from ZeroHedge:

Summary:

• 21 cases confirmed aboard ‘Grand Princess’


• First death reported in Latin America


• 2 dozen American tourists quarantined on cruise ship


• Illinois confirms sixth case, shuts Chicago school


• South Korea reports 367 new cases raising total to 7,134


• US Marine in Virginia catches coronavirus


• San Francisco confirms six new cases


• Italy quarantines half the country


• British Columbia confirms six cases


• Spain quarantines town


• First case in Washington DC


• US death toll hits 19 as two more cases in WA.


• New York cases hit 76


• Australia reports third death

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Update (2000ET): Though the coronavirus has spread more slowly across the warmer climate of Latin America, the first fatality linked to Covid-19 on the continent has just been reported by the Argentinian health ministry.

• ARGENTINA CONFIRMS FIRST DEATH IN LATIN AMERICA OF PATIENT DIAGNOSED WITH CORONAVIRUS – HEALTH MINISTRY STATEMENT

In other news, the Washington Post reports that two dozen American tourists are being quarantined on a cruise ship in the Egyptian city of Luxor, according to two passengers, as Egyptina health officials confirmed 33 new cases of the virus on Saturday.

South Korea, meanwhile, just reported another 367 Covid-19 cases, bringing the total to 7,134.

According to the Chicago Tribune, students and staff at a Chicago public school have been asked to stay home next week while the school undergoes a “deep clean”. They’ve also been advised to stay at home and not leave until mid-March, after a classroom assistant – a previous passenger on the Grand Princess before disembarking on Feb. 21.

The special education teacher at Vaughn Occupational High School in Portage Park has been hospitalized since becoming the sixth positive case in the state of Illinois – with all the cases having been identified in Cook County.

Students and staff at the school have been asked to stay in self-quarantine until March 18, unless directed otherwise by the department of public health.

Looking back, over the last 24 hours, four more deaths have been recorded in the US, two in Florida, and two in Washington State from the same Kirkland nursing home as earlier deaths.

The first case confirmed in Washington DC has been described as a resident in his 50s who appears to have contracted the virus in late February, when he started feeling ill. Health officials said the man likely didn’t attend the AIPAC conference where several infected individuals attended.

In other US news, a US Marine in Virginia has tested positive at Fort Belavoir. Officials at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital and the Virginia Department of Health are working with state and federal officials to take care of the soldier and ensure the virus doesn’t spread.

Gov. Ralph Northam has been briefed on the situation and the state currently says the risk to the public is low, according to NBC News.

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Update (1740ET): Six more San Francisco residents have tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday, bringing the total case count in the city to eight, public health officials said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

All of the people who were newly diagnosed are isolating at home and in good condition, the San Francisco Department of Public Health said. The previous two patients were both hospitalized.

Two of the new patients are in their 20s, three are in their 40s, and the sixth person is in his or her 50s. Three of the patients are women and three are men. All of them have had contact with someone who already has been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, public health officials said.

“These newly confirmed cases are an indication of the increasing circulation of coronavirus in the community, as expected, given the patterns in our state, region and our own city,” Dr. Grant Colfax, director of health, said in a statement.

Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced on twitter that the first case has been confirmed in the nation’s capital.

Late this afternoon, testing at the Public Health Lab at the DC Department of Forensic Sciences yielded its first presumptive positive coronavirus (COVID-19) case. Join me live at 7:30 p.m. for a briefing at the John A. Wilson Building.

— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) March 7, 2020

Meanwhile, in Australia, NSW Health has confirmed that a man in his 80s has died in a Sydney hospital, and has tested positive for Covid-19, making him the third coronavirus-related death in Australia. Chief Health Officer Dr. Kerry Chant passed on sympathies to the family of the patient.

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