Health News Roundup: German health institute warns pandemic; Tokyo coronavirus cases jump in record and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Coronavirus fear sparks Thai prison riot as cases reach 1,388

Prisoners set fire to the canteen of jail in northeastern Thailand and several inmates escaped during a riot on Sunday that was sparked by rumors of a coronavirus outbreak, a senior justice ministry official told Reuters. News reports showed large plumes of smoke rising above the prison in Buriram province, which holds about 2,000 inmates, both male and female.

German health institute warns pandemic could overstretch system -paper

Germany's health system could face strains similar to those in Italy if the coronavirus outbreak in the country worsens, the head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the federal agency responsible for disease control, told a newspaper. Lothar Wieler's comments came as RKI data on Sunday showed the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany had risen to 52,547 and 389 people had died of the disease there.

Factbox: Latest on the spread of the coronavirus around the world

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would issue a travel warning for the hard-hit New York area to limit the spread of the coronavirus. In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the country's poor for forgiveness over the price they were paying for a nationwide lockdown.

DEATHS, INFECTIONS Your COVID-19 questions, answered

There is a lot of misinformation circulating about the coronavirus, so we took to Instagram, Twitter and Reddit to see what questions have been bugging you, our readers. Below are answers from several healthcare experts who have been following the outbreak. Please note that there is much we still don’t know about the new virus, and you should reach out to your own healthcare provider with any personal health concerns.

LIVING UNDER LOCKDOWN Tokyo coronavirus cases jump in record daily rise: NHK

Tokyo has confirmed 68 new coronavirus cases, a record daily increase, public broadcaster NHK reported on Sunday, as the Japanese capital scrambles to prevent a wider outbreak, while a cluster of infections increased near the city. Japan has so far been spared a major spreading of the coronavirus that has hit Europe and North America, but authorities fear a rise in cases with no known source of infection could signal a bigger new wave.

Singapore reports third coronavirus-related death

Singapore reported its third coronavirus death on Sunday, a day after the city-state's total infections topped 800. The health ministry said the patient, a 70-year-old male Singaporean, had been in intensive care for 27 days before he passed and that he had some pre-existing conditions.

Italy coronavirus death toll surges past 10,000; lockdown extension likely

The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy barrelled past 10,000 on Saturday, a figure that made an extension of a national lockdown almost certain. Officials said 889 more people died in the previous 24 hours, the second highest daily tally since the epidemic emerged on Feb. 21, and that total fatalities reached 10,023.

China defends against an incoming second wave of coronavirus

A growing number of imported coronavirus cases in China, where the epidemic originated in December, risked fanning the second wave of infections when domestic transmissions had "basically been stopped", a senior health official said on Sunday. China, where the disease first emerged in the central city of Wuhan, had an accumulated total of 693 cases entering from overseas, which meant "the possibility of a new round of infections remains relatively big", Mi Feng, spokesman for the National Health Commission (NHC), said.

UK's Johnson warns on coronavirus: Things to get worse before they get better

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is warning Britons in a letter to 30 million households that things will get worse before they get better, as he himself self-isolates in Downing Street to recover from the coronavirus. Britain has reported 17,089 confirmed cases of the disease and 1,019 deaths and the peak of the epidemic in the country is expected to come in a few weeks.

Trump drops the idea of New York lockdown as U.S. death count crosses 2,000

President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he would issue a travel warning for the hard-hit New York area to limit the spread of the coronavirus, backing off from an earlier suggestion that he might try to cut off the region entirely. "A quarantine will not be necessary," he said on Twitter.

(With inputs from agencies.)