FRIDAY, MARCH 6
The closure of a high school in Sydney, the postponement of Thailand’s famous annual Full Moon beach party, Iranians told to avoid using cash and the Netherlands scrambling to put together a plan for the imminent return of about 900 students from a ski trip in northern Italy.
These are just a few of the latest developments from the growing world-wide spread of the coronavirus.
Epping Boys High School in north-west Sydney will be closed for one day on Friday after a Year 11 student tested positive for the coronavirus.
Over the weekend the state health authorities will work to establish a containment strategy.
The latest case brings the total number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in New South Wales to 25, a day after a 95-year-old aged-care resident became the state’s first coronavirus-related fatality.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard urged parents on Friday “not to panic but make sure your child stays at home” over the weekend.
In Iran, the Health Minister Saeed Namaki said “Cash should be especially avoided, because bank notes and coins could also be a danger”.
In further measures, the ministry said it had issued instructions for regular disinfection of public places, including public transport and entrances to official buildings.
Meanwhile, in Queensland, authorities will consider scenarios for controlling and dealing with the spread of the virus, including what threshold will be set for schools to be closed.
The State Government said it would look at options for quarantine facilities and staffing levels to control the spread of the virus.
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Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have appeared together at an official engagement for the first time since announcing in January that they would step away from their Royal duties.
The appearance by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, at an awards ceremony for wounded service personnel in London will also be one of their last before they quit as working members of the Royal family.
There was one loud boo from the crowd outside as the smiling couple arrived clutching an umbrella amid rainfall and a blaze of camera flashes from massed photographers.
The couple will stop their Royal duties at the end of the month as they seek to carve out “a progressive new role”, mainly based in North America, which they aim to finance themselves.
While Harry remains a prince, they have agreed not to use the HRH (His or Her Royal Highness) titles and will not use “Royal” in their branding, even though they said there was no jurisdiction by the monarchy or the government to stop them using the word overseas.
The couple have spent most of their time in Canada since January’s shock announcement.
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Water turned into wine in a northern Italy town when red Lambrusco poured out when locals turned on their taps, the result of a “piping fault”.
The incident, reported on the front page of Thursday’s Il Resto del Carlino newspaper, happened on Wednesday in Castelvetro di Modena, about 200km southeast of Milan.
It was caused by a technical fault in the internal piping of a local winery as wine due for bottling was mistakenly introduced in the main water supply of the municipality.
The winery, Cantina Settevetro, wrote on Facebook that “the incident caused no hygienic or health risks” and apologised “for any possible inconvenience caused by the event”.
The municipality gave similar reassurances on Facebook, stressing that the problem was resolved quickly.
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