Jumat, 21 Februari 2020

Coronavirus updates: South Korea reports big jump in cases, virus spreading in Chinese prisons - NBC News

Two more deaths and new cases in Iran

South Korean city declared 'special management zone' following spread from church

Total number of infections stands over 76,000 globally

Last healthy travelers to leave stricken cruise ship Diamond Princess in Japan

• China reports spike in coronavirus cases in prisons

• China says earliest coronavirus vaccine to be submitted for trials late April


Two more deaths in Iran, as 13 news cases are confirmed

Kianoush Jahanpour, a spokesperson for the Iranian Health Ministry, confirmed 13 new cases of coronavirus in Iran in a tweet on Friday. Two more people died Friday, bringing the total numbers of virus-related deaths in Iran to four.

Seven new cases were confirmed in the city of Qom, four in the country's capital, Tehran, and two in Gilan province. The total number of cases in Iran now stands at 18. — Amin Khodadadi

South Korea declares 'special management zone' following spread from church

The mayor of South Korean city of Daegu said it was facing an “unprecedented crisis” after a series coronavirus infections linked to a single church service, as worries mounted in the country.

The number of cases of coronavirus in South Korea has doubled in 24 hours, reaching 204

As the government works to prevent the spread of the virus, events have been cancelled and delayed, and some facilities are being closed down until further notice.

The total number of COVID-19 cases stemming from “patient 31” in the city of 2.5 million people— which is two hours south of the capital, Seoul — comes to 58 and of the total 42 made contact at the church.

Another 15 were infected in contact at the local hospital, one person infected at the hospital has died, according to a briefing from Korea’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

A South Korean health official sprays disinfectant in front of a hospital where a total of 16 infections have now been identified with the coronavirus, near the southeastern city of Daegu on Feb. 21.Yonhap / AFP - Getty Images

The Shincheonji Church of Jesus — whose leader claims he is an angel of Jesus — has become the biggest cluster of viral infections in South Korea, where a surge in new cases raises fears that the outbreak is getting out of control.

Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin on Thursday urged the city’s 2.5 million people to stay home and wear masks even indoors if possible.

Little is known about the woman known as “patient 31" except that she is in her early 60s, had no recent record of overseas travel and was diagnosed with pneumonia last weekend. — Stella Kim

Total number of infections stands over 76,000 globally

More than 76,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, and at least 2,200 people have died as of Friday. The vast majority of the deaths are in mainland China.

In Hubei province — the epicenter of the virus outbreak — the number of new confirmed cases in the province was revised from 411 to 631, and the total number of confirmed cases was revised from 62,442 to 62,662 as of Friday. — Dawn Liu

Japan to let off last healthy cruise travelers

Japan's health minister said the last cruise ship passengers who tested negative for a new virus will leave the Diamond Princess on Friday after a much-criticized quarantine of the vessel ended.

The ship docked at Yokohama has the most COVID-19 cases outside of China, with 634 cases from the ship confirmed as of Friday. Two former passengers have died.

A mask-clad passenger heads for a temperature check after disembarking from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, in quarantine due to fears of coronavirus, at Daikoku pier cruise terminal in Yokohama on Feb. 21.Philip Fong / AFP - Getty Images

Health Minister Katsunobu Kato told a news conference the mass disembarkation into Japan of passengers from the ship is set to end Friday, while dozens of foreign passengers are flying back to their home countries on flights chartered by their governments.

This will leave roughly 1,000 passengers who tested negative but shared a room with a COVID-19 positive passenger, as well as the ship’s crew. They will be transported to a government facility to be quarantined and monitored for symptoms in isolation starting on Saturday.

Japan's government has been questioned over its decision to keep people quarantined on the ship, given the tight quarters and the difficulty of isolating sick people from the healthy. Arata Yamamoto and the Associated Press

More than 500 cases reported in Chinese prisons

Hundreds of new coronavirus cases in China on Friday traced back to four prisons on the mainland, including two in Hubei, the center of the outbreak.

In Hubei, the Wuhan Women’s prison has 230 cases, and the Shayang Hanjin prison reported 41 on Friday.

Rencheng Jail in eastern China’s Shandong province has also confirmed 207 cases of the virus.

The Shandong government said that a prison guard at the jail started showing symptoms in early February. All 2,077 people held or working at the prison were given the nucleic acid test and, as of Thursday, 200 prisoners and seven prison officers had tested positive for the virus.

In Zhejiang province, 34 prisoners have been infected at Shilifeng jail. The provincial government said these were imported cases from Wuhan, and two prison officials had been removed from their roles. — Dawn Liu

China says earliest coronavirus vaccine to be submitted for trials late April

The earliest vaccine for the coronavirus that has killed more than 2,000 in China alone will be submitted for clinical trials around late April, China's Vice Science and Technology Minister Xu Nanping said on Friday. — Reuters

Santa Clara patient fully recovered

As of Thursday, the patient with the first confirmed case of novel coronavirus in Santa Clara County has fully recovered and has been released from isolation.

He was isolated at home and monitored by public health staff for the duration of his isolation. The second case remains in isolation.

The Public Health Department continues to work closely with healthcare providers, hospitals, and its partners to address novel coronavirus. Currently, there is no evidence that novel coronavirus is circulating in Santa Clara County and risk remains low. — Todd Miyazawa

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2020-02-21 11:20:00Z
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New York Times hit for publishing op-ed by Taliban leader linked to ‘ruthless attacks’ - Washington Post

“The piece by Siraj Haqqani in @nytopinion — which’s independent of our news operations & judgment — omits the most fundamental fact,” Mujib Mashal, the Times’ senior correspondent in Afghanistan, tweeted, “that Siraj is no Taliban peace-maker as he paints himself, that he’s behind some of most ruthless attacks of this war with many civilian lives lost.”

Haqqani used the Times op-ed to urge U.S. and Afghan leaders to find a path to end the decades-long strife in Afghanistan.

“For more than four decades, precious Afghan lives have been lost every day,” he wrote. “Everyone has lost somebody they loved. Everyone is tired of war. I am convinced that the killing and the maiming must stop.”

Some of the criticism of the op-ed stemmed from the Times not explaining the Haqqani family’s role in the Taliban or the author’s involvement in deadly military strikes that have killed Afghan citizens and American soldiers. Sirajuddin Haqqani commanded a guerrilla force of at least 5,000 fighters in Afghanistan, The Washington Post’s Haq Nawaz Khan and Pamela Constable reported in 2017. He is a leader of the Haqqani network, established by his father and feared for particularly brutal attacks.

“The Haqqani and Taliban are responsible for the death of dozens of American soldiers and atrocities against Afghan civilians,” added Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) in a tweet Thursday. “@nytimes should be ashamed of itself for enabling this blatant propaganda from a designated global terrorist, all in the name of ‘diverse reviews.’”

The FBI offers $5 million for information leading to his arrest.Sirajuddin Haqqani is wanted for questioning in connection with the January 2008 attack on a hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed six people, including an American citizen,” the bureau says on its website. “He is believed to have coordinated and participated in cross-border attacks against United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan. Haqqani also allegedly was involved in the planning of the assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai in 2008.”

Midway through the story, the op-ed offered a link for readers to learn “more on the Haqqani network,” which directed to a 2016 news story that said the militant group was leading a “deadlier Taliban in Afghanistan.”

The Times defended the decision to publish the piece. “We know firsthand how dangerous and destructive the Taliban is,” Times spokesperson Eileen Murphy said in a statement emailed to The Washington Post. “But, our mission at Times Opinion is to tackle big ideas from a range of newsworthy viewpoints. We’ve actively solicited voices from all sides of the Afghanistan conflict, the government, the Taliban and from citizens. Sirajuddin Haqqani is the second-in-command of the Taliban at a time when its negotiators are hammering out an agreement with American officials in Doha that could result in American troops leaving Afghanistan. That makes his perspective relevant at this particular moment.”

The spokesperson also pointed out that the publication has employed a “fulltime team of reporters in Afghanistan since the start of the war nearly 20 years ago” and that several journalists, including former Times reporter David Rohde, who is now an executive editor for the New Yorker, have been kidnapped by Taliban-linked terrorists inside the Haqqani network.

Still, many observers found a link insufficient context for readers evaluating Haqqani’s opinion while some objected to affording him space with or without context.

“Sirajuddin Haqqani is a notorious war crimes suspect being investigated by the International Criminal Court,” Andrew Stroehlein, the European media director for the Human Rights Watch, wrote on Twitter. “Why does the New York Times give him op-ed space?”

Retired four-star Marine Corps general John R. Allen, who commanded troops in Afghanistan during the Obama administration and is now president of the Brookings Institution, told the Daily Beast the decision to publish the op-ed raised questions about judgment in the Times newsroom.

“Giving the Haqqani terror network the platform of the NYT for the expression of their views on the so-called peace plan creates a strategic communications coup,” he told the publication.

“PBS NewsHour” correspondent Nick Schifrin noted the magnitude of publishing an op-ed from Haqqani.

“For anyone who has lived in, covered, or otherwise cared about Afghanistan and Pakistan, that alone is extraordinary,” he tweeted.

But some lawmakers continued to voice their displeasure over the Times’ decision.

“Appalled @nytimes has given leader of the Haqqani network and leader in Taliban room in their editorial pages to espouse his views,” Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) tweeted. “Haqqani network is responsible for 1000s of Americans killed in Afghanistan and provides shelter to al Qaeda operatives … they sheltered Bin Laden.”

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2020-02-21 11:18:00Z
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Afghanistan war: US and Afghan Taliban to start partial truce - BBC News

A seven-day "reduction in violence" between the US and the Afghan Taliban will begin on Saturday, officials say.

"This is an important step on a long road to peace," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday.

If successful, the two sides will then sign the first phase of a deal aimed at ending nearly two decades of conflict.

The agreement, scheduled to begin at midnight local time, comes after more than a year of talks between American and Afghan Taliban representatives.

In a statement, Taliban negotiators said "a suitable security situation" would be created ahead of signing a deal they hoped would "lay the groundwork for peace across the country with the withdrawal of all foreign forces".

The Afghan government, which is currently grappling with a dispute over the results of the country's presidential elections, was not part of the negotiations.

Under the terms of the partial week-long truce, it is understood that no major offensive operations will be launched against the Taliban, Afghan or international forces.

"We have come to an understanding with the Taliban on a significant reduction in violence across Afghanistan," Mr Pompeo said in a statement.

"Upon a successful implementation of this understanding, signing of the US-Taliban [peace] agreement is expected to move forward. We are preparing for the signing to take place on 29 February," the statement added.

The US has spent billions of dollars since 2001 fighting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

President Donald Trump, who pledged during his 2016 presidential campaign that he would end the US war in Afghanistan, has been pushing for the withdrawal of US troops from the country.

The BBC's Afghanistan correspondent, Secunder Kermani, says the move is seen as an opportunity for the Taliban's leadership to show they can control their fighters on the ground.

It could also pave the way for talks between Taliban negotiators and Afghan politicians, our correspondent adds.

How did the peace talks come about?

In December 2018, the Taliban announced they would meet US officials to try to find a "roadmap to peace".

But the militants continued to refuse to hold official talks with the Afghan government, whom they dismissed as American "puppets".

Following nine rounds of US-Taliban talks in Qatar, the two sides seemed close to an agreement.

Washington's top negotiator announced in September that the US would withdraw 5,400 troops from Afghanistan within 20 weeks as part of a deal agreed "in principle" with Taliban militants.

But days later, Mr Trump said the talks were "dead", after the militant group admitted to killing a US soldier.

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"They thought that they had to kill people to put themselves in a little better negotiating position", he told reporters, calling the attack "a big mistake".

In the months since the deal collapsed, there has so far been no let-up in fighting. The Taliban has warned that the US would "lose the most" by cancelling the talks.

Since 2011, Qatar has hosted Taliban leaders who have moved there to discuss peace in Afghanistan.

It has been a difficult process. A Taliban office was opened in 2013, but closed the same year amid rows over flags. Other attempts at talks have stalled.

Qatar was also the host of a major conference in July that agreed a roadmap for Afghan peace. Significantly it included both the Taliban and Afghan government officials, though the latter attended in a "personal capacity".

What's the background to the Afghan war?

It began when the US launched air strikes one month following the 11 September 2001 attacks and after the Taliban had refused to hand over the man behind them, Osama Bin Laden.

The US was joined by an international coalition and the Taliban were quickly removed from power. However, they later emerged as an insurgent force and continued deadly attacks, destabilising subsequent Afghan governments.

The international coalition ended its combat mission in 2014, staying only to train Afghan forces. But the US continued its own, scaled-back combat operation, including air strikes.

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The Taliban has, however, continued to gain momentum - in 2018, the BBC found that Taliban militants were active across 70% of Afghanistan.

Nearly 3,500 members of the international coalition forces have died in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion, more than 2,300 of them American.

The figures for Afghan civilians, militants and government forces are more difficult to quantify. In a February 2019 report, the UN said that more than 32,000 civilians had died.

The Watson Institute at Brown University says 58,000 security personnel and 42,000 opposition combatants have been killed.

Who are the Taliban?

The Taliban, or "students" in the Pashto language, emerged in the chaos that followed the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989.

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They took Kabul in 1996 and were in charge of most of the country within two years, practising their own austere version of Sharia, or Islamic law.

Before being removed from power they banned TV, music and cinema, enforced strict dress codes, severely curtailed female education and introduced brutal punishments.

Mullah Omar continued to lead the Taliban after they were ousted. He died in 2013 although the Taliban did not confirm it for two years.

The Taliban are now led by Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada.

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2020-02-21 10:26:04Z
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Coronavirus Live Updates: South Korea Cases Surge to 204 Infections - The New York Times

Read updates in Chinese: 新冠病毒疫情最新消息汇总

Credit...Yonhap, via Reuters

South Korea reported a surge in confirmed infections, giving it the world’s largest number of cases related to the new coronavirus outbreak outside China if those from the Diamond Princess cruise ship are not included in Japan’s total.

South Korean health officials confirmed 100 new cases on Friday, bringing the country’s total to 204. Among the new cases, 87 were connected to a church called Shincheonji in Daegu, a city of about two and half million people in the southeastern part of the country. Officials said a 61-year-old woman who tested positive earlier this week, and who had attended services at the church, may have spread the virus there.

The church, founded by Lee Man-hee in 1984, says it has over 200,000 members around the world, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap. It closed all of its churches in South Korea this week and told followers to watch its services online.

The vast majority of coronavirus cases are in mainland China, which has reported more than 75,000 cases. Japan has 97, not counting the more than 600 cases of people who had been aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

South Korea reported on Thursday what officials said could be its first death from the coronavirus. A 63-year-old patient with symptoms of pneumonia had died the previous day at the Daenam Hospital in Cheongdo, and officials learned later that he had been infected. Officials said the 61-year-old woman linked to the church had also visited the hospital in early February.

A 29-year-old respiratory doctor in Wuhan, the city at the center of the new coronavirus outbreak in China, died on Thursday night after being infected by the virus, according to an announcement from the hospital where he worked. It was the latest in a string of deaths among health care providers working to contain the outbreak.

The doctor, Peng Yinhua, was also among the youngest of the publicly announced victims of the virus, which has largely killed older men with underlying health conditions.

On Chinese social media, users expressed shock at Dr. Peng’s age. They also cited state media reports that Dr. Peng had planned to get married on Feb. 1, but that he had postponed the wedding because of the epidemic.

Last month, the death of another young Wuhan doctor, Li Wenliang, provoked an outpouring of anger and grief on social media. Dr. Li, 34, had been reprimanded by the local authorities for trying to warn his medical school classmates about the virus before officials had acknowledged an outbreak. When Dr. Li died of the virus, he became a potent symbol of perceived government mismanagement and concealment.

After Dr. Peng’s death, some users seemed to nod to Dr. Li as well. “We send away another hero,” one person wrote on Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like platform.

The Coronavirus Outbreak

  • What do you need to know? Start here.

    Updated Feb. 10, 2020

    • What is a Coronavirus?
      It is a novel virus named for the crown-like spikes that protrude from its surface. The coronavirus can infect both animals and people, and can cause a range of respiratory illnesses from the common cold to more dangerous conditions like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS.
    • How contagious is the virus?
      According to preliminary research, it seems moderately infectious, similar to SARS, and is possibly transmitted through the air. Scientists have estimated that each infected person could spread it to somewhere between 1.5 and 3.5 people without effective containment measures.
    • How worried should I be?
      While the virus is a serious public health concern, the risk to most people outside China remains very low, and seasonal flu is a more immediate threat.
    • Who is working to contain the virus?
      World Health Organization officials have praised China’s aggressive response to the virus by closing transportation, schools and markets. This week, a team of experts from the W.H.O. arrived in Beijing to offer assistance.
    • What if I’m traveling?
      The United States and Australia are temporarily denying entry to noncitizens who recently traveled to China and several airlines have canceled flights.
    • How do I keep myself and others safe?
      Washing your hands frequently is the most important thing you can do, along with staying at home when you’re sick.

“Exactly how many more medical staff have to die?” another wrote.

Earlier this week, another high-profile doctor, Liu Zhiming, died. Dr. Liu was the director of the Wuchang Hospital in Wuhan.

With much of China still on lockdown, businesses are struggling to get up and running. Foxconn, the Taiwan company that manufactures Apple’s iPhones and other gadgets, indicated just how difficult that will be.

The company on Thursday said its revenues would take a hit from the spread of the coronavirus, and that it would be “cautious” in resuming work at its factories in China. Plants outside of the country, in places like Vietnam and Mexico, were at full capacity, the company said.

The warning comes as Chinese leaders try to balance restarting the economy with controlling the spread of the coronavirus. Following repeated extensions of the Lunar New Year holiday, many migrant workers remain at home, facing mandatory quarantines and lockdowns. A number of businesses and officials have issued warnings that such policies need to be relaxed to avoid a new economic crisis.

Even if factories get all their workers back, other policies are likely to make life difficult. Some local governments require new preventive measures, like requiring workers to wear masks, or housing each worker in a single dorm room. In other cases, cities have invoked mandatory two-week quarantines on all returning workers.

Concerns about production at Foxconn, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of electronics, underscore the broader impact the epidemic could have on global supply chains. A huge portion of the world’s electronics come out of China’s factories. A longer suspension of production could hit overall supply.

The Chinese Embassy in Nepal has attacked a Nepalese newspaper for publishing a column criticizing Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak and an illustration of Mao Zedong wearing a face mask.

The Embassy said in a statement this week that the Kathmandu Post had “deliberately smeared” the government and people of China, and “viciously attacked” the nation’s political system.

The statement, which singled out the paper’s top editor, was the latest example of the Chinese government’s increasingly muscular brand of diplomacy and its efforts to publicly quash criticism of its policies, even abroad. This week, Beijing also announced it would expel three Wall Street Journal reporters in retaliation for a headline on an opinion piece.

The column in question in the Kathmandu Post is a syndicated opinion piece, entitled “China’s secrecy has made coronavirus crisis much worse” and originally published in The Korea Herald, that was reprinted in the Post on Tuesday. The paper accompanied the column with an illustration of a Chinese bank note digitally altered to depict Mao wearing a surgical face mask.

The Chinese Embassy’s rebuke singled out Anup Kaphle, the Kathmandu Post’s editor-in-chief, for scorn, saying that he was “a parrot of some anti-China forces.” It warned that the Chinese government could take further action.

One of Asia’s poorest and least-developed democracies, Nepal has grown closer to China as it seeks to reduce its dependence on India. Chinese investors have pumped millions of dollars into the country.

In an editorial on Wednesday, the newspaper alluded to China’s growing economic influence on Nepal and accused the embassy of violating diplomatic norms by using threatening language against the outlet and disparaging its top editor.

“The Chinese embassy’s statement, ultimately, is not just about the Post, or its Editor-in-Chief,” the editorial said. “It is a rebuke to not bite the hand that feeds.”

Officials in Canada announced a new case of the coronavirus on Friday in a patient who had recently returned from Iran, which itself had just confirmed its first few cases of the virus.

Iranian officials on Wednesday announced two coronavirus cases in the country, and then just hours later reported that both patients had died. On Thursday, officials there announced three more confirmed cases.

The case of the new Canadian patient, the sixth in the western province of British Columbia, could raise fears of cluster cases and an expanding global reach of the virus. Health officials are investigating viral clusters in South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Britain and France.

The source of the virus in Iran remains unknown. A senior health official there said that none of the people who have been diagnosed had traveled to China or been in contact with anyone who had traveled there, according to the state-controlled IRIB news agency.

The authorities in British Columbia said the new patient was a woman in her 30s, who was presumed positive based on local testing and was awaiting final confirmation from national officials.

Chinese officials announced on Friday that 889 new cases of the coronavirus had been reported in the previous 24 hours, raising the overall total above 75,000.

The death toll went up by 118, to 2,236.

All but three of the new deaths were in China’s central Hubei Province, the focus of the outbreak. Hubei was also the source of nearly three quarters of the new confirmed cases of infection.

The new count came one day after Chinese health authorities said they were using new criteria to count cases of the coronavirus. The move appeared to undo a change they made last week.

That earlier change allowed health officials in Hubei to count cases diagnosed in clinical settings, including with the use of CT scans showing lung infections, not just those confirmed using specialized kits to test for the virus.

On Thursday, officials said Hubei would now resume using the same criteria as the rest of the country. Cases will be considered confirmed only if the virus is found.

The World Health Organization said on Thursday that two new drug therapy trials to help fight the coronavirus are set to begin in China and that early results may be available within three weeks.

One trial involves an experimental antiviral drug made by Gilead. It has not yet been licensed for use.

The drug was tested against the Ebola virus in Congo, where it was not very effective. But when it was given to the first American known to be infected with the coronavirus, an unidentified man in Washington State, he recovered.

The second trial involves a combination of two anti-H.I.V. drugs that is sold as Kaletra in the United States and available in generic versions.

If either therapy helps prevent severe pneumonia, sepsis or organ failure in coronavirus patients, death rates may fall. Two other drugs — favipiravir and chloroquine — have also been discussed as potential treatments.

Reporting was contributed by Vivian Wang, Paul Mozur, Donald G. McNeil Jr., Choe Sang-Hun, Roni Caryn Rabin, Carlos Tejada, Elaine Yu, Steven Lee Myers, Tiffany May, Amber Wang, Claire Fu, Yiwei Wang and Zoe Mou.

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2020-02-21 09:51:00Z
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Kamis, 20 Februari 2020

Prayer leader stabbed at London mosque as police arrest man on suspicion of attempted murder - CNN

Officers were called to the London Central Mosque near Regent's Park just after 3 p.m. local time, and found a man in his 70s with stab injuries, London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
The victim has been taken to hospital and his injuries are not life-threatening, said police, who are not treating the incident as terror-related.
Images and videos posted to social media appear to show officers restraining a man in a red sweater on the floor of the mosque.
A suspect whose face has been blurred by CNN is detained at the mosque.
Eyewitnesses told CNN there were around 100 people in the mosque at the time, and several helped pin the assailant to the ground. Some said they had seen the attacker attend the mosque in recent weeks.
One video posted online showed a knife on the floor next to the man.
"A 29-year-old man, who is believed to have been attending prayers, was arrested inside the mosque on suspicion of attempted murder," police said in a statement.
"He has been taken into custody at a central London police station. A crime scene has been put in place. Enquiries continue."
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was "deeply saddened" by the incident, adding: "It's so awful that this should happen, especially in a place of worship. My thoughts are with the victim and all those affected."
London mayor Sadiq Khan added: "Every Londoner is entitled to feel safe in their place of worship & I want to reassure London's communities that acts of violence in our city will not be tolerated."
Police are providing extra resources to the area, Khan said.
In a statement, the mosque said: "there was an Incident today at London Central Mosque where an unknown individual attacked and stabbed the muazzin (the person who makes the call to prayer) during Asr Prayer around 3 p.m.
"The attacker was apprehended by the worshipers until the police arrived and arrested him. The muazzin did not sustain any life-threatening injuries but was seriously injured and is being treated at the hospital."
Miqdaad Versi, a spokesperson for the Muslim Council of Britain, described the attack as "extremely worrying."
"We must have no hesitation in condemning such evil," Mohammed Shafiq, CEO of the Ramadhan Foundation, added in a statement. "Mosques and all places of worship are sacred and should be protected."
The London Central Mosque mosque is a key place of worship for Muslims in London, regularly attracting large number of visitors and worshipers.
The site was opened by King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II, in 1944. The mosque, together with the Islamic Cultural Centre, were built on land that was gifted to the Muslim community in Britain by the government, according to the mosque's website.
The main prayer hall of the mosque can hold more than 5,000 worshipers at a time, and its gold-colored dome and tall minaret have become an integral part of the north London skyline.

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2020-02-20 19:43:00Z
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Coronavirus live updates: Inspectors in Wuhan go door-to-door searching for every coronavirus case - CBS News

"Wartime" measures have been implemented in some parts of the Chinese province of Hubei, which is home to Wuhan — the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. Some residents have been barred from leaving their apartments, and officials in protective suits were going door-to-door in Wuhan this week looking for infected people.

"This must be taken seriously," Wang Zhonglin, Wuhan's newly selected Communist Party secretary, said, according to the Associated Press.

China has been widely criticized for its initial handling of the outbreak. Authorities were accused of trying to silence doctors, and residents complained of overcrowded and under-resourced hospitals.

There are now tens of thousands of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus globally and more than 2,000 deaths — most of them in mainland China.

Medical personnel are seen walking among patients with mild symptoms of coronavirus resting at night in a temporary hospital set up in a sports stadium in Wuhan, China, February 18, 2020.
Medical personnel are seen walking among patients with mild symptoms of coronavirus resting at night in a temporary hospital set up in a sports stadium in Wuhan, China, February 18, 2020. Contributor/AFP via Getty Images

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2020-02-20 16:39:00Z
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Coronavirus live updates: Inspectors in Wuhan go door-to-door searching for every coronavirus case - CBS News

"Wartime" measures have been implemented in some parts of the Chinese province of Hubei, which is home to Wuhan — the epicenter of the new coronavirus outbreak. Some residents have been barred from leaving their apartments, and officials in protective suits were going door-to-door in Wuhan this week looking for infected people.

"This must be taken seriously," Wang Zhonglin, Wuhan's newly selected Communist Party secretary, said, according to The Associated Press.

China has been widely criticized for its initial handling of the outbreak. Authorities were accused of trying to silence doctors, and residents complained of overcrowded and under-resourced hospitals.

There are now tens of thousands of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus globally and more than 2,000 deaths — most of them in mainland China.

Contributing: Associated Press

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2020-02-20 15:35:00Z
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