As the President of United States (US) Donald Trump has departed for India from White House today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “India awaits your arrival. See you very soon in Ahmedabad.”

Trump also tweeted in Hindi on his way to India,  as a personal connect with the people here in one of the official languages, shortly before reaching Ahmedabad.

He wrote, ” हम भारत आने के लिए तत्पर हैं । हम रास्ते में हैँ, कुछ ही घंटों में हम सबसे मिलेंगे!,” (“We are raring to reach India. We are on our way and will meet everyone in a few hours.”)

PM Modi tweeted as a reply on Trump’s tweet, “Departing for India with Melania! “just before departing.The US President, his wife, daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner along with a large delegation are visiting India from today, till tomorrow.

In Ahmedabad, President Trump will visit the ‘Sabarmati Ashram’ first. Then he will address the ‘Namaste Trump’ event jointly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the newly built Motera cricket stadium.

After the event, the US President and the First Lady will visit Agra, where they will spend about an hour at the Taj Mahal before the sunset. President Trump will then depart for Delhi.

In New Delhi, they will have a full programme on Tuesday.

The Tuesday programme will include ceremonial events, bilateral meetings with the Prime Minister, a business event with Indian investors, with a special focus on companies that are investing in manufacturing in the US.

Donald Trump will also have a meet-and-greet with the US embassy staff and a meeting with his Indian counterpart Ram Nath Kovind.

To conclude the visit, there will be a state dinner at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday evening.

The US on Saturday officially confirmed that a 12-person delegation will accompany President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania during their two-day trip to India on Monday.

Meanwhile, India hopes to sign a trade deal with the United States during Trump’s visit. However, the US president said on Wednesday that he might postpone the trade agreement till the US presidential elections.

The United States on Friday said it was unlikely that a trade deal would be inked with India during President Donald Trump’s upcoming visit to the country as the concerns that led to India’s removal from the Generalized System of Preferences still persist.

As per reports, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who has been negotiating a trade deal with India, is not travelling with Trump on the India trip. In fact, he had cancelled his earlier trip to India as well.

This will be US President Trump’s first visit to India. It will be his fifth meeting with PM Modi in eight months.

One of them is at Istana Negara where Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and her husband, PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, is scheduled to have an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah at 2pm.

Another is an emergency meeting by DAP, a component party in Pakatan Harapan, at the party headquarters here.

On Sunday (Feb 23), several key leaders of the ruling government parties and also from the Opposition attended a special meeting at a hotel in Petaling Jaya. It was a closed meeting, raising questions over the purpose of the meeting.

Before that, there had been separate meetings involving several political parties amid talk of a possible realignment of the country’s political landscape.

Party leaders were tight-lipped as to what was discussed at the closed-door meetings, in the federal capital and Petaling Jaya, which drew intense media attention.

Earlier on Sunday, Umno held a special supreme council meeting for about two hours from 4pm at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC).

Bersatu also held a special meeting at the party headquarters at Menara Yayasan Selangor in Petaling Jaya, chaired by party chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who declined to comment when reporters swarmed around him as he left the premises.

Several MPs from political parties in Sabah and Sarawak also held meetings in the federal capital.

Istana Negara was also a hive of activity as many vehicles were seen entering the palace grounds from about 5.30pm on Sunday, some with police escort. These vehicles were seen leaving about two hours later.

Anwar during an event at his Bukit Segambut residence on Sunday night, said his side is awaiting information on what he described as an attempt to set up a new government.-Bernama

South Korea said Sunday it has decided to raise its alert level against the COVID-19 virus to “highest” in its latest heightened response to the confirmation of hundreds of additional cases over the weekend.

“The COVID-19 incident has been confronted by a grave watershed,” President Moon Jae-in said as he publicly announced the measure. “A few days from now is a very important moment.”

It’s the first time that the country, traditionally known for tight quarantine measures, has raised the virus alert level to “serious,” the highest in the four-tier system, in 11 years since its previous step against Influenza A (H1N1).

He said the government would strengthen the overall response system by raising the alert level by one notch to the highest of “red,” speaking at an inter-agency government on responding to the outbreak that was held at Government Complex Seoul.

The president said the government and the local authorities should not hesitate to take “unprecedented powerful” measures to contain the viral disease without being limited by “regulations.”

He mentioned a minor Christian sect, known as Shincheonji. Its church in Daegu, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, is viewed as an epicenter of many infections reported over the past few days.

The 31st reported patient infected with the virus, a woman in her 60s, is presumed to have attended lengthy crowded worship services at the church in Daegu before testing positive for the virus last week. The number of confirmed cases in South Korea, mostly in Daegu and the nearby town of Cheongdo, have since shot up to over 556 as of Sunday morning.

Moon pointed out that health authorities are taking “special” steps in connection with the followers of Shincheonji, meaning “new world” in Korean.

The government is trying to trace all of the members for virus tests.

Closing facilities related to Shincheonji and limiting its members’ activities nationwide are unavoidable measures to protect public health and safety, not seeking to restrict religious freedom, Moon said.

South Korea’s fight against the virus is “utterly different” between before and after the collective infections traced to Shincheonji, Moon pointed out, adding his administration would beef up its “cooperation and support” system with local government authorities.

“The government will perceive the crisis in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province as a national one,” he said. “It will concentrate state capabilities on riding out the difficulty without sparing any support” for the regions designated as “special care zones.”

He requested cooperation by Shincheonji followers as well, asking the public to refrain from engaging in collective events, both indoors and outdoors, for the time being.

“Although the situation is grave, we can overcome it,” he emphasized. “The government has adequate ability and confidence to control and manage the spread of the infectious disease. Trust and cooperation are the way to win the fight against the virus.” (Yonhap)

South Korea reported its fourth death from the new coronavirus on Sunday and added 123 new cases to bring the total confirmed cases to 556.

Three of the four coronavirus deaths were from Daenam Hospital in the southeastern city of Cheongdo, where the country’s first COVID-19 fatality took place and more than 110 people, including nine medical staff, were found to be infected.

The number of COVID-19 infections more than doubled in a single day on Saturday, with most cases centered around a religious organization in the country’s fourth-largest city of Daegu and the neighboring Daenam Hospital.

Of the 123 new cases, 75 are related to worship services of the Shincheonji church in the southeastern city of Daegu, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The infected cases that can be traced to the church services hovered above 300 as of Sunday morning, accounting for more than half of the total cases here.

The KCDC said it has placed more than 9,000 Shincheonji members in self-quarantine.

Some 90 new cases were in Daegu, which has a population of roughly 2.5 million, with 20 new virus incidents reported in the surrounding North Gyeongsang Province, it added.

Gwangju and Jeju also reported one more case each, while the southern port city of Busan reported two more patients, in a sign that the virus may spread quickly nationwide.

South Korea has released 18 fully recovered novel coronavirus patients from hospitals as of Sunday morning, the KCDC said.

The number of people being checked for the virus and under quarantine came to 6,039, it added. The country has tested a total of 22,633 suspected cases, with 16,038 testing negative.

South Korea confirmed its first new coronavirus case from a Chinese woman from Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus outbreak, on Jan. 20.

The country’s 31st patient, a probable “super spreader,” had attended Shincheonji’s worship services in Daegu.

Still, the authorities have kept the virus alert at the third-highest, or “orange,” level, but the virus response will be carried out with an urgency appropriate to the “red” level.

On Friday, South Korea declared that Daegu and its adjacent county Cheongdo are “special care zones.”

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, in a rare public message on Saturday night, reassured people that the virus can be contained if the public cooperates with the government’s instructions. (Yonhap)

The State Department said its on website that the travel advisory has been raised from Level 1 to Level 2, which calls for exercising “increased caution” as opposed to “normal precautions.”

Level 3 means “reconsider travel,” while the highest Level 4 means “do not travel.”

The measure comes after South Korea has reported 433 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus, including two deaths.

“Many cases of COVID-19 have been associated with travel to or from mainland China or close contact with a travel-related case, but sustained community spread has been reported in South Korea,” the State Department said in a notice. “Sustained community spread means that people in South Korea have been infected with the virus, but how or where they became infected is not known, and the spread is ongoing.”

The department said that older adults and those with chronic medical conditions, in particular, should consider postponing travel to South Korea as they may be at higher risk for severe disease.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also issued a Level 2 health notice for South Korea, calling for “enhanced precautions” when traveling to the country. (Yonhap)

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun also sternly warned against any acts that interfere with the government’s quarantine efforts and spark public uneasiness, such as large outdoor rallies.

“The government judges the COVID-19 infections have entered a ‘grave’ situation and is doing its best to contain the spread of the virus,” Chung said in a televised public message.

Apologizing to the public for the latest situation, Chung stressed the need for people’s active cooperation with the government’s quarantine efforts.

The prime minister made a special call for people to refrain from attending mass gatherings, including religious events in crowded places, and to devise other ways to carry them out.

South Korea reported 229 additional cases of the new coronavirus on Saturday, bringing the total number of infections in the nation to 433.

The number of COVID-19 infections here has soared in the past few days, with most infections traced to a hospital in the southeastern county of Cheongdo and a church of a minor Christian sect in the southeastern city of Daegu, which constitute some 80 percent of the total infections here.

“In accordance with law and principles, the government will sternly deal with acts that interfere with quarantine efforts, illegal hoarding of medical goods and acts that spark uneasiness through massive rallies,” Chung said.

A group of Protestant followers, led by conservative pastor Rev. Jun Kwang-hoon, pushed ahead with a massive rally at Gwanghwamun Plaza in central Seoul on Saturday, despite the Seoul city government’s warning.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon announced Thursday that the city government would ban the use of public plazas in central Seoul for outdoor rallies as part of drastic measures to fight the spreading coronavirus.

Chung also voiced confidence of overcoming the situation if people cooperate with and trust quarantine authorities.

“COVID-19 would have no place to hide if people informed the government about every situation as it relates to the virus,” he stressed. (Yonhap)

The number of COVID-19 infections here has soared in the past few days, with most infections traced to a hospital in the southeastern county of Cheongdo and a minor Christian sect in the southeastern city of Daegu, which constitute some 80 percent of the total infections here.

Daegu, where the 2.5 million inhabitants have been asked to stay indoors, and neighboring Cheongdo were designated as a “special management zone” on Friday.

Of the 229 new cases, 95 are related to Daenam Hospital in Cheongdo, where South Korea’s first coronavirus fatality occurred, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.

A 63-year-old man, who died of pneumonia at the hospital on Wednesday, posthumously tested positive for the virus.

On Friday, another patient died from the coronavirus at a hospital in Busan after being transferred from Daenam Hospital, the second death from the virus in South Korea.

The public health agency said 62 new cases are tied to the minor Christian sect known as Shincheonji in Daegu, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, and neighboring North Gyeongsang Province and other areas.

So far, a total of 114 virus cases — nine hospital staff and 102 patients — have been reported from Daenam Hospital, and so-called cohort isolation, the shutdown of an entire medical institution to prevent the spread of an infectious disease, was in place for the hospital, according to the health authorities.

The health authorities said 231 virus patients have been traced to the Shincheonji church’s services in Daegu, according to the KCDC.

The KCDC said it has placed a total of 9,336 Shincheonji members in self-quarantine. Among them, 544 people suspected of having contracted the virus are being tested for the virus.

The country’s 31st patient, a probable “super spreader,” had attended the church’s worship services in Daegu, and the 61-year-old South Korean woman, who tested positive for the virus earlier this week, is believed to have infected others.

But the health authorities said earlier that it is uncertain whether the patient is the source of the cluster outbreak.

The health authorities vowed to make more containment efforts as the potentially fatal illness spreads fast across the country.

The heath ministry said it will allow hospitals to separate respiratory patients from others in an effort to prevent human-to-human transmissions and will also check all pneumonia patients in Daegu hospitals.

Despite the surge in the number of infections here, the authorities said they will maintain the virus alert at the third-highest, or “orange,” level, but the virus response will be carried out with an urgency appropriate to the “red” level.

“Community spread of infections began in some limited areas, and we believe that Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province are in a special situation,” Vice Health and Welfare Minister Kim Kang-lip told reporters on Saturday.

In a sign that the virus may further spread nationwide, other provinces, including Jeju, Chungcheong and North Jeolla, reported cases. Gyeonggi Province also reported more new cases.

Four virus cases were reported in Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city with a population of 3.4 million, the first cases in the city since the country reported the first case of COVID-19 on Jan. 20.

So far, South Korea has released 18 fully recovered novel coronavirus patients from hospitals, the KCDC said.

The number of people being checked for the virus and under quarantine came to 6,037 up from 5,481 on Saturday morning, KCDC said. The country has tested a total of 21,153 suspected cases, with 15,116 testing negative.

Most virus-infected patients are stable, but about nine patients with underlying illnesses are in relatively critical conditions, the health authorities said. (Yonhap)

Online shopping site Auction said its sales of toys for toddlers and children skyrocketed from a year earlier in the seven-day period to Feb. 9.

Sales of ball tents and toy blocks surged 285 percent and 72 percent, respectively, with those of mobile toys like cars and airplanes soaring 116 percent.

Another online vendor, Gmarket, saw sales of slides and toy blocks spike 111 percent and 106 percent, respectively, over the cited period. (Yonhap)

As of 6 p.m. Thursday, the total number of infected people here stood at 104, with 70 of them in Daegu and nearby North Gyeongsang Province. Most of the cases have been traced to a church in the city that a 61-year-old woman, confirmed as the country’s 31st patient on Tuesday, had attended.

The government reported that a 63-year-old man, who died Wednesday, tested positive for the virus in a post-mortem examination. The exact cause of his death has yet to be identified. He died at Chungdo Daenam Hospital in North Gyeongsang province, where he had been hospitalized for over 20 years, according to the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Vice Health and Welfare Minister Kim Kang-lip said the country is confronting a new situation that requires a different response.

“At this stage, (the government) judged that COVID-19, which has been flowing in from overseas, is spreading locally with a limited scope,” Kim said.

He added that cases where the route of infection is unclear are emerging in Daegu and the capital Seoul.

There are at least 20 cases of coronavirus patients whose transmission path is unknown.

Community transmission refers to a generation of cases with difficulty in grasping the epidemiological link in the community beyond confirmed cases stemming from those who returned from abroad and secondary infections who had contact with people found to have contracted the virus.

Given the situation, the government is adjusting strategies to prevent the virus’ spread to a wider public, the official said, which includes raising the infectious disease alert level to the highest. Korea is currently at the third-highest readiness level in the four-tier system.

Fears ran rampant in the southern city of Daegu and nearby North Gyeongsang Province, where 70 people were confirmed to have contracted the virus. In just 24 hours through Thursday afternoon, the area saw 53 new cases confirmed.

President Moon Jae-in vowed to mobilize all available resources to the virus-stricken Daegu during a phone conversation with Mayor Kwon Young-jin. The central government plans to send medical professionals and facilities to help the city deal with snowballing cases.

Among the new cases, 39 people are linked with the Sincheonji Church of Jesus, a Christian sect to which the 61-year-old woman, who tested positive Tuesday, belongs.

KCDC Director Jung Eun-kyeong said 1,001 church members who attended services with the woman are now in self-isolation at home. But the public health agency is leaning toward the possibility that the woman could have contracted the virus via a secondary infection. She has been considered to be a potential “superspreader.”

In a phone survey conducted by health authorities, 90 church members answered to having symptoms so far, although 396 people could not be reached.

On Thursday, the government started to check those who showed suspicious symptoms for the novel virus regardless of their overseas travel history, in a bid for early detection.

Among Thursday’s newly confirmed patients in Daegu, two are teachers at an art institute and child care center. Their workplaces were shut down and colleagues were told to self-isolate.

In Seoul, a 74-year-old man received a positive result late Wednesday from a local community health center he visited for showing symptoms of pneumonia.

South Korea is now one of the countries that has reported the highest tallies outside mainland China, along with Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)

HONG KONG – A total of 106 Hong Kong passengers who were quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan for more than two weeks landed around 8:50 am Thursday. The first batch of stranded passengers was flown in by a flight chartered by the Hong Kong government.

Meeting the press on Thursday morning in Hong Kong, Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu said all incoming passengers had tested negative for a novel coronavirus causing the COVID-19 disease before disembarking the ship.

Diamond Princess had been quarantined in the Japanese port of Yokohama since Feb 3 with 621 people on board infected by the novel coronavirus, including 55 among a total of 364 people from Hong Kong.

The 55 infected patients and 33 people who have been in close contact with them had to stay back in Japan for treatment and medical observation, Lee said.

The Hong Kong government aims to bring back all Hong Kong passengers who tested negative for COVID-19 within the day, Lee said, adding that the other flight chartered to bring in the second batch will fly in the afternoon.

Also meeting reporters, Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee said the body temperature of all passengers had been checked before they had boarded the plane and after they had disembarked.

They will be tested for the disease again after arriving at the Chun Yeung Estate in Fo Tan to be quarantined for 14 days, Chan said, adding only those who tested negative will be isolated. Chan stressed that the 14-day quarantine measure was necessary as the proliferation of the infection on the ship showed the transmission chain hadn’t been cut off.

Chan said medical staff would be on duty round the clock at the estate. People under quarantine are not allowed to go out, and designated vehicles will be arranged for exceptional cases, she said.

She also called on local residents not to panic as the quarantine center is located far from other residential buildings.