95 countries now in the “club”. The screen grab above doesn’t even include all of the countries with 100+ cases. The total official count now exceeds 100,000. Iran’s epidemic appears to be very much out of control, and note how may cases elsewhere are known to be sourced in Iran. There are suspicions that the death count reported from Iran may be low. There are now believed to be two main strains of COVID-19 — types L and S– with L being more severe and S less so. There may be more as, like influenza, this virus mutates.

Cruise ships continue to be featured in this pandemic. There is a cruise ship on the Nile River in Egypt that has 12 persons on board with COVID-19. This doesn’t seem comparable to the behemoth ships like the Diamond and Grand Princess, but the passenger capacity is less than 100. The pandemic is going to slam tourism hard, hard, hard. There was a report of a crowd of Reunion islanders who greeted a Princess cruise ship demanding that passengers be tested before being allowed to disembark. Of course there was neither plan nor capability to do so. And so police controlled the crowd while passengers boarded buses for their onshore excursion. The island population is under 1,000,000 and is frequently visited by tourists both by air and sea. Tourism is a big industry there, so the cruise ship greeting was not what local officials planned.

The US is now up to 12 deaths from COVID-19 (NBC is reporting 14). All but 1 were in Washington state in the Seattle area. Half were associated with a single long term care facility. 

A new term (to me) is being discussed on the World Health Organization website: Infomedics.

• 47 new cases and 1 new death in the UK, including: [source]
  – First Birmingham coronavirus case [source]
  – 5 new cases in Scotland, bringing the total to 11: Tayside, Ayrshire and Arran, Forth Valley, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Grampian, Fife and Lothian [source]
  – 2 British Airways baggage handlers [source]
• 4 new cases in Portugal: 3 are in the hospital center of São João, in Porto and “have an epidemiological link to previous cases”, which indicates that the source of the infection is in Italy. The other case, for which no information was provided, is receiving treatment in a health care in Lisbon. [source]
• 154 new cases and 2 new deaths in France [source]
• 33 new cases in Germany [source]
• 1 new case in Bahrain [source]
• 1 new case in the Dominican Republic (second case in the country): a Canadian tourist who was staying at a hotel in Bayahibe [source]
• 6 new cases in Russia [source]
• 46 new cases and 1^st death in the Netherlands: an 86-year-year old man in Rotterdam whose source of infection is unknown [source] [source]
• 100 new cases in Spain [source]
• 18 new cases in Switzerland [source]
• 2 new cases in San Marino [source]
• 1^st case in Peru: a 25-year-old man who was in Spain, France and the Czech Republic [source]
• 1 new case in Brazil (first in Bahia): a 34-year-old woman, resident of Feira de Santana, who was in Italy and returned to Brazil on Feb. 25 [source] [source]
• 3 new cases in Denmark [source]
• 13 new cases in Singapore (largest single-day increase) [source]
• 14 new cases in Greece (Zakynthos): part of the travel group who returned from the Holy Land in Israel. 3 from this group are in serious condition [source]
• 12 new cases in Egypt on a Nile cruise ship heading to the southern city of Luxor from Aswan [source]
• 2 new cases in Romania:
  – a 51-year-old woman who came in contact with the Suceava case. She will be admitted to Craiova. [source]
  – a young classmate of the 16-year-old boy who was diagnosed with coronavirus previously. The young woman has been transferred to the Victor Babes hospital in Timisoara [source]
• 1^st case in Slovakia: a patient aged 52 from a small, unspecified town in Slovakia, who has been hospitalized at the infectology clinic of the University Hospital in Bratislava. No recent travel history abroad, but his son – who does not show any symptoms of the virus – has been to Venice, Italy [source] [source]
• 63 new cases and 2 new deaths in Spain [source]
• 59 new cases in Belgium: total more than doubled since yesterday [source]
• Total number of COVID-19 cases worldwide tops 100,000
• 1,234 new cases and 16 new deaths in Iran [source]
• 28 new cases in Malaysia [source]
• 2 new cases in Iceland [source]
• 1 new case and 3 new recoveries in Taiwan [source]
• 5 new cases in Estonia [source]
• 7 new cases in Sweden: 5 in Skåne and 2 in Västra Götaland. Total now tops 100 [source]
  • Stockholm region: 59
  • Västra Götaland region: 14
  • Region of Skåne: 14
  • Region of Värmland: 5
  • Region Uppsala: 4
  • Region Jönköping County: 3
  • Region Örebro county: 1
  • Region Gävleborg: 1
• 2 new cases in Indonesia [source]
• 1^st case in Cameroon: a 58 years old French man who entered the country from France on Feb. 24 [source]
• 1^st case in Serbia: a 43-year-old man who traveled to Budapest [source] [source]
• 1^st case in Vatican City [source]
• 1 new case in India: a person who has travelled to Thailand and Malaysia [source]
• 1 new case in Pakistan [source]
• 4 new cases in Austria [source]
• 3 new cases in Finland [source]
• 17 new cases in Japan
• 309 new cases and 1 death in South Korea [source] [source]
• 2 new cases in Norway (Bærum, Viken County). Total now tops 100 [source]
• 2 new cases in the Philippines: a 48-year-old male Filipino with travel history to Japan and a 62-year-old male Filipino with no overseas travel history [source]
• 12 new cases in Canada, including:
  1 in Ontario: a person who traveled to Las Vegas for an international conference [source]
  8 in British Columbia: 1 has no travel history, 2 had recently returned from Iran, 4 are linked to a previously confirmed case, 1 is connected to University Canada West where a presumptive case is being investigated [source]
  1 in Alberta: a woman in her 50s from the Calgary area who had been on board of the Grand Princess cruise ship, which is currently quarantined off the coast of California awaiting tests for all passengers and crew [source]
• 12 new cases and 2 new deaths in the United States, including:
  – 2 new deaths in King County, Washington state.
  – 2 new cases in Washington state
  – first 2 cases in Colorado (Summit County): 1 is a 30-year old man who had traveled to Italy in February and was in contact with a confirmed case outside of Colorado.[source]
  – first 3 cases in Maryland (Montgomery County): they had all recently traveled overseas. [source]
• 1^st case in Bhutan: a 76-year old American tourist who arrived in Bhutan on March 2 via India. [source]
• 143 new cases (126 in Hubei), 30 new deaths (29 in Hubei) and 1,681 new discharges occurred in China on March 5, as reported by the National Health Commission (NHC) of China. [source]
  
  

March 5:

• 1 new case in Argentina: a 23-year old man who had recently traveled to Italy [source]
• 1^st case in Costa Rica: a woman who had traveled to Italy and Tunisia [source]
• 1 new case in Chile: a Cook County resident in his 20s who flew into O’Hare after traveling from Italy where he caught the illness [source]’
• 2 new cases in Hungary: including a man in Debrecen who works in Milan, Italy [source]
• 1 new case in New Zealand: the partner of a previously confirmed case [source]’
• 63 new cases and 1 new death in the United States, including at least:
  – 1^st case in Colorado [source]’
  – 1 case in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
  – fifth case in Illinois a person who returned from Italy. He’s in isolation at Rush. [source]’
  – second case in New Jersey: a 32-year-old man from Fort Lee [source]’
  – 2 cases in Harris County, Texas: both are travel-related to Egypt [source]’
  – 1 new death in King County (Washington state): a woman in her 90s
  – a resident of Sonoma County (second case there) who traveled internationally on the Grand Princess ship from San Francisco to Mexico [source]
  – 4 in Los Angeles County, California [source]
  – the 1^st cases in San Francisco, California [source]’
  – 11 in New York State: 3 are in serious condition and are treated in intensive care units [source] New cases include a man in his 40s and a woman in her 80s [source]
  – the 1^st case in Nevada [source]
  – 1 in Tennessee (Williamson County) [source]
  – a Facebook worker in Seattle [source]
  – the 1^st case in New Jersey: a man in his 30s hospitalized in Bergen County [source]
• 138 new cases and 3 new deaths in France, including the first 3 cases in Corsica [source][source]
• 7 new cases in Ireland: including the first in Cork, with no recent history of travel, who is being treated in an intensive care unit. [source]
• 1 new death in Iran today is of a senior Iranian politician, Hossein Sheikholeslam, Iran’s former ambassador to Syria and former advisor to current Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. He was 67 years old [source]
• 5 new cases in Brazil [source]
• 1 new case in Luxembourg: a person who had recently returned from Northern Italy [source]
• 283 new cases in Germany [source]
• First 7 cases in Palestine, West Bank. 5 new cases in addition to the first 2 reported earlier. Palestinian Authority closes Bethlehem churches and mosques for two weeks [source] [source]
• 1^st death in the UK, an older patient with pre-existing conditions. [source]
• 769 new cases and 41 new deaths in Italy, which becomes the country with the largest daily increase in cases and deaths in the world. [source]
  Among the 3,296 active cases, 1,790 (54%) are hospitalized, 331 of which (representing 11% of active cases) are in intensive care.
  Among the 562 closed cases, 414 (74%) have recovered, 148 (26%) have died.
• 42 new cases in Sweden, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 94. [source]
• 5 new cases in Slovenia [source]
• 5 new cases in Denmark including former Danish footballer Thomas Kahlenberg [source]
• 28 new cases in the UK [source]
• 2 new cases in Israel [source]
• 3 new cases and 1 new death in Iraq: a 65-year-old person in Baghdad [source] [source] [source]
• 1 new case in Israel [source]
• 2 new cases and 1 new recovery in Canada (Ontario) [source]
• 3 new cases in Ecuador: all linked to the first confirmed case [source]
• 1 new case in Oman: a man who had recently traveled to Milan, Italy [source]
• Diamond Princess cruise ship: The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has corrected the number of cases from 706 to 696. After examining the results of the virus test, it was reported that some people were counted twice. [source]
• 4 new cases in the Czech Republic [source]
• 1 new case in Lebanon: a Lebanese woman coming from Britain [source]
• 3 new cases in Portugal: two males, aged between 40 and 50, admitted to São João Hospital in Porto, and a man in Lisbon who had recently traveled to Italy [source]
• 44 new cases in the Netherlands [source]
• 26 new cases and 1^st death in Switzerland: a 74-year-old woman who had been hospitalized since March 3. The woman suffered from a chronic illness. Source of infection still unclear. [source][source]
• 54 new cases and 1 death in Spain [source]
• 33 new cases in Japan, including 8 in Tokyo and 8 in Aichi
• 5 new cases in the Republic of San Marino bringing the total to 21: 15 are hospitalized, 3 are in serious condition. [source]
• 1 new case in India (Ghaziabad) [source]
• 22 new cases in Greece [source]
• 1 new case in Canada (Québec) [source]
• 5 new cases and 2 new recoveries in Singapore [source]
• 3 new cases in Saudi Arabia [source]
• 1^st case in South Africa: a 38-year-old man who had traveled to Italy with his wife. They were part of a group of 10 who arrived back in South Africa on March 1. [source]
• 9 new cases in Iceland [source]
• 1 new case in Egypt, bringing the total to 3 [source]
• 3 new cases and 3 new recoveries in Bahrain [source]
• 5 new cases in Malaysia [source]
• 27 new cases in Belgium [source]
• 6 new case in Georgia: a person who had recently visited Italy. [source]
• 3 new cases in Azebaijan: they had all visited Iran. [source]
• 3 new case in Estonia: including a resident of Tallinn who had been on the same flight from Bergamo, Italy, to Riga as the second confirmed case. [source]
• 1 new case in Slovenia: a person who was in contact with the first case. [source]
• 591 new cases and 15 new deaths in Iran
• 5 new cases in Finland: 3 in the Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital district, 1 is in Pirkanmaa and 1 in Kanta-Häme. The case in Kanta-Häme is a child in Hämeenlinna who had returned from northern Italy with their family on Tuesday. [source]
• 3 new cases in Scotland (UK) [source]
• 1 new case in Russia: an Italian citizen [source]
• 1^st case in Bosnia and Herzegovina: a middle-aged man and his child who recently visited Italy. His wife tested negative. He is in stable condition, hospitalized in isolation in Banja Luka. School children who have had contact with the infected child will now be tested. [source]
• 1 new case in Morocco: a Moroccan woman who recently returned to Casablanca from Italy. [source]
• 2 new cases in Kuwait [source] [source]
• 11 new cases in Norway [source]
• 15 new cases in Austria [source]
• 4 new cases in Thailand [source]
  – a 29 year-old Italian man who arrived in Thailand on March 1
  – a 42 year-old Thai male office worker who returned from Italy
  – a 22 year-old Chinese male student who was screened with symptoms while in transit at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport while traveling from Iran to China.
  – a 20 year-old Thai male student who arrived from Iran on Feb. 27
• 467 new cases, 7 new deaths, and 47 new recoveries in South Korea [source] [source]

• 139 new cases (134 in Hubei), 31 new deaths (all in Hubei) and 2,189 new discharges occurred in China on March 4, as reported by the National Health Commission (NHC) of China. [source]