Health News Roundup: Coronavirus infections may drop to zero; India shuts Delhi schools and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

What you need to know about coronavirus right now

Here's what you need to know about coronavirus: The spread With North Korea border shut, China warns citizens to keep away, or else

Chinese authorities have told people to stay away from the border with North Korea, which has banned people from China to keep out the coronavirus, or risk being shot by North Korean guards, residents of the area said. Residents said the warning came in a printed notice that Chinese authorities in the area issued this week, the latest indication of how seriously North Korea takes the threat of the virus.

New coronavirus infections may drop to zero by end-March in Wuhan: Chinese government expert

Wuhan, the epicenter of China's coronavirus epidemic, will likely see new infections drop to zero by the end of this month, an expert with the country's top panel on battling the illness said on Thursday, even as the city reported a quicker rise in new confirmed cases. Mainland China had 139 new confirmed cases as of Wednesday, the National Health Commission (NHC) said, bringing the total accumulated number of cases to 80,409. Authorities reported 119 new cases the previous day and 125 the day before that.

Co-Diagnostics says demand for coronavirus test kits surge, shares soar

Co-Diagnostics Inc said on Thursday demand for its coronavirus test kits had surged as the outbreak spreads and after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed labs to use tests before authorization, sending its shares up 31%. Shares of the molecular diagnostic test maker have more than tripled since Jan. 23 when the company said it had completed designing a screening test for the new coronavirus.

India shuts Delhi schools, imposes new travel restrictions over coronavirus

India shut all primary schools in the capital New Delhi until the end of March on Thursday and imposed new restrictions on travel from Italy and South Korea as part of efforts to fight the spread of the coronavirus. Prime Minister Narendra Modi postponed a trip to Brussels for a summit with EU leaders later this month.

Turkish health minister advises Turks not to go abroad unless necessary

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Thursday that Turkey was advising its citizens not to go abroad unless necessary, due to the risk of the coronavirus, and that those who do go should isolate themselves for 14 days upon their return. "In order to prevent infections, our citizens should avoid going abroad unless necessary, and those who do should isolate themselves for 14 days," he told a news conference, adding that the slow response by European countries was putting Turks at risk.

Iran to use phone checks for coronavirus, school closure extended

Iran will keep schools and universities closed for another two weeks and check up on people in the worst affected areas by telephone, the health minister said on Thursday, after concerns were raised an earlier plan for home visits could spread the disease. The country, which has one of the highest numbers of fatalities outside China, will keep academic institutions shut until the end of the Iranian calendar year on March 20, Minister Saeed Namaki announced on state television.

California declares emergency over coronavirus as death toll rises in U.S.

The U.S. death toll from coronavirus infections rose to 11 on Wednesday as new cases emerged around New York City and Los Angeles, while Seattle-area health officials discouraged social gatherings amid the nation's largest outbreak. The first California death from the virus was an elderly person in Placer County, near Sacramento, health officials said. The person had underlying health problems and likely had been exposed on a cruise ship voyage between San Francisco and Mexico last month.

Special Report: Before coronavirus, China bungled swine epidemic with secrecy

When the deadly virus was first discovered in China, authorities told the people in the know to keep quiet or else. Fearing reprisal from Beijing, local officials failed to order tests to confirm outbreaks and didn't properly warn the public as the pathogen spread death around the country. All this happened long before China's coronavirus outbreak, which has claimed more than 3,000 lives worldwide in less than three months. For the past 19 months, secrecy has hobbled the nation's response to African swine fever, an epidemic that has killed millions of pigs. A Reuters examination has found that swine fever's swift spread was made possible by China's systemic under-reporting of outbreaks. And even today, bureaucratic secrecy and perverse policy incentives continue undermining Chinese efforts to defeat one of the worst livestock epidemics in modern history.

Vietnam culls 137,000 birds to contain avian influenza outbreaks

Vietnam has so far this year culled 137,180 birds to contain the spreading of bird flu outbreaks, the government said on Thursday. The outbreaks, including 38 outbreaks of H5N6 and five outbreaks of H5N1, have been detected in 13 out of Vietnam's 63 provinces this year, the government said in a statement.