California has declared an emergency over the coronavirus outbreak, as tests continue Thursday on board a Princess cruise ship that has been linked to two cases of the illness in the state.
The first death in California related to coronavirus was confirmed Wednesday, while another fatality in Washington brought that state's death toll to 10.
Congressional leaders have agreed on an $8 billion emergency funding package to help fight the coronavirus that is headed to the House.
The virus is now spreading more rapidly outside China, where the epidemic started, with mainland China recording just 119 new confirmed cases while hundreds of cases were reported globally.
South Korea alone recorded an additional 516 cases of coronavirus Wednesday, bringing the total to 5,328 confirmed cases, the largest outbreak outside of mainland China.
Governments around the world are introducing a range of measures to stop the spread of the disease. In Italy, where there have been more than 2,000 cases, all schools and colleges are shut for 10 days.
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Greater number of coronavirus cases now diagnosed outside of China
New coronavirus cases outside of China are outpacing new cases in China, but the majority of those new cases are in just four countries, the World Health Organization reported Monday.
"In last 24 hours, there were almost nine times more cases reported outside China than inside China," WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a news conference.
Since the outbreak started, cases in 61 other countries have exceeded 8,700. There have been 127 total deaths outside of China. The majority of those cases are in four countries — Iran, Italy, Japan and South Korea — and represent the "greatest concern" for public health officials.
But many countries have only limited spread. Of the other 57 affected countries, 38 have 10 or fewer cases. Nineteen have reported just one case. And a handful haven't reported a new case in two weeks.
Trump says admin asked pharma companies to 'accelerate' vaccine
WHO staffer in Iran tests positive
The temperature in Thailand
Trump claims 'it's very safe' to hold political rallies
President Trump, responding to questions from reporters Monday about whether it was safe to hold large political rallies amid the spread of the virus, said: “I think it’s very safe.”
He said he would use a meeting later in the day between his administration’s coronavirus task force and pharmaceutical industry leaders to ask those executives about the possibility of accelerating the production of a coronavirus vaccine.
“This meeting was set up before. That was about drug pricing,” he said during an Oval Office meeting with the president of Colombia. “Now we're going to make another subject … the vaccine.”
Asked by a reporter if it might be possible to speed up development vaccine development, Trump replied, “That’s what we're going to find out.”
First case in Tunisia; four new cases in Qatar
Tunisia's Ministry of Health announced the country's first case Monday: a 40-year-old Tunisian national who had recently returned from Italy.
Qatar's main news agency, meanwhile, announced four new cases — bringing the nationwide total to seven.
Elizabeth Warren releases coronavirus plan
Sen. Elizabeth Warren released a new plan on Monday to address the health and economic threats of the new coronavirus. She had previously released a plan to counter the virus' health effects and a spending bill in the Senate.
The plan released Monday includes making sure that all Americans, including the uninsured, can get free coronavirus care, including any forthcoming vaccine. It creates an emergency paid leave program for people to take time off to get care. It includes a $400 billion fiscal stimulus package to counter the potential economic impact of the spreading virus.
Warren remains in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, though she trails well behind Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden.
The scene in Milan
World's largest shipping container conference is canceled
TPM, a trade conference for the cargo shipping industry that was set to open Sunday in Long Beach, California, has been canceled amid concerns about the outbreak, the event's sponsors announced Monday. The organizers had expected upwards of 2,000 participants.
Louisiana gets proactive
NASA's data shows China’s air pollution plummets amid outbreak
Data from NASA's pollution monitoring satellites shows significant decreases over China in the concentration of nitrogen dioxide, a gas that contributes to air pollution — a change that's "at least partly related to the economic slowdown following the outbreak of coronavirus," the space agency's said.
In an effort to curb a growing epidemic, the Chinese government put several major cities on lockdown and told millions of its factory workers to stay home to limit the spread of the virus, slowing down production.
“This is the first time I have seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area for a specific event,” said Fei Liu, an air quality researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.