Europe is having more cases and deaths from COVID-19 than the total number of cases and the number of deaths in other countries in the world combined (excluding China National).

"The number of reported cases per day now (in Europe - PV) is even higher than in China at the time of the hot epidemic," Tedros said.

Mr. Tedros said in the context of the European countries recording an increase in the number of cases and deaths from COVID-19.

Italy: 250 people died in 24 hours

Italy recorded a record high number of deaths per day. There were 250 deaths within 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths from COVID-19 in Italy to 1,266, while the total number of infections was 17,660, according to the BBC.

In Spain, the second most severely affected European country after Italy, also recorded a 50% increase in deaths to 121 people on March 13. The country's total number of infections has also increased to 4,231.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared the state of alarm for the COVID-19 epidemic will take effect in 2 weeks from March 14. "It is worrisome that we cannot rule out the possibility that in the next week there may be more than 10,000 cases," said Pedro Sanchez.

Europe increases border controls

Border control regulations are also being deployed more and more in European countries to prevent epidemics.

Poland on March 13 announced the closure of the border with foreign tourists in the context that the country has had at least 68 cases of illness.

According to AFP news agency, Poland will also apply the 2-week medical quarantine regulation for those returning from abroad. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters: "Most of the cases that have spread in Poland are from outside."

Denmark will also close its border with foreigners from noon 14-3 (ie 18:00 on the same time as Vietnam).

AFP news agency quoted the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mr. Mette Frederiksen: "All tourists and foreigners can not prove a reasonable reason to go to Denmark will not be allowed to enter". However, Danish citizens still enter normally.

In related developments, Switzerland will also close schools in this country to prevent epidemics and provide financial support to severely affected businesses. As of March 13, Switzerland had 1,125 cases. illness, while a day earlier it was 850 cases.

UN staff in New York working remotely

According to the AFP news agency, all UN employees working at the New York headquarters on March 13 were notified to work from home for at least three weeks, except in situations where attendance was required.

There are currently about 3,000 UN employees in New York. This week a Filipino diplomat was positive for SARS-CoV-2, the first case of COVID-19 at UN headquarters.