Coronavirus: New European cases soar as China infections and deaths drop

'We have been again saying to the world, reminding the world, that the window of opportunity is narrowing', WHO chief says

Italy confirmed its death toll had risen to 52 - an increase of 18 on the previous day (AP)

The number of newly reported cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus announced in Germany, Italy and France on Monday stood at more than double that of China as the deadly virus continues to spread away from its epicentre.

Italy, among the worst affected countries worldwide after an outbreak in the northern provinces of Lombardy and Veneto, confirmed its death toll had risen to 52 – an increase of 18 on the previous day – as the number of confirmed cases rose to 1,835.

Among them were the first to be announced in Rome, afflicting two people – a police officer and a firefighter – in the capital.

Alongside Iran and South Korea, Italy has been among the worst afflicted countries in the world – with World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warning the nations were the greatest concern for the UN body.

Elsewhere in Europe, Germany and France also saw their infection rates rise – increasing to 191 and 157 respectively.

And across the globe the death toll topped 3,000 and the number of those infected rose to about 89,000 in 70 countries on every continent but Antarctica.

Speaking at a press conference in Geneva, Mr Tedros added the “window of opportunity” to contain the virus was narrowing.

Referring to previous advice issued by the UN body, he said “We had a window of opportunity and what we said then was, of course we can have concerns and worries – it’s understandable – but let’s really calm down and do the right thing and use the window of opportunity to contain the outbreak.

“So it is still the same message but in some places we are not seeing the level of response that we expected and that’s why we have been again saying to the world, reminding the world, that the window of opportunity is narrowing and that we have to still do our best to catch up.”

The continued spread in Europe came despite an apparent reduction in infections across China, where 205 new cases were announced along with 42 deaths – among the lowest numbers since the virus was first reported in Wuhan.

While Beijing has reported a sustained reduction in newly infected citizens, the virus has continued to spread into more nations than ever before. The virus turned up for the first time in New York, Moscow and Berlin, as well as Latvia, Malaysia, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Portugal.

Meanwhile the US announced a new death toll of six in the state of Washington with almost 80 people infected.

Vice president Mike Pence, who was put in charge of the nation’s virus response by Donald Trump last week, said the threat to US citizens still remained relatively low.

However he added the nation’s travel restrictions may expand in response to the continued spread of the illness.