Right before the White House’s news conference, health officials in Washington state confirmed a person diagnosed with coronavirus in King County has died.
President Trump described the patient as a “wonderful woman” and a “medically high-risk patient” in her late 50s, at the news conference. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention later said it had mistakenly described the patient’s gender in a briefing to Trump and Vice President Pence, and local health officials clarified the deceased was a man with underlying conditions.
More coronavirus infections were reported from South Korea to France to Qatar on Saturday as health officials in Washington state, Oregon and California reported another worrying development: new cases among people who have not traveled recently to countries hit hard by the outbreak or come into contact with anyone known to have the disease, which public health officials refer to as community transmission.
Washington state on Saturday announced three new cases of the virus — including the person who died — with circumstances that suggest person-to-person spread in the community. The other patients were a health-care worker at a long-term nursing facility and a female resident in her 70s from the same center.
California has reported three cases of community transmission, two of which are in Santa Clara County and one of which is in Solano County. Illinois reported a third case Saturday but did not say how the person may have gotten the virus.
Here are the latest developments:
- The five new cases announced Saturday bring the number of infections in the United States to 24, excluding repatriations, according to the CDC. Forty-seven other people who have been repatriated to the United States from Wuhan, China, and from the Diamond Princess cruise ship also have the virus.
- The new cases in Washington state included the first possible outbreak in a long-term nursing facility. Health officials have said older people and adults in poor health face the highest risk from the virus.
- The Food and Drug Administration expanded coronavirus testing by speeding up hospitals’ abilities to test, though some worried the changes fell short in reducing logistical burdens.
- Italy became the third country, in addition to China and South Korea, to confirm more than 1,000 cases of the virus. Of the 1,049 patients, 401 are hospitalized and the rest are self-isolated at home.
Mapping the spread of the coronavirus | What you need to know about the virus | How to prepare for coronavirus in the U.S. | Post Reports: Your questions about coronavirus, answered
Japan school closure causes a new problem: Nurses stay home to care for kids
TOKYO — Japan’s controversial decision to close schools in March could make it harder for the country to battle not only coronavirus but also provide general health care, as nurses face a stark choice: go to work or stay home to look after their children, the Asahi newspaper reported.
The country’s northernmost province of Hokkaido closed schools Friday, ahead of the rest of the country, as it has seen a spike in cases.
The immediate knock-on effect was a shortage of nurses at a hospital in Obihiro city in the east of the island, forcing authorities to turn away patients who did not already have a reservation or were facing a medical emergency.
More than 20 percent of the hospital’s 700 staff have school-age children, the newspaper reported, while hospitals around Japan are also facing staff shortages.
“March is normally a time when many staff quit and is the time of year when staff numbers are at its lowest,” said Takao Aizawa, chairman of the Japan Hospital Association.
“More hospitals may stop seeing patients if school closures should spread.”
The paper quoted a nurse in Tokyo as saying staff had also been told to stay home if they displayed even the slightest symptoms such as a fever or respiratory problems to prevent further infections, while the hospital has also stopped accepting volunteer support staff.
Australia reports first coronavirus death
A 78-year-old man who contracted the coronavirus after spending time on the Diamond Princess cruise ship died Saturday in a Perth hospital, becoming Australia’s first death from the disease.
The man and his 79-year-old wife were among 164 Australians who were evacuated from the cruise ship, which was docked in Japan while people on board were quarantined, and flown to Australia for treatment last week.
The man tested positive for coronavirus on the flight back and was placed in isolation at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Western Australia’s chief health officer Andrew Robertson told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
His wife was also placed in isolation, where she tested positive Friday. Robertson said she was in stable condition.
“She had the opportunity to talk to him prior to his death, but she’s understandably quite upset. And I obviously ask that people respect their privacy,” Robertson told Australia’s national broadcaster.
Australia has reported 25 cases of covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
Illinois announces third coronavirus case
Another person in Illinois has tested positive for the coronavirus, marking the state’s third case of the illness.
The test is a presumptive positive and will have to be confirmed by the CDC, Illinois health officials said in a statement. The patient, whose gender and age were not disclosed, is hospitalized in isolation.
Officials did not provide any information on how the person may have contracted the virus.
They said they are trying to identify and monitor people who were in close contact with the patient and will ask the CDC to send a team to Illinois to help with that task.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) also asked the state’s hospitals to more frequently test for the virus, according to the statement. The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday authorized certain hospital laboratories to use their own tests before the federal agency clears them — dramatically expanding testing.
Two people in Illinois have recovered from confirmed cases of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, state officials said. The patients’ symptoms have ranged from mild to severe respiratory illness with fever, cough and trouble breathing.
China and South Korea each report hundreds of new cases
Chinese health officials early Sunday, local time, reported an additional 573 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 35 deaths on the country’s mainland. In keeping with the pattern throughout the outbreak, the vast majority of those cases and deaths were in Hubei province, where the virus first emerged.
The total number of cases on the mainland reached 79,824, and the total number of deaths hit 2,870. There have also been 95 cases and two deaths in Hong Kong, 10 cases in Macao, and 39 cases and one death on the self-governing island of Taiwan.
In nearby South Korea, health officials reported 376 additional cases of the coronavirus, 333 of which were in the southern city of Daegu. The virus appears to have spread widely there among members of a regional branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. The fringe church has been temporarily shut down because of the outbreak.
The total number of cases in South Korea stands at 3,526, and the death count is 17.
Gig workers face the spread of coronavirus with no safety net
SAN FRANCISCO — Some workers here who provide on-demand rides and delivery services, but are independent contractors without many protections, are bracing for the spread of the coronavirus.
Drivers have been scrubbing down their cars “inch by inch” at local airport parking lots between rides, said Edan Alva, who drives full-time for Lyft in the Bay Area.
Alva said the company has not communicated with drivers about coronavirus, despite the risk of infection.
“No support, no advice, no guidance regarding what we do if we suspect any indicators of the problem,” said Alva, who added that he has been spraying his car with Lysol twice a day.
As coronavirus spreads globally, prompting some companies to instruct employees to stop traveling or to work remotely, one of the most vulnerable groups is likely to be tens of thousands of gig workers such as Alva.
Lyft spokeswoman Alexandra LaManna said there is no indication of a unique risk to Lyft drivers and that the company is monitoring the situation.
Meanwhile, Uber sent an in-app message to U.S. drivers Friday with guidance on how to protect themselves and others. The suggestions included standard advice from health officials, such as staying home if they feel sick and washing their hands frequently. Uber also urged drivers to clean and disinfect often-touched surfaces in their vehicles.
Read more here.
‘No visitors allowed’ at nursing home linked to two coronavirus cases
KIRKLAND, Wash. — At the nursing home here where a resident and a health-care worker have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, signs at the door Saturday barred people from entering.
“We are having a respiratory outbreak,” Life Care Center’s signs read. “Notice: no visitors allowed.”
The facility has banned visits from families, volunteers and vendors as a precaution, Executive Director Ellie Basham said in a statement distributed to people outside the nursing home. She said the center also has paused admissions of new residents to fully focus on current residents and staff.
An American Medical Response Vehicle arrived at the nursing home around 3:30 p.m. Pacific time. Two people who appeared to be paramedics put on protective gowns and masks before entering the facility and then exiting with a person on a gurney a few minutes later. The vehicle left the center shortly after 4 p.m.
Phlebotomist Antonia Lopez, 42, told reporters outside Life Care that on Saturday, she drew the blood of about four residents at the facility.
Lopez, who works for an outside company and declined to share the name of her employer, said it seemed to her that the facility has been operating the same as always. The only difference is that she now wears a mask when drawing residents’ blood.
Lopez likened the coronavirus to a “blown-up flu” and said that at any medical facility, she would be expected to take extra precautions, such as wearing gowns before entering a room and changing gowns before seeing another patient if residents had the flu. It’s typical protocol to have signs notifying visitors at the door if people have the flu, she said.
“This place is like any other place,” Lopez said of wearing a mask to draw patients’ blood. “They don’t take precautions if it’s not necessary.”
She noted that no one inside the facility has tested positive for the coronavirus. The health-care worker and resident who have the virus are at hospitals.
Of Life Care’s more than 108 residents and roughly 180 staffers, local health officials said earlier Saturday that 27 residents and 25 staff members have shown coronavirus symptoms.
Covid-19 patient died at Kirkland, Wash., hospital after coming in with ‘serious respiratory issues'
The first covid-19 patient to die in the United States came to EvergreenHealth in Kirkland, Wash., with “serious respiratory issues,” the hospital said in a statement Saturday, though it remains unclear when the patient was admitted, when the symptoms first appeared and how long it took health officials to test the person for the novel coronavirus.
According to EvergreenHealth’s statement, the patient was tested for covid-19 per guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The test came back positive, the hospital said. A second patient also tested positive and is in isolation receiving appropriate treatment.
“We are working with the CDC and the Washington Department of Health to ensure that those who have come into contact with the patient are screened and tested as appropriate,” EvergreenHealth’s statement said.
The name of the patient who died has not been released. At a news conference at the White House on Saturday, President Trump initially erroneously identified the person as a “wonderful woman” in her late 50s. The CDC later said it had mistakenly described the patient’s gender to Trump and Vice President Pence, and local health officials clarified the deceased was a man.
In a letter obtained by KIRO-TV News in Seattle, officials advised patients and their families of the death at EvergreenHealth and offered additional information that was not included in the hospital’s official statement.
Here’s the letter @KIRO7Seattle got from a source.
— Deedee Sun (@DeedeeKIRO7) February 29, 2020
It’s the notice from @EvergreenHosp sent to patients and families about the #coronavirus death in the Seattle area. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/aNk1snAaGo
The letter said the two patients tested positive at the hospital Friday night. “While the patients have no travel history, they were both receiving treatment for severe respiratory illness in our emergency department and critical care units,” the letter said.
Officials assured EvergreenHealth patients and their families that the hospital was working closely with state and local health departments to ensure that anyone who may have had contact with the patients is screened for the novel coronavirus.
White House gives details on first coronavirus death, imposes new travel restrictions
President Trump gave the initial details Saturday about the first death inside the United States from the new coronavirus, saying the victim in Washington state was a woman in her 50s who had underlying health problems. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention later said it had mistakenly described the patient’s gender to Trump and Vice President Pence, and local health officials clarified that the deceased was a man.
Trump said additional cases are likely in the United States but said the illness will be survivable for the vast majority who contract it. He called for calm and said he will meet at the White House on Monday with representatives of major drug companies about accelerated development of a vaccine.
Vice President Pence said the risk to most Americans remains low, as he announced additional travel restrictions on Iran, where the virus is spreading rapidly. On top of existing travel restrictions on that country, the United States will now exclude any foreign national who has visited Iran in the last 14 days, Pence said.
The State Department has also raised its warning about travel to Italy and South Korea, Pence said. The recommendation is now “do not travel to certain regions of both countries,” Pence said.
Pence and Trump addressed reporters in a hastily called news conference at the White House. Trump assured Americans that “our country is prepared for any circumstance."
“We are having very good initial feedback” about a vaccine, Trump said.
CDC announces three new cases in United States, identifies nursing facility as possible epicenter
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed three new coronavirus cases in Washington state Saturday, including the first U.S. death from the virus. The new cases bring the total number of infections contracted in the United States to 22.
The cause of the three new infections is unknown, but the CDC said circumstances suggest person-to-person spread in the community.
State health officials said the person who died, a man in his 50s with underlying health conditions, had no recent history of travel or contact with people known to be infected. (President Trump earlier had said the victim was a woman. The CDC later said it had mistakenly described the patient’s gender in a briefing to Trump and Vice President Pence.)
The other two new cases signaled the first possible outbreak in a long-term nursing facility and raise the level of concern for certain communities, said Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Jeffrey S. Duchin, the chief health officer for Seattle and King County, identified the nursing facility as Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash.
One of the infections there involves a female health-care worker in her 40s who is in satisfactory condition at Overlake Hospital, state health officials said. She has no known recent travel outside the United States.
Another patient from Life Care is a female resident in her 70s, who is in serious condition at EvergreenHealth hospital. Officials have not said whether she had traveled recently.
Duchin said he would not be surprised to find additional cases at the nursing home as an investigation continued. Of Life Care’s more than 108 residents and roughly 180 staffers, Duchin said 27 residents and 25 staff members have shown coronavirus symptoms.
The death occurred at EvergreenHealth but is not associated with the long-term nursing facility.
The CDC said it was sending a team of experts to Washington to support its investigation.
In addition to the cases contracted in the United States, 47 other people who have been repatriated to the United States from Wuhan, China, and from the Diamond Princess cruise ship have the coronavirus. The government has involuntarily quarantined hundreds of people who were exposed to the virus.
Santa Clara County, Calif., confirms another coronavirus case
A day after it announced its first coronavirus case of unknown origin, California’s Santa Clara County has confirmed that another person tested positive for covid-19. The adult woman is a “household contact” of Friday’s case and is not showing any symptoms.
She is self-quarantined at home and is being monitored for signs of illness, county officials said. The person she contracted the virus from is hospitalized in Mountain View, Calif.
The county said it expects to see more cases in the area. It has the ability to run its own coronavirus tests locally at the County Public Health Laboratory, which will help it identify cases faster, the county said.
The case brings the number of infections in the United States to 23, not including people who were repatriated from Wuhan, China, and the ill-fated Diamond Princess cruise ship.
Santa Clara County is south of San Francisco and contains the city of San Jose, as well as many of Silicon Valley’s biggest tech companies.
Mexico hits back at Trump’s comments on possibly closing border because of coronavirus
Mexico’s government reacted with polite astonishment to President Trump’s comment Saturday that it might be necessary to close the southern border to prevent transmission of coronavirus, noting that “there are four cases of covid-19 registered in our country and 22 in the U.S.”
The Foreign Ministry said the U.S. and Mexican governments were in close contact on the issue, and Mexico was willing to cooperate with Washington to protect public health.
“The Health Ministry is implementing mitigation measures in line with the recommendations of the WHO (World Health Organization) and similar to those of countries like Canada and the United Kingdom, and maintaining an alert at the country’s entry points” for people with symptoms of the virus arriving from nations where it has spread, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Trump initially said the United States was looking “very strongly” at the possibility of shutting down the southern border to keep out people with the disease. But he later toned down his comments.
“We’re thinking about all borders, we have to think about that border,” Trump said. “This is not a border that seems to be much of a problem right now. We hope we will not have to do that.”
Few cases of coronavirus have been reported in Latin America. Ecuador reported its first confirmed case Saturday, and two cases have been confirmed in Brazil.
Iraq closes government offices as infections continue to rise
BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials said Saturday that they were closing government offices that are usually open to the public as the number of coronavirus cases in the crisis-hit country rose again.
The interior ministry announced that visa and traffic departments would close their doors for a week, which is likely to put a temporary halt on the processing of much-needed documents, including residency papers and visas.
Thirteen people have been diagnosed with coronavirus in Iraq in the span of five days. The health ministry said Saturday that all of the individuals had recently traveled to Iran. There have been no deaths.
Millions of Iranians visit Iraq every year, and the Baghdad government has closed the border with its neighbor.
Iraq’s interior ministry called for security forces to help implement a decree ordering the shuttering of cafes, parks and cinemas, after many citizens ignored it and continued to visit them.
Pelosi to bring coronavirus funding bill to floor next week
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Saturday sent a letter to colleagues announcing plans to bring an emergency funding bill for the coronavirus to the floor for a vote next week.
Although she did not indicate a price tag, she said the funding package must be new money and “not stolen from other accounts.” She said House appropriators will work to ensure there is a firewall around the funds so the president cannot use the money for anything other than fighting the coronavirus.
“An important step that Congress must take is to ensure the government has the resources needed to combat this deadly virus and keep Americans safe,” Pelosi wrote. “To that end, House appropriators are working to advance a strong emergency funding supplemental package that fully addresses the scale and seriousness of this public health crisis, which we hope to bring to the Floor next week.”
Pelosi said the funding package should also include money to make eventual vaccines available to everyone, loans for small businesses hurt by disruptions, and reimbursement for state and local governments responding to outbreaks.
Trump has said repeatedly that he will accept any amount of money Congress agrees on for the coronavirus, leaving the perennial fight over how much to spend on a crisis and where to get it from to House Democrats and Senate Republicans to figure out.
Ecuador announces first coronavirus case
Ecuadoran health officials on Saturday reported the country’s first case of coronavirus: a woman who traveled to Ecuador from Spain and did not have symptoms when she arrived.
The woman then developed a fever and began to feel ill, Health Minister Catalina Andramuño Zeballos said at a news conference. She said the woman tested positive for the virus.
The patient was older than 70 and was in critical condition, the Associated Press reported. She arrived in Ecuador on Feb. 14, according to the AP.
Ecuador’s Interior Ministry has banned large gatherings in the cities of Guayaquil — where the infected woman was — and Babahoyo, the AP reported.
There have been two other coronavirus cases confirmed in South America, both in Brazil.
Iran preparing for ‘tens of thousands’ of tests, burdening its already weak health-care system
Iran is preparing for the possibility of needing “tens of thousands” of coronavirus tests, Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said Saturday, while disputing a recent BBC Persian report that put the country’s death rate at four times the official number.
Iran’s health-care system, already weak in part due to restrictions from U.S. sanctions, has struggled to cope with a sudden spike in coronavirus infections over the past 10 days. The virus that causes covid-19 has killed 43 people and infected 593 people, according to the Health Ministry, making Iran’s death toll the highest outside of China.
Iran now has 15 laboratories testing for coronavirus, according to Jahanpour.
Some inside and outside of the country have questioned the official rates, given the repressive government’s reputation for covering up and controlling information. The number of reported infections versus deaths puts Iran’s coronavirus mortality rate at 7 percent, which is much higher than the average of around 2 percent elsewhere. That’s led to speculation by experts that Iran could be underreporting the extent and spread of the virus. China has faced and rejected similar accusations.
Friday’s BBC Persian report placed the death toll at around 210, or four times the official rate, citing anonymous medical officials. Jahanpour on Saturday dismissed the report as politically motivated. Iran’s government has banned the BBC, as it does with other media and journalists whose coverage it dislikes.
Inside Iran, coronavirus has infected and killed civilians and government officials, even prompting parliament to temporarily shut down after several lawmakers contracted the virus.
The virus’s spread, coupled with anxiety over a coverup, has fueled panic among some of the public. Unverified videos shared Saturday showed a group setting fire to a medical clinic in Bandar Abbas in southern Iran. The crowd reportedly thought the clinic had coronavirus patients, according to the Associated Press, citing semiofficial media.
Italy is third country to have more than 1,000 coronavirus cases
ROME — Italy on Saturday became the third country, after China and South Korea, to have more than 1,000 confirmed coronavirus cases following a week in which the country became the apparent epicenter of Europe’s outbreak.
The latest data, according to the Italian government, shows that 1,049 people nationwide are positive for the virus, and another 29 have died. More than half of the cases are in the wealthy northern region of Lombardy, which includes Milan. But a handful of cases have popped up as far south as Sicily and Puglia.
Of those who have the virus, only 401 are hospitalized. A slightly larger share are managing the illness at home in isolation.
The outbreak has emerged relatively suddenly: As of nine days ago, Italy had only three confirmed cases. But the number has risen steadily as the country has performed widespread testing, including on people who show no symptoms. In Lombardy alone, nearly 6,000 people have been tested. A growing list of countries, including Mexico and Nigeria, have reported their own cases with links to Italy.
U-Conn. among the latest to cancel Italy study-abroad program and bring students back to U.S.
The University of Connecticut is among the latest group of colleges to cancel study-abroad programs in countries dealing with coronavirus epidemics and to arrange for students to return to the United States.
On Saturday, school officials announced that all 88 students studying in Italy must fly back to the United States as soon as possible, a decision made after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention upgraded its travel advisory for the European nation to a Warning Level 3 — which advises against nonessential travel. The university also suspended school-sponsored travel to China, South Korea and Iran.
The State Department on Saturday also recommended against traveling to certain regions of Italy and South Korea, as well as further restrictions on travel to Iran.
Hundreds of thousands of U.S. students study abroad every year, The Washington Post previously reported.
In the past few weeks, more than a dozen colleges and universities have canceled study abroad programs or overseas spring break trips out of an abundance of caution. School officials are offering students hybrid learning options, including online classes to keep their educational track on schedule.
Trump says ‘markets will take care of themselves’ in response to coronavirus
Trump downplayed the long-term economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak on Saturday, saying during a White House news conference that “the markets will take care of themselves.”
Trump did not himself bring up the effect of the outbreak on the U.S. financial markets or the wider economy, but when asked, the president answered with a critique of federal monetary policy and the role of the Federal Reserve.
Trump blamed the Fed for not moving swiftly enough to adjust interest rates, and he expressed optimism that stock markets will rebound quickly. He also said he plans to propose a tax cut later this year that would benefit middle-income households.
“The markets will all come back. The markets are very strong,” Trump said.
“We have one problem. We have to get this problem brought into focus,” Trump said, adding that the government response is doing just that.
“For a period of time, we’re going to have to do whatever is necessary. Safety, health, number one. The markets will take care of themselves.”
The president added that he hopes Americans “don’t change their routine” over fears of the virus.
Trump proposes further travel restrictions across the southern border
President Trump said Saturday that he is considering further travel restrictions across the southern border as a means to limit transmission of the coronavirus.
“Yes, we are thinking about [the] southern border,” Trump said during a White House news conference when asked whether he might close the border with Mexico in response to the virus spreading around the world.
“We are looking at that very strongly,” he added.
Trump did not elaborate but later suggested he is not considering completely sealing the border, a step that would have profound economic effects because of the heavy flow of goods and people across the border daily.
“We have ports of entry that we are keeping open, and we’re not talking about — if we’re thinking about all borders, we have to think about that border — but right now that is not a border as it pertains to what we’re talking about here,” he said. “This is not a border that seems to be much of a problem. We hope we won’t have to do that.”
Mexico has four coronavirus cases, compared with 22 in the United States.
Vice President Pence outlined additional travel restrictions involving Iran, South Korea and Italy, all of which have significant outbreaks of the respiratory illness, even as federal health officials called in to brief reporters stressed that the risk of illness to most Americans is extremely low.
“The American public needs to go on with their normal lives, okay?” said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield.
“And we are continuing to aggressively investigate these new community links. We’re going to continue to be transparent in relating that to the American public,” he said. “But at this stage, again, the risk is low, we need to go on with our normal lives.”
Pence urges Americans to stop stocking up on face masks
Vice President Pence said that the average American does not need to buy face masks because of the coronavirus, echoing recommendations by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that hoarding emergency essentials like masks can put at risk health-care workers who do require these items.
“Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS!,” the U.S. surgeon general’s official account tweeted Saturday. “They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!”
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar previously said the U.S. may need to purchase millions of masks and other protective gear.
Breaking: A person diagnosed with coronavirus in King County in Washington state has died
In a statement released Saturday, the Washington State Department of Health and Seattle and King County health officials confirmed the death and said they would offer more details at a 1 p.m. news conference, local time. They will discuss the death and new confirmed cases in the county.
“It is a sad day in our state as we learn that a Washingtonian has died from COVID-19,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to his family and friends. We will continue to work toward a day where no one dies from this virus.”
Inslee said the state departments of health and emergency management are working closely with local officials to strengthen preparedness and response efforts.
“I am committed to keeping Washingtonians healthy, safe and informed,” the governor said.
Two million tweets shared coronavirus conspiracy theories, State Department report finds
Roughly 2 million tweets peddled conspiracy theories about the coronavirus over the three-week period since the outbreak began to spread outside China, according to an unreleased report from an arm of the State Department, raising fresh fears about Silicon Valley’s preparedness to combat a surge of dangerous disinformation online.
The wrongful, harmful posts floated a number of hoaxes — suggesting, for example, that the coronavirus had been created by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation or was the result of a bioweapon. These and other identified falsehoods represented 7 percent of the total tweets the government studied, and they might have been “potentially impactful on the broader social media conversation,” according to the report, which was obtained by The Washington Post on Saturday.
The Global Engagement Center, the propaganda-fighting program at the State Department whose name appears on the document, said it focused its analysis on countries excluding the United States between Jan. 20 and Feb. 10, a period during which the World Health Organization declared coronavirus an international health emergency. In total, the GEC explored 29 million foreign posts, the report said.
Some of the misinformation exhibited “evidence of inauthentic and coordinated activity,” according to the report, raising the specter that foreign governments or other malicious actors may have deliberately tried to sow fear and discord about the international health emergency — much as Russian agents had done during the 2016 presidential election in the United States.
But the report did not detail fully what led to this conclusion, nor did it attribute the information to a specific government source. Previously, agency officials signaled in public news reports that some of the activity may be tied to agents of the Kremlin, though Russia is not mentioned in the study.
A South Korean psychiatric ward became a ‘medical disaster’ when coronavirus hit
SEOUL — The windows are sealed shut in the psychiatric ward at South Korea’s Daenam Hospital to prevent suicide attempts. The patients sleep together on futons in communal rooms.
And when the coronavirus made its way inside earlier this month, hospital administrators and South Korean health officials put the psychiatric ward — and its more than 100 patients — on lockdown in an attempt to contain the virus. The hospital is in Cheongdo County, the center of South Korea’s outbreak.
Of South Korea’s more than 3,150 confirmed cases, 101 were from patients in the psychiatric ward. Seven patients from the ward have died — among a total of 17 around the country. All but two in the psychiatric ward contracted the virus.
For South Korea’s public, the actions by hospital overseers touch on difficult issues of ethics and efficacy as the country struggles to cope with the growing health crisis. South Korean officials have vowed not to follow China and impose sweeping citywide lockdowns.
But the hospital’s decision has underscored the challenges facing health-care institutions, nursing homes and other live-in settings if coronavirus flares.
Read more here:
Coronavirus test developed by New York state lab approved by FDA
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Saturday that the Food and Drug Administration has approved a test for New York state’s health laboratories to use to detect the coronavirus.
Laboratories at hospitals as well as state public health laboratories have struggled in recent weeks to use tests they develop without approval from the FDA.
The U.S. response to covid-19 has been hampered by testing issues. Experts have consequently worried that the small number of U.S. cases may be a reflection of limited testing rather than of the virus’s restricted spread.
Cuomo (D) said he spoke in recent days to Vice President Pence, who heads the White House’s coronavirus response, and urged him to approve the test developed by New York state health officials.
With the approval New York received Saturday, Cuomo said, state officials will begin testing immediately at the Wadsworth laboratory in Albany.
“This approval will expedite wait time and improve New York’s ability to more effectively manage the coronavirus situation as it unfolds,” Cuomo said.
Asian American lawmakers condemn xenophobic rhetoric surrounding coronavirus risks
Across the country, Asian American-owned businesses and restaurants are suffering because of misinformation and xenophobic assumptions about how the novel coronavirus is spreading, creating stigmas not supported by scientific facts.
At a news conference Friday outside the U.S. Capitol, members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus condemned racist rhetoric and “fake news” they say is harming people in their home districts.
Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), who chairs CAPAC, said restaurant owners in her majority-Asian Los Angeles-area district have reported a 50 percent drop in business.
“The common thread in all of this xenophobia has been the steady flow of misinformation around covid-19 and how it spreads,” Chu said.
Health officials have emphasized that the best way to prevent the spread of the novel virus is to practice good hygiene, which includes frequent hand washing.
“Ethnicity is not a risk factor,” Mitch Wolfe, chief medical officer at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said at the news conference.
Despite clear guidance from the CDC, misinformed rumors continue to circulate, which is what prompted CAPAC members to issue a letter to their congressional colleagues last week calling on them to “share only confirmed and verifiable information” with their constituents.
The letter referenced a claim made by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) without evidence that the virus was created in a Chinese lab. Chu said that false claim only “reinforces a narrative that China is an enemy, which puts Chinese Americans particularly at risk."
Other lawmakers and advocates at the news conference cited drops in Asian-owned or operated businesses in New York City and Houston.
“Across the country, our chapters are reporting diminished patronage to Asian American-owned businesses, from restaurants to grocery stores, to nail salons and to other places and forcing owners into financial crisis and sending workers home,” said Rita Pin Ahrens, the executive director of Asian American advocacy group OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates.
Why U.S. officials are now trying so hard to speed up coronavirus testing
The United States’ response to the coronavirus in recent weeks has been hampered by problems with its testing. Experts have worried that the small number of U.S. cases we are seeing may be a reflection of limited testing, not of the virus’s spread.
One of the three components in the initial test kit created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wasn’t working properly, preventing some labs from being able to offer it.
“This has not gone as smoothly as we would have liked,” top CDC official Nancy Messonnier admitted at a news conference on Friday. “Please remember that our laboratories developed this test kit before there were U.S. cases,” she added.
In recent days, testing capacity has improved.
The “Berlin test” was created by researchers in Germany and is being widely used. Hong Kong has its own test. China has another.
Some have questioned why the United States hasn’t switched to a test being successfully used by other countries with larger numbers of cases.
Still, the good news is that testing in the United States is improving. As of the end of last week, about eight labs reported the original CDC test was working. About 40 public health laboratories in the United States received permission this week to go online with the two working components.
Announcements then began to trickle in: Massachusetts can now test and Arizona plans to start processing tests Monday. New CDC tests are expected to be sent out next week, prioritizing a small handful of labs that also had trouble with the first component, called N1.
Even this capacity will be limited. What most clinicians want is a commercial test they can run rapidly, and companies are working toward that goal. Hospital laboratory directors have been extremely frustrated by the rules of a public health emergency, which have made it difficult to increase testing capacity.
That’s why the Food and Drug Administration on Saturday took new steps to expand testing for the coronavirus by speeding up hospitals’ ability to test for the virus. The action followed complaints from hospital laboratories that the previous policy was too burdensome and was slowing their efforts to create and use their own tests.
Nonetheless, some lab directors say it doesn’t go far enough to ease the red tape holding back U.S. testing.
Why shouldn’t everyone in the U.S. just get tested for the coronavirus?
Testing is going to be crucial if we want to contain and mitigate the coronavirus’s spread in the United States. But labs — which have been hampered by delays — have limited capacity.
Officials also want to make sure the testing adheres to a high standard to prevent false positives, which would set off panic and sow doubts about the reliability of the testing.
That’s why, for weeks, the criteria for testing patients was very narrow — for people with a travel history or close contact with a confirmed case, although exceptions could be made. Then, on Thursday, U.S. officials expanded the criteria to include people with severe respiratory symptoms that had no explanation.
Testing more widely is important because it will determine how far the virus has spread undetected in the United States. There is a plan to expand testing to flu surveillance in five U.S. cities, but the rollout has been delayed by frustrating problems.
New data from China shows just how widely testing may have to be done to find cases. In Guangdong province, officials said they had tested 320,000 people at fever clinics, but less than 0.5 percent were positive.
No test is perfect, and in the early days of using a test, laboratories are still gaining field experience that will help inform how the test is used in broader populations.
Steven Hinrichs, director of microbiology and virology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said he has gotten the original Centers for Disease Control and Prevention test to work and they have identified 14 positive cases in the lab. He is also working for authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a test that could be used in the hospital in a broader set of patients who may not fit the criteria but raise clinical suspicion.
Even as there’s an urgent need to broaden testing, he emphasized that the test must be held to a high standard.
“It’s important for all laboratorians to realize the impact of this test — and they need to be as rigorous for this test as any other, and perhaps even more so,” Hinrichs said. “Can you imagine what a false positive would do in a community when they really didn’t have the disease?”
FDA issues new policy to expand coronavirus testing; some worry it’s not enough
The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday took new steps to expand testing for the coronavirus by speeding up hospitals’ abilities to test. The action followed complaints from labs that the previous policy was too burdensome and was slowing hospitals’ efforts to create and use their own tests.
Certified hospital labs typically can develop their own tests for in-house use, but the rules of a public health emergency — which are now governing the coronavirus outbreak — mean those tests first need to get “emergency use authorization” from the FDA. The lab officials have repeatedly said the FDA’s emergency use requirements are too onerous.
Under the policy announced Saturday, the labs can begin using their own tests after validating them and before the FDA has finished reviewing their request for emergency use authorization.
“We believe this policy strikes the right balance during this public health emergency,” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said in a statement. “We will continue to help to ensure sound science before clinical testing and follow up with the critical independent review from the FDA, while quickly expanding testing capabilities in the U.S.”
He said the agency wasn’t changing its standards for issuing emergency use authorizations, but that it was addressing “critical public health needs” and responding to a “dynamic and evolving situation.”
But Melissa Miller, director of the clinical microbiology laboratory at the UNC School of Medicine, said the change fell short.
“To still have to file the EUA is disappointing,” she said. She called it “burdensome and unnecessary” given that the labs already are certified to do high-complexity testing.
The FDA policy goes into effect immediately.
The agency said that following the completion of their test validation, the labs should communicate with the FDA, via email, to notify the agency that the test has been validated. Laboratories should submit a completed EUA request within 15 business days of notification.
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Sporting events in Japan go on — but with empty stadiums
Japanese baseball players put on a show Saturday — only spectators weren’t allowed in to see it.
Japan’s professional baseball body, the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization (NPB), decided Wednesday to keep its opening 2020 games spectator free to limit large gatherings in which coronavirus could spread.
On Saturday, the Chiba Lotte Marines faced off against the Rakuten Eagles at Japan’s Zozo Marine Stadium in one of six preseason baseball games set to be played in a closed-door and otherwise empty field, the Associated Press reported.
Fans of Japan’s oldest and most popular team, the Yomiuri Giants, usually fill Tokyo’s 55,000-seat stadium to capacity. Saturday night, the Giants are competing against the Yakult Swallows without any cheers from the stands.
Japan is slated to host the 2020 Summer Olympics in July, putting extra scrutiny on the country as it struggles to contain the spread of coronavirus. The country has had 941 cases and 11 deaths, though more than 700 of the infections have been from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, according to the AP.
Japan’s horse racing association also held a spectator-less competition on Saturday. The country’s domestic soccer team, the J-league, has opted instead to postpone 94 matches planned to run through March 15.
The Japan Sumo Association is meeting Sunday to decide whether to continue as planned with a spring tournament scheduled for March 8-22 in Osaka. Authorities already limited Sunday’s Tokyo Marathon to elite runners, a big leap down from the event’s typical 38,000 participants.
In Italy, the epicenter of Europe’s coronavirus outbreak, the governing body for the Serie A soccer games announced Thursday that Sunday’s match — one of the biggest of the season — would be one of five upcoming games similarly played in spectator-less stadiums.
France forbids gatherings of larger than 5,000 as coronavirus precaution
France on Saturday banned public gatherings with crowds of 5,000 or more as a preventive measure against the spread of coronavirus after the government announced an additional 16 cases of infection.
“All public gatherings of more than 5,000 people in a confined space are temporarily banned across France,” Health Minister Olivier Véran told journalists, Reuters reported.
“These measures are temporary and we will likely have to revise them,” he added. “They are restrictive and, paradoxically, we hope they don’t last long, because that means we will have contained the virus’s spread.”
Two people in France have died from coronavirus, and there have been 73 confirmed infections. France’s health ministry said Saturday that the country is preparing for an epidemic.
Authorities announced Saturday that they were also postponing the Paris half-marathon, which some 44,000 runners had planed to complete Sunday.
Switzerland on Friday also announced a ban on public events with more than 5,000 people, while Italy’s three virus-hit northern regions have temporarily closed schools and universities for the second week.
Trump is ignoring the lessons of the 1918 flu pandemic that killed millions, historian says
The first wave wasn’t that bad. In the spring of 1918, a new strain of influenza hit military camps in Europe on both sides of World War I. Soldiers were affected, but not nearly as severely as they would be later.
Britain, France, Germany and other European governments kept it secret. They didn’t want to hand the other side a potential advantage.
Spain was neutral in the war; when the disease hit there, the government and newspapers reported it accurately. Even the king got sick.
Months later, when a bigger, deadlier wave swept across the globe, people thought it had started in Spain, even though it hadn’t. Simply because the Spanish told the truth, the virus was dubbed the “Spanish flu.”
Now, as fears about the coronavirus spread, at least one historian is worried the Trump administration is failing to heed the lesson of one of the world’s worst pandemics: Don’t hide the truth.
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U.S. travel advisory on Italy is ‘final blow’ to tourism, industry leader says
The head of Italy’s hotel federation on Saturday said the U.S. government’s latest travel advisory, which cautioned Americans to avoid nonessential travel to the nation, could be the “final blow” to his country’s tourism industry.
Italy has quickly become Europe’s center for the coronavirus outbreak, now registering 888 confirmed cases — the greatest number outside Asia.
“We had already registered a slowdown of Americans coming to Italy in recent days,” Bernabo Bocca, president of hotel federation Federalberghi, said in a statement to the Associated Press. “Now the final blow has arrived.”
The Level 3 warning, issued by the U.S. State Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is one step below banning travel to the country altogether.
The Associated Press reported that more than 5.6 million Americans visit Italy every year and represent 9 percent of foreign tourists to the country. They infuse a collective 5 billion euros a year into the Italian tourism industry and economy, Federalberghi told the AP.
On Friday, before the CDC’s upgraded travel advisory, the Italian government placed a moratorium on mortgages and delayed deadlines for tax payments in an effort to provide relief to the tourism industry.
Bocca said the move wasn’t enough and called on officials to safeguard the jobs of 1.5 million people who operate more than 300,000 companies across Italy.
What does it mean to prepare for an outbreak?
While there is no vaccine for covid-19, preventive steps and awareness are the best tools to prepare and protect yourself in the event of an outbreak. Learn more here:
Bracing for coronavirus, cash-strapped rural hospitals buy masks from hardware stores
Routine care and elective surgeries — such as knee replacements and gallbladder removal — could be scaled back if the coronavirus spawns a pandemic, hospital executives are warning, delivering economic shocks to the hospital system beyond the immediate challenges of protecting health-care workers and dealing with those stricken with the virus.
Rural hospitals could bear the early brunt. They sit furthest from international airports and urban hubs where outbreaks are more likely, but they are at the tail end of supply chains for vital medical goods such as protective masks and gowns.
In addition to preparing for victims and the demands of protecting health-care workers from infection, fragile hospital networks also are readying for disruptions to the bottom line. If the spreading coronavirus puts heavy demand on health systems, billable work that keeps revenue flowing on a weekly basis to hospitals small and large will be curtailed, executives said.
The hospital industry warned policymakers this week that Congress needs to quickly pass emergency funding for the crisis and direct some of the funding to plug anticipated gaps in hospital operating budgets. In the event of widespread sickness, costs would soar for isolation rooms for infected patients, equipment and training.
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A week of coronavirus anxiety, in 11 Google searches
The global coronavirus outbreak dominated headlines this week as it entered the political debate and sent markets tumbling. In response, Americans did what we always do when confronted with something new, big and scary: We dumped our anxieties into the nearest Google search bar.
Here are a number of charts illustrating search terms that saw big jumps this week, which give a sense of our collective coronavirus-related worries, as well as a few hopes.
One important caveat about Google trends data: It doesn’t reveal exactly how many people are searching for a given term; it just gives a sense of whether that term has risen or fallen in popularity. So to approximate absolute search volume, presumably popular search terms like “Donald Trump” and “Kim Kardashian” will serve as guide posts.
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Governments issue travel advisories and travel bans amid outbreaks
As numbers of coronavirus infections continued to rise around the world, governments ramped up travel advisories for citizens and even travel bans on incoming travelers from affected countries.
The U.S. State Department raised its travel advisory for Italy to level three, urging citizens to reconsider all nonessential travel. Italy is the center of Europe’s coronavirus outbreak, with 888 confirmed cases.
Russian officials on Saturday urged citizens not to leave the country. Kuwaiti health officials have also discouraged traveling, as the small Gulf country grapples with 45 confirmed cases of the virus. Saudi Arabia likewise urged its citizens to cancel all nonessential travel to Lebanon, where four coronavirus cases have been confirmed.
“In order to consider yourself protected today, first of all, possible future trips outside the native country need to be reduced as much as possible,” Anna Popova, a Russian public health official, told local news affiliates, according to Reuters.
Kuwait has evacuated hundreds of citizens from Iran, the regional focal point of the virus outbreak in the Middle East. The two latest cases involved people who had entered Kuwait from Iran, according to the Kuwaiti health ministry.
Following the case of a woman who tested positive for the virus who had recently returned to Australia from Iran, the Australian government is imposing a travel ban on Iran to begin March 1.
After that date, Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt told reporters Saturday, Australian travelers returning from Iran will be required to self-isolate for a period of 14 days after their arrival.
All non-citizens, non-permanent residents and those who are not family of Australian citizens and permanent residents will be denied entry into the country unless their departure from Iran occurred more than 14 days before their arrival date in Australia.
Travelers who fit this category will be required to spend 14 days in another country before being granted permission to enter Australia.
“There is likely at this stage a high level of undetected cases, and therefore those cases won’t be intercepted or identified on departure from Iran,” Hunt said.
Qatar announces its first confirmed coronavirus case
BAGHDAD — Qatar announced its first case of coronavirus Saturday, days after the country’s ruler ordered the evacuation of its citizens from Iran.
The country’s state-run news agency did not provide further details about the individual’s background or travel history.
The Qatari government announced Thursday that it had completed the evacuation of its citizens from Iran, the focal point of the region’s outbreak. “A hotel has been set up as a quarantine facility to be used by the Qatari citizens for a 14 day period and will be cared for and monitored by medical,” the Government Communications Office said. “They have arrived in Doha.”
Qatar is one of a growing number of Middle Eastern states to publicly announce the detection of coronavirus, and Iraq said Friday a sixth citizen had tested positive.
Although the Baghdad government has ordered a temporary shuttering of public spaces including cafes and cinemas, the capital’s streets were still busy Friday night as residents wore protective masks but did not stay home.
The arrival of coronavirus in Baghdad has even delayed the formation of a new government: Parliament announced last week that a planned vote on the new cabinet would not be possible Saturday, since the chamber was being disinfected.
France confirms 19 new cases as officials declare epidemic inevitable
PARIS — France confirmed 19 additional cases of coronavirus late Friday, bringing the national total to 57. Health officials warned that an epidemic was now imminent.
“We are preparing for an epidemic,” French Health Minister Olivier Véran said. He added that “we are now moving to stage two. The virus is circulating in our country and we must stop its spread.”
Twenty additional cases had been confirmed in France late Thursday; the new 19 cases were diagnosed in the 24 hours since then.
Authorities on Saturday were still struggling to identify the initial source of an outbreak in the Oise region north of Paris, with particular attention being paid to links between the Creil military base in that region and the nearby Charles de Gaulle international airport, one of the busiest passenger airports in Europe.
On Friday, France’s Le Monde newspaper, citing airport security officials, reported that one airport worker who lives in the Val d’Oise region had tested positive for the virus.
The rapidly growing numbers of coronavirus cases come at a time of general malaise among public health workers in France. Earlier this year, hundreds of hospital department heads resigned over complaints about insufficient resources and staffing.
“We are facing an epidemic that will affect the whole system and will very quickly impose a reorganization of care,” Xavier Lescure, an infectious disease specialist at Bichat hospital, one of the three designated coronavirus treatment hospitals in the Paris region, told Le Monde.
Iran reports more than 200 new virus cases, 9 deaths
ISTANBUL — Iran on Saturday confirmed more than 200 new cases of the coronavirus — as well as nine deaths — amid a widening outbreak that has put other Mideast nations at risk.
At least 205 new infections appeared in Iran in the last 24 hours, including in provinces with no previous known cases, bringing the total number of patients to 593, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said.
The death toll from the virus, which causes the disease known as covid-19, rose to 43, Jahanpur said. Iran has suffered the highest number of deaths from virus outside of China, where it originated in December. It was first detected in the Iranian holy city of Qom earlier this month.
Jahanpur and other officials have warned citizens that the number of cases will rise in the coming days and weeks. In Iran, several senior officials have also been infected, including a vice president, the deputy health minister and as many as four parliamentarians. A former ambassador to the Vatican also died this week after contracting the virus.
Authorities suspended the activities of parliament, banned Friday prayers in multiple cities and shuttered schools and theaters in an effort to contain the outbreak.
Japan’s Abe says it was a ‘tough decision’ to close schools, pledges to increase virus testing
TOKYO — Acknowledging widespread public criticism of the government’s handling of the coronavirus epidemic, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said it had been a “tough” but necessary decision to request schools across the country to close in March and also promised to expand and enhance virus testing capacity.
“We understand that people have various views and criticism to any decisions made by the government that would directly affect your lives,” Abe said at a televised news conference on Saturday. “Of course, we need to sincerely listen to your voices. However, as the prime minister of Japan, I need to protect the lives and health of the people.”
Abe reiterated the government’s view that the next one to two weeks are a critical time to curb the speed at which the new coronavirus will spread around Japan and said the government “must never allow a mass infection” of children at school.
“The closure of schools will put a burden on parents, especially families with small children,” he said. “I understand the difficulties these people will have to go through, yet we need to put children’s health and safety first.”
Abe pledged additional spending to tackle the impact of the virus, as well as an expansion of child care services.
Abe’s government has also been widely criticized for a shortage of virus tests, which has left doctors around the country unable to get tests for patients they believe could be infected.
Abe vowed to increase testing capacity so anyone who doctors felt needed a test could obtain one and also pledged to roll out a new test in March that could give results in 15 minutes. He said three drugs are being used to treat patients with the virus.
“All those drugs have been confirmed to have efficacy to a certain degree in the basic study using new coronavirus,” he said. “Therefore, we will use them with the consent of patients so as to develop therapeutic drugs as soon as possible.”
Japan has more than 200 confirmed coronavirus cases, not including more than 700 people from the Diamond Princess, but medical experts believe the real number of infections is significantly higher.
Saudi Arabia tells citizens not to travel to Lebanon
BAGHDAD — Saudi Arabia urged citizens Saturday not to travel to Lebanon, after the number of confirmed coronavirus edged steadily upward.
In a statement, the Saudi Embassy in Beirut asked Saudi nationals to postpone non-urgent travel and, if in Lebanon, stay away from crowded places, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
Lebanon confirmed its fourth coronavirus on Friday, with Beirut’s Rafik Hariri Hospital describing the individual as a Syrian national, now in quarantine. It was unclear whether she had recently traveled to China or Iran, where many other cases appear to have been contracted.
Lebanon is in the throes of its worst economic crisis since its civil war and the downturn has hit the health care system hard. As foreign reserves evaporate, doctors have staged sit-ins at hospitals to warn that lifesaving medicines are in short supply. Health care professionals have also pointed to an increasing shortage of medical equipment.
The Lebanese government has been slow to react to the spread of coronavirus, only stopping flights from affected countries on Friday, a week after the first case was confirmed there. Shortly afterward, Lebanon’s education ministry announced Friday that it would close all universities and schools until March 8, as a precautionary measure.
“In the interest of the health of students and their families ... the minister of education Dr. Tarek Majzoub requests all educational institutions including kindergartens, schools, high schools, vocational institutions and universities to close,” the education ministry said in a statement.
South Korea reports biggest single-day jump in cases since outbreak
South Korean health officials on Saturday reported the country’s biggest single-day increase in new coronavirus cases since infections there began to surge earlier this month.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had confirmed 594 new cases, bringing the country’s total number of infections to nearly 3,000. Before Saturday, South Korea had not tallied more than 334 new cases in a single day, according to the KCDC.
Seventeen people have died from the novel virus in South Korea, and 27 have recovered, according to the country’s health officials.
Nearly all of the new cases came from the sprawling southeastern city of Daegu, where earlier in February officials linked a sudden burst of infections to an obscure church.
South Korean vice health minister Kim Kang-lip said the country has reached a “critical moment” in stopping the spread of the virus, and advised citizens to refrain from going outside or taking part in public events this weekend, as Reuters reported.
Three nurses among Taiwan’s latest coronavirus cases
BEIJING — Taiwan on Saturday reported five new confirmed coronavirus cases, including nurses and a cleaner working at a hospital and a woman who began showing symptoms while traveling through the Middle East.
Including the five, Taiwan’s case count now stands at 39.
Three nurses became infected while treating a coronavirus patient at an emergency ward, and one of the nurses came in contact with the cleaner, who subsequently contracted the disease, Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center said.
In a statement, the command center did not positively pinpoint where the fifth case, a woman in her 60s, contracted the illness but noted that she was in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt between Jan. 29 and Feb. 21, when she began coughing. Authorities are now following up with other people she traveled with.
The Emirates, a regional transportation hub with a significant population of Chinese businesspeople, has seen a slight uptick in cases, with the total reaching 21 on Friday. Several of its other cases include travelers from Iran, where officials have reported at least 245 cases.
Chinese manufacturing plunges to record low
BEIJING — China reported its lowest manufacturing numbers on record for the month of February, as the epidemic-stricken economy ground to an unprecedented standstill.
China’s National Statistics Bureau said Saturday that the Purchasing Managers’ Index plummeted to 35.7, a reading below the previous record low of 38.8 in November 2008, during the global financial crisis. Any reading below 50 signals that manufacturing activity contracted.
Aside from languishing factories, the services industry also reported record-low activity, the statistics bureau reported.
“There was a plunge in demand for consumer industries,” the bureau said, noting a deep freeze in restaurants, transportation and tourism.
The extent of the historic drop will likely fuel fears that China will struggle to mount a swift economic recovery, with knock-on effects for the rest of the world. China’s factories remain at the heart of the global supply chain.
Chinese monetary authorities have promised to take drastic action to jump-start the economy, including breaking ground on massive new infrastructure projects. The government is also pressuring banks to pump out loans and landlords to forgive late payments to help businesses back on their feet.
Chinese manufacturers say they have had difficulty staffing factories with their rural employees reluctant to return to work and in some cases even running into logistical difficulties, such as quarantine controls and roadblocks erected by fearful communities.
In recent weeks, the state railway and other transportation authorities have been chartering trains and buses to shuttle workers from the countryside back to factories. An economic planning official said this week that three-fourths of industrial firms have restarted production.