GENEVA, March 11. /TASS/. More than 600 people have been infected with the coronavirus in Switzerland, Swiss RTS television reported on Wednesday citing Patrick Mathys from the Federal Office of Public Health as telling a news conference in Bern.
"The number of confirmed cases reached 613 on Wednesday morning, and 32 more cases are yet to be confirmed," he said. The novel coronavirus cases are reported in 23 cantons and half cantons out of 26, including in Bern, Geneva, Zurich and Ticino.
On Tuesday, the Swiss authorities reported 476 confirmed coronavirus cases. Three people died.
Under the government decision, public events involving more than 1,000 people were banned until March 15. The authorities employ the army for anti-virus events. Specific focus is on people older than 65 and medically fragile ones. The first confirmed coronavirus case in Switzerland was reported on February 25.
A pneumonia outbreak caused by the COVID-19 virus (previously known as 2019-nCoV) was reported in China’s Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center, in late December 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, describing it as an epidemic with multiple locations. Besides China, major coronavirus outbreaks have been reported in South Korea, Iran and Italy.
As yet, 120 countries and territories, including Russia, have reported confirmed coronavirus cases. In China, over 3,150 people have died, 61,570 people recovered, and the number of cases reached 80,780. Over 121,000 coronavirus cases and more than 4,370 deaths have been confirmed in the world so far.