Live updates: Coronavirus travel curbs grow as China death toll tops 3,000; Xi cancels Japan trip - The Washington Post

The death toll of the novel coronavirus reached 11 in the United States on Wednesday as the epidemic spread, resulting in the first fatality outside of Washington state, that of a 71-year-old in northern California.

As of Wednesday evening, health officials had reported at least 153 cases of the virus across the country, including 45 people who had been on the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan. Most domestic deaths so far have been linked to a nursing home near Seattle.

While no additional states reported patients on Wednesday, both New York and California experienced serious upticks in the spread of the virus. Health officials confirmed nine more cases in New York and six in Los Angeles County, which has also declared a local health emergency.

Elsewhere in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced a state of emergency while asking that another cruise ship be held off its coast. The vessel had recently carried several coronavirus patients, including the 71-year-old who died, and Newsom said he wanted passengers and crew members to undergo testing first.

Meanwhile, hospitals and public health labs are bracing for the impact of the growing outbreak.

Following a declaration from Vice President Pence earlier this week that any American can get tested with a doctor’s order, 60 labs are now running the test for the novel coronavirus. That capacity is expected to increase as more labs come online and private companies ship thousands of test kits, but CDC guidelines have nonetheless created panic.

In Kirkland, Wash., which has emerged as center of the epidemic, Pence’s order has become a rallying cry: Some residents with even mild symptoms of a common cold are demanding a coronavirus test, as others elsewhere in the country say they have not been able to get tested at all.

Many hospitals and doctors, meanwhile, have been forced improvise emergency plans daily without a clear sense of how bad the crisis will become. Doctors in Rhode Island have been testing patients in a hospital parking lot, officials in Washington state are buying a motel to house patients in isolation, and small hospitals in rural Texas worry they may not be able to reach central testing labs hours away.

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2020-03-05 08:16:00Z
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Live updates: Coronavirus travel curbs grow as China death toll tops 3,000; Xi cancels Japan trip - The Washington Post

The death toll of the novel coronavirus reached 11 in the United States on Wednesday as the epidemic spread, resulting in the first fatality outside of Washington state, that of a 71-year-old in northern California.

As of Wednesday evening, health officials had reported at least 153 cases of the virus across the country, including 45 people who had been on the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan. Most domestic deaths so far have been linked to a nursing home near Seattle.

While no additional states reported patients on Wednesday, both New York and California experienced serious upticks in the spread of the virus. Health officials confirmed nine more cases in New York and six in Los Angeles County, which has also declared a local health emergency.

Elsewhere in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced a state of emergency while asking that another cruise ship be held off its coast. The vessel had recently carried several coronavirus patients, including the 71-year-old who died, and Newsom said he wanted passengers and crew members to undergo testing first.

Meanwhile, hospitals and public health labs are bracing for the impact of the growing outbreak.

Following a declaration from Vice President Pence earlier this week that any American can get tested with a doctor’s order, 60 labs are now running the test for the novel coronavirus. That capacity is expected to increase as more labs come online and private companies ship thousands of test kits, but CDC guidelines have nonetheless created panic.

In Kirkland, Wash., which has emerged as center of the epidemic, Pence’s order has become a rallying cry: Some residents with even mild symptoms of a common cold are demanding a coronavirus test, as others elsewhere in the country say they have not been able to get tested at all.

Many hospitals and doctors, meanwhile, have been forced improvise emergency plans daily without a clear sense of how bad the crisis will become. Doctors in Rhode Island have been testing patients in a hospital parking lot, officials in Washington state are buying a motel to house patients in isolation, and small hospitals in rural Texas worry they may not be able to reach central testing labs hours away.

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2020-03-05 07:52:00Z
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U.S. Launches 'Defensive Strike' At Taliban As Fragile Afghan Peace Deal Teeters - NPR

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Militants linked with the Afghan Taliban gather Monday for a ceremony in Laghman province, celebrating the agreement the group signed with the U.S. over the weekend. Since the deal was announced, the Taliban has resumed its attacks in Afghanistan. Noorullah Shirzada/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Noorullah Shirzada/AFP via Getty Images

Just days after the U.S. and Taliban announced the terms of a deal lauded as a foundation for peace, Afghanistan is once more embroiled in deadly violence.

On Wednesday, the U.S. carried out its first airstrike on the Islamist militant group since announcing the agreement. A U.S. military spokesman said the "defensive strike" in Helmand province was aimed at disrupting Taliban fighters "who were actively attacking an [Afghan security] checkpoint."

"Taliban leadership promised the [international] community they would reduce violence and not increase attacks," Col. Sonny Leggett of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan said in a series of tweets, noting that Tuesday alone saw the militant group launch 43 attacks on checkpoints across Helmand.

"We call on the Taliban to stop needless attacks and uphold their commitments. As we have demonstrated, we will defend our partners when required."

In a span of just 24 hours, a wave of Taliban assaults has left civilians and security forces dead in more than a dozen provinces, according to a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Interior. Local media report that at least 16 Afghan soldiers were killed in an attack in the province of Kunduz.

Amid the Taliban offensive, President Trump spoke on the phone Tuesday with the group's chief negotiator, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, making history with what is thought to be the first direct call between a president and a top Taliban official since the U.S. invaded Afghanistan nearly two decades ago.

"We had a good conversation. We've agreed there's no violence. We don't want violence," Trump told journalists Tuesday after the Taliban publicized the call. "We'll see what happens. They're dealing with Afghanistan, but we'll see what happens."

The White House has not officially released a readout, but the Taliban, in its own summary of the 35-minute conversation, says the president commended Baradar.

"You are a tough people and have a great country, and I understand that you are fighting for your homeland," Trump told the Taliban official, according to the group's readout. "We have been there for 19 years and that is a very long time, and withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan now is in the interest of everyone."

More than 2,400 Americans have died in Afghanistan since the U.S. invaded the country with the intent to overthrow the Taliban — which had harbored Osama bin Laden, leader of al-Qaida and orchestrator of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The financial cost of the war has been estimated at roughly $1 trillion.

Now, the Trump administration is seeking an exit from the longest war in U.S. history. The deal announced Saturday lays the groundwork for the withdrawal of all American troops and supporting personnel within 14 months, beginning with a 135-day window to reduce its troop levels in Afghanistan to 8,600.

U.S. officials, though, have insisted that the drawdown is conditioned on the Taliban's commitment to severing ties with — and preventing operations by — other insurgents, such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State. And Leggett, the U.S. forces spokesman, said Wednesday that American troops have the responsibility of defending their partners in the Afghan security forces.

Taliban fighters "appear intent on squandering this [opportunity] and ignoring the will of the people for peace," Leggett added.

Other signs of trouble for the deal have surfaced in the capital, Kabul, where Afghan President Ashraf Ghani earlier this week rejected the timeline of another key element of the agreement: a prisoner swap that includes the release of up to 5,000 Taliban fighters in exchange for up to 1,000 Afghan security forces.

"It can be part of the negotiations," Ghani told a news conference Sunday, "but it cannot be a precondition."

International observers, including the United Nations, have called for the Taliban to halt its offensive and resume the "reduction in violence" deal that lapsed late last month.

The partial truce, according to the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, is necessary to maintain "an environment conducive to the start of intra-Afghan negotiations, which should lead to a permanent ceasefire and a lasting political settlement."

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2020-03-04 16:57:00Z
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Italy considers closing all schools over coronavirus outbreak - CNN

The Italian Cabinet was meeting Wednesday to discuss the proposal, as it tries to contain the outbreak that has already killed 79 people there.

"We asked the technical-scientific committee for further information, the decision will come in the next few hours," the Minister of Education Lucia Azzolina said in a statement sent to CNN by the Prime Minister's office.

Some international schools have already issued letters informing parents and guardians they will be closed as a preventative measure as of Thursday, with remote online teaching beginning Friday.

The Italian education ministry has launched a website with information about how to deal with a possible coronavirus outbreak in schools. It also launched an information portal focused on remote learning and said 2,000 teachers participated in webinars on distance learning on Tuesday, the first day of the program.

Italy is experiencing the worst outbreak of the disease in Europe. It has reported more than 2,500 confirmed cases and 79 deaths.

The government has put several cities and towns in the country's north on lockdown. The measures include banning people from entering or leaving affected areas, suspending public events and closing attractions, such as museums, to the public, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. An estimated 100,000 people are effectively under quarantine.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte was forced to admit last week that a hospital in the northern town of Codogno had mishandled the region's first coronavirus case and had contributed to the deadly virus' spread.

Sharon Braithwaite contributed reporting.

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2020-03-04 16:10:00Z
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Marco Rubio offers chilling scenario for Afghanistan after US-Taliban peace deal - Fox News

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Ed Henry and Sen. Marco Rubio discuss the

Reacting to the “defensive” airstrike against Taliban forces after signing a peace deal, Sen. Marco Rubio on Wednesday warned that the Taliban will retake Afghanistan and implement sharia law as soon as U.S. troops withdraw.

“No, I don’t think we can trust them,” the Florida Republican told “America’s Newsroom.”

“The bottom line is that the Taliban will institute a severe version of sharia Law and no elections. That’s what they want, they have the battlefield advantage over the government of Afghanistan," said Rubio.

US MILITARY TARGETS TALIBAN FORCES IN 'DEFENSIVE' AIRSTRIKE, FIRST STRIKE SINCE HISTORIC PEACE DEAL

The U.S. military conducted a “defensive” airstrike against Taliban forces in Afghanistan, less than a week after signing a historic peace deal with the militant group.

U.S. military spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett said in a tweet that the airstrike Wednesday was conducted against four Taliban fighters in Nahr-e Saraj, in the Helmand province, who he said were “actively attacking” an Afghan National Defense and Security Force (ANDSF) checkpoint.

“This was a defensive strike to disrupt the attack,” he added. “This was our 1st strike against the Taliban in 11 days.”

Leggett, who called on the militant group to uphold their commitments to the peace deal signed on Feb. 29, added that Taliban forces had conducted 43 attacks on Afghan troops on Tuesday in the same province.

Though withdrawing troops does not bode well for Afghanistan, the problem is that an “enduring presence” of the U.S. military there is also not “feasible," Rubio explained.

“I hope this works out but I want to be frank with everybody: I think the likeliest outcome at the end of the day is that once the U.S. leaves, within a short period of time, the Taliban will retake the country, will reinstitute sharia, will not have elections.”

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Rubio said that the only way to keep the Taliban at bay would be for U.S. troops to stay "forever." Host Ed Henry called it a "chilling scenario," especially if the Taliban harbors terrorist organizations who plot attacks on the U.S. and Western targets.

President Trump said Tuesday he spoke on the phone to a Taliban leader, making him the first U.S. president believed to have spoken directly to the militant group responsible for the deaths of thousands of U.S. troops in nearly 19 years of fighting in Afghanistan.

"I spoke to the leader of the Taliban today," Trump told reporters on the South Lawn. "We had a very good talk."

He didn't provide any more details, but Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid confirmed Trump spoke with Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Fox News' Brie Stimson, Lucia I. Suarez Sang contributed to this report.

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2020-03-04 16:03:23Z
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COVID-19: 'We Can Push This Virus Back,' WHO Leader Says Of Coronavirus - NPR

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The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can be contained, says WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Here, an Indian student wears a self-made mask as he listens to a teacher in Hyderabad, India, on Wednesday. The country has reported at least 29 cases of the virus. Mahesh Kumar A./AP hide caption

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Mahesh Kumar A./AP

The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is now in at least 75 countries, the World Health Organization said in a Wednesday update on the respiratory disease that has killed more than 3,200 people globally. Italy is being hit particularly hard, with more than 2,000 cases.

Despite the increase in cases, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says, "We can push this virus back."

"This virus is not SARS, it is not MERS, and it is not influenza," Tedros said at a briefing in Geneva. "The nature of this virus means we have an opportunity to break the chains of transmission and contain its spread."

The COVID-19 illness has been confirmed in more than 94,000 people worldwide. Of that number, 51,000 people have recovered, according to a dashboard created by the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering.

More than 80,000 cases are in mainland China, and most of that country's new cases continue to be reported in Hubei province – home to Wuhan, the center of the coronavirus outbreak.

The U.S. has reported more than 100 cases nationwide, and health officials expect the number to rise as more labs gain the ability to test for the virus. At least nine people in the U.S. have died — all in Washington state.

But in recent days, the fastest growth of new coronavirus cases has come outside of China – particularly in South Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan.

South Korea now has 5,328 cases, according to the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of that figure, 32 people have died and 41 have been discharged after recovering from the disease.

As of late Wednesday local time, South Korea had carried out more than 136,000 tests for the coronavirus.

At least 95 countries and territories have imposed restrictions to limit travel between their region and South Korea, including 36 total bans on Korean citizens, according to the Korean foreign ministry.

Italy has also been walloped by the virus, with 2,263 confirmed cases, according to its health ministry. COVID-19 is also linked to 79 deaths.

People remain on lockdown in the "red zone" of the outbreak, the Italian Ministry of Health says. The area includes 10 towns in the Lombardy region (which has 1,520 cases) and one in Veneto.

In the affected areas, schools and universities have been closed and public events canceled; Italian officials are now considering extending those shutdowns nationwide.

Iran has canceled Friday prayer gatherings in every provincial capital, as the country confirmed more than 2,900 coronavirus cases. It also has 92 deaths — the most of any country outside of China.

"Those infected include top leaders and clerics. President Hassan Rouhani posted to his official website the news that coronavirus has now affected almost every province in the country," NPR's Peter Kenyon reports. "Even so, Rouhani told a cabinet meeting that Iran would get over the crisis quickly."

To stop the spread of infection, officials have shut down schools and universities and cancelled public gatherings such as concerts and sport events.

Japan currently has more than 280 cases, and the country has performed more than 8,111 tests for the coronavirus, the health ministry says.

Japan's new cases include a man in his 40s who arrived at an airport near Nagoya and tested positive for the virus. The man arrived back in his home country after traveling internationally for more than two weeks, making stops in Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines. He developed a fever on Feb. 21; respiratory symptoms emerged this week, including chest pain.

While the WHO's top priority is to help contain COVID-19, Tedros acknowledged that countries should also prepare for "sustained community transmission" within their populations, suggesting COVID-19 could continue to disrupt daily life and tax health systems in more areas.

"At the very least, we can slow it down and buy time," he said.

To help stop the virus from spreading, the WHO recommends washing hands for at least 20 seconds or using a hand sanitizer. Face masks should be worn only by people who are either sick or caring for someone who is, the agency says.

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2020-03-04 15:46:00Z
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Novel coronavirus death rate higher than first thought, WHO says - New York Post

The death rate from the novel coronavirus is higher than first thought, the World Health Organization has admitted.

“Globally, about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases have died,” the organization’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Tuesday — markedly higher than all the initial predictions.

Early reports had pegged the death rate at 2.3 percent, while a study of the virus’ spread in China published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine had it even lower, at just 1.4%.

“By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected,” Tedros noted, saying that COVID-19 “causes more severe disease.”

“While many people globally have built up immunity to seasonal flu strains, COVID-19 is a new virus to which no one has immunity,” he said, noting 3,110 deaths recorded as of his remarks Tuesday.

Tedros stressed that the medical community is racing to find treatment, saying that “more than 20 vaccines are in development.”

“We understand that people are afraid and uncertain,” he said.

“Fear is a natural human response to any threat, especially when it’s a threat we don’t completely understand.”

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2020-03-04 15:25:00Z
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