China's coronavirus death toll crosses 2,300, WHO team to visit Wuhan
Beijing: The death toll in China's novel coronavirus climbed to 2,345 with 109 more deaths reported, while the confirmed cases rose to 76,288 as a team of WHO experts, currently in the country to investigate the COVID-19 outbreak, is expected to visit the worst-affected Wuhan city on Saturday, Chinese health officials said.
A total of 397 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported on Friday, while 109 deaths were reported from 31 provincial-level regions, Chinese health authority said on Saturday.
By the end of Friday, a total of 2,345 people died of the disease and 76,288 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection had been reported from all over the country, a daily report from the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Saturday.
Among the deaths, 106 were from the Hubei Province, the epicentre of the virus, one each from Hebei province, Shanghai and Xinjiang, it said.
Hubei Province reported 366 new confirmed cases and 106 new deaths on Friday, the provincial health commission said Saturday.
The latest report brought the total confirmed cases in the hard-hit province to 63,454, it said.
All over China, 20,659 patients infected with the virus have been discharged from hospital after recovery by the end of Friday, NHC said.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told media in Geneva on Friday that the WHO-led team of international experts, currently in China to investigate the coronavirus outbreak, will travel Wuhan on Saturday.
The 12-member team, which arrived in China on Monday, was initially designated to visit only Beijing, Guangdong and Sichuan provinces, while the worst-affected Hubei province and its capital Wuhan were missing from the list.
However, the team was finally given permission to visit Wuhan by the Chinese government.
Besides controlling the spread of the virus, a major task of the WHO team along with their Chinese counterparts was to come up with a standard medicine to cure the disease.
Tedros said WHO is also working with partners to safeguard the health of the members of the team and take appropriate measures when they return to their countries of origin.
The WHO team includes US specialists, according to Chinese officials.
Chinese President Xi Jinping warned the ruling Communist party officials on Friday that the virus is yet to peak as it has spread to prisons across the country.
The coronavirus epidemic had not reached its peak despite a drop in the daily number of infections, state broadcaster CCTV quoted Xi as saying at a meeting of the Communist party's Politburo on Friday.
He said that the situation in Hubei was still serious.
"The battles to defend Hubei and Wuhan should be well fought, and measures should be taken to contain the spread of the outbreak," Xi was quoted as saying by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.
It is expected that once the virus peaks, it will begin to abate.
Also, much to the horror of health officials, the disease has now spread to five Chinese prisons in the provinces of Hubei, Shandong and Zhejiang where 447 cases of the virus have been reported, He Ping, an official in-charge of the Bureau of Prison Administration of the Ministry of Justice told media here on Friday.
This led to the sacking of officials in nearly a dozen prisons and the justice department, state-run Global Times reported.
He pledged all-out efforts to quarantine suspected cases and their close contacts and timely treatment for all of those confirmed of the virus.
Prisons across the country were also ordered to step-up monitoring track records of all prison guards and officers to prevent the spread of the virus, He added.
On Friday, Beijing saw a sudden spike in the cases after the central city hospital reported 36 novel coronavirus infections, a sharp increase from the nine cases two weeks earlier, leading to fears of a potential explosion of number of infection cases in the city, the Global Times reported.
Beijing has so far reported 396 cases of novel coronavirus infection, with four deaths.
Meanwhile, China has postponed the Boao Forum for Asia, its most prestigious annual meeting held in the picturesque Hainan province where it would invite top world leaders, CEOs to discuss economy, trade and related issues.
The forum was expected to take place from March 24-27.
China also hinted at postponing the annual parliament session to be held in the first week of March.
Plans are also afoot to postpone the National People's Congress -- the country's parliament -- and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) -- China's top political advisory body, official media reported.
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Putin meets Iran's FM Araghchi, says Russia ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia
Moscow (PTI): Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday met Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hailed the Iranian people for fighting bravely and heroically for their sovereignty and said Moscow is ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia as soon as possible.
Araghchi, who held talks with Omani and Pakistani leadership before arriving in Russia, met Putin in St. Petersburg and thanked him for supporting Iran, state-owned TASS news agency reported.
"Russia is ready to do everything in its power to ensure that peace in the Middle East is achieved as soon as possible," Putin said during his meeting with Araghchi, which was also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Revealing that he received a message from Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei last week, Putin asked Araghchi to convey his "gratitude for this message and best wishes for his health and well-being."
He praised the Iranian people for fighting "bravely and heroically" for their sovereignty, Iran's state-run PRESS TV reported.
"We really hope that, based on the courage and desire for independence, the Iranian people, under the guidance of the new leader, will weather this difficult period of trials and peace will come,” Putin said.
He also stressed that Russia “intends to maintain” its strategic relations with Iran.
Araghchi said that the world witnessed Iran’s strength in countering the US during the recent war, and that the Islamic Republic is a "stable and powerful establishment."
"With their courage, the Iranian people succeeded in resisting the US aggression and will be able to endure it,” he said.
He said that it became clear that Iran has “great friends and allies” like Russia, and conveyed “warmest greetings” from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian to the Russian leader.
Araghchi said relations between Moscow and Tehran represent a “strategic partnership at the highest level” and will continue to develop "regardless of circumstances."
"We are grateful to you for the solid and strong positions in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.
Foreign Minister Lavrov said that the talks between President Putin and the Iranian Foreign Minister were "useful and constructive."
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said that Russia is "ready to provide any good offices, any mediation services that are acceptable to the parties."
"We will be ready to do everything so that ultimately peace ensues, guaranteed peace, and that there is no return to hostilities," Peskov was quoted as saying by TASS.
He was asked how Moscow can assist in future negotiations on the Iranian settlement.
Araghchi arrived in Russia after his whirlwind trip to Islamabad, which, according to him, was “very productive” and involved “good consultations" with Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, amid uncertainty over the second round of peace talks to resolve the war in West Asia.
"We held good consultations with our friends in Pakistan. The trip was successful. We assessed the outcome of our recent (meetings) and discussed in what direction and under what conditions talks can move on,” Araghchi said in a video posted on his Telegram channel upon his arrival in St Petersburg.
Referring to the second round of talks between the US and Iran to resolve the conflict in West Asia, Araghchi said: "Developments have taken place in the negotiations."
"Despite some progress in earlier rounds, the talks failed to reach their objectives due to the Americans' approach, the excessive demands they made, and the wrong approaches they adopted. Therefore, it was necessary to consult with our friends in Pakistan to review the latest situation,” Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.
He said that the trip to Pakistan was a good opportunity to review developments related to the US-Israeli war against Iran, expressing confidence that “these consultations and coordination between the two countries will be highly significant.”
Araghchi arrived at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport early Monday, where he was welcomed by Russian officials and Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, the report said.
The first round of peace talks between Iran and the US, held on April 11 and 12, failed to bring the desired result for the parties to the conflict.
The Iranian minister arrived in Islamabad for the second time on Sunday after a short visit to Oman, where he held talks with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said on security in the Strait of Hormuz and diplomatic efforts to end the Iran-US conflict.
After Araghchi left Pakistan for Oman on Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would no longer be going to Islamabad for talks with Iran, contending that Washington held all the cards on the matter.
Trump on Sunday reiterated that the US and Iranian officials can talk by phone for a peace solution to the conflict.
On Tuesday, Trump extended the two-week ceasefire with Iran indefinitely to give Tehran more time to prepare a unified proposal to end the war, just hours before the truce was set to expire.
The war began when the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran on February 28, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top commanders. The retaliation by the Islamic Republic extended the war to the entire Gulf region.
