The White House will discuss a possible economic relief package with Senate Republicans on Tuesday, it said, as fears over the new coronavirus prompted stunning declines in the stock market and major disruption to daily life.
The public response to the rapidly spreading virus has gone into overdrive, as schools shut down, colleges shift to online classes, offices tell employees to work remotely, and local governments scramble to contain the virus. Major events have been canceled, including Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day parade this weekend.
What became clearest on Monday, however, was the full extent of the virus’s potential economic impact. Wall Street experienced its worst day in over a decade, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling more than 2,000 points.
At a news conference, President Trump announced new plans to assist hourly wage workers, cut payroll taxes, and help airlines, cruises and hotels, all of which have been hit especially hard. More details about the administration’s response are expected on Tuesday.
“The main thing,” Trump said, “is we are taking care of the American public.”
Yet even as the virus sends some lawmakers — including the incoming White House chief of staff — into quarantine, questions continue to circle about whether enough testing is being done to keep up with the virus.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar could not say Monday how many Americans had been tested for the virus, citing internal tech issues. He promised that more than 4 million tests would be available by the end of the week.
On Tuesday, more passengers are expected to disembark the virus-stricken Grand Princess cruise ship, which docked in Oakland, Calif., following days of uncertainty about what might happen to more than 3,000 people on board.
An unprecedented domestic operation is under way to care for and quarantine the Americans who may have been exposed to the virus, a chaotic effort that has already drawn frustration and anxiety from some local governments.
Still, on Monday morning, Trump dismissed the risk posed to the public, charging that Democrats and the media have been playing up the situation. Then, he landed in Orlando and shook hands with his supporters.
The president had not been tested for the virus, the White House said, and “remains in excellent health.”
"We are hoping that we have passed the peak, taking the numbers into consideration, and cautiously expecting we have passed the peak," South Korean Health Minister Park Neunghoo said in an exclusive interview with CNN.
More than 7,300 coronavirus infections have been confirmed throughout South Korea, killing more than 50. It is one of the largest outbreaks outside mainland China, where the deadly virus was first identified. However, the number of new daily infections in South Korea has declined in recent days.
Park said that while he believes the aggregate number of infections is high, he is confident in the job South Korea did to combat the virus' spread and would advise other governments who are dealing with outbreaks to focus efforts on early testing and global cooperation.
The South Korean government has been among the most ambitious when it comes to providing the public with free and easy testing options. It has the ability run about 15,000 diagnostic test per day and has conducted 196,000 tests to date nationwide, free of charge. Authorities in the city of Goyang even set up drive-thru testing booths.
"Detecting patients at an early stage is very important and we learned the simple lessons by dealing with this virus that this is very contagious -- and once it starts, it spreads very quickly and in very wide areas," Park said. "Raising the testing capability is very important because that way, you can detect someone who's carrying the virus, then you can contain the virus."
South Korean authorities also arranged facilities for patients who were only suffering from mild symptoms. Park said only about 10% of coronavirus patients required hospitalization, while the rest had strong enough immune systems to fight the virus on their own.
About three quarters of all the cases have been identified in the city of Daegu and 63% of all cases in the country are directly related to Shinchonji religious group, the South Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
South Korean authorities believe it's possible that the country's outbreak began with Shincheonji. Park said the number of cases linked to Shincheonji could be as high as 90% of all coronavirus infections throughout the country, when counting those directly and indirectly linked to the religious group.
He also said that while most members agreed to be tested for the virus, there were a few that refused, and that may have slowed down the government's response.
"That's why the government officials sought their consent," he said. "Of course had we been able to test them sooner it could have been easier for us to deal with it so that is a disappointing part of it."
"Without this particular group we might have been able to contain and cope in this fight against the virus but we encountered a very particular and unique religious group so we are trying to block and contain this infection while protecting freedom of citizens, and we are hoping to be able to see a resolution in a short time," he said.
Travel restrictions, school closures, and soccer games being played behind closed doors. WSJ's Eric Sylvers shows what life looks like in Milan as roughly 17 million Italians are on lockdown. Photo: Flavio Lo Scalzo/Reuters
The novel coronavirus epidemic reached a new stage globally, with confirmed cases outside China tripling over the past week and governments warning of more infections among people who recently traveled to countries where infection rates are rising.
Financial market turmoil intensified. Stock markets around the world plunged again on Monday, though also behind the selloff was a crash in oil prices caused by a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. Investors worried that this could trigger broader financial problems just as the global economy takes a severe hit from the virus outbreak. Oil prices fell more than 20%, and the 10-year Treasury note yield dipped below 0.4%, a historic low.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases was more than 110,000 Monday, with infections in 108 countries and regions, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. There were 29,306 cases outside mainland China, versus around 10,000 a week ago. The U.S. tally rose to 554 cases, with 21 deaths.
The Latest on the Coronavirus
110,000 coronavirus cases world-wide; infections in 108 countries and regions
U.S. tally rises to 554 cases; 21 deaths
Italy infections rise to 7,375; deaths at 366
South Korea virus spread slows, 165 new cases reported, total rises to 7,478
29,306 cases outside mainland China, versus about 10,000 a week ago
The world-wide death toll stood at 3,825—the bulk of which were in China, especially in the central city of Wuhan, which first reported the pneumonia-like virus in December. Italy has the second-highest number of deaths at 366, and the total number of confirmed infections in the Mediterranean country climbed to 7,375 over the weekend, almost catching up with South Korea’s 7,478 cases.
Italy on Monday began ratcheting up its lockdown of almost 17 million people living across its north, including the cities of Milan and Venice, as the country tries to arrest the spread of the coronavirus.
Police began stopping people at train stations and airports in the north, asking them to produce a written form explaining why their trip was necessary.
The increased enforcement of the lockdown comes as Italy’s virus outbreak, with 7,375 total infections, approaches the level of South Korea’s, behind only China. In Italy, 366 people with the virus had died by Sunday, far more than in South Korea, where there were 53. Doctors in northern Italy have warned that they are running short of intensive-care beds for severe cases.
In the U.S.,
Carnival Corp.
’s Grand Princess cruise ship is expected to dock in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, after staying off shore for days amid concerns over the new coronavirus. One former passenger died, becoming California’s first Covid-19 death, and 21 current passengers, including 19 crew members, on the boat tested positive for the virus. Once the ship docks, all those on board will be quarantined.
Tracking U.S. Cases of the New Coronavirus
Authorities are closely tracking confirmed positive cases of the virus in America.
Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering
Elbert Wang, Vivien Ngo, and Dylan Moriarty/The Wall Street Journal
Other Princess Cruises have also been affected by the virus’s spread. The Regal Princess docked at Port Everglades in Broward County, Fla., late Sunday after U.S. authorities ordered the ship to be held off the state’s coast. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a no-sail order to the Royal Princess in Los Angeles, the company said.
Officials warned Americans over the weekend to avoid cruise ships, and Vice President Mike Pence, who met with industry leaders over the weekend in Florida, said ships will implement stronger screenings, among other measures.
The number of positive cases grew in the hardest-hit U.S. states in recent days, with about 136 positive cases in Washington state, 105 in New York and 114 in California. At least eight states have declared states of emergency as the virus has spread to new locations, including Washington, D.C. There are at least 566 U.S. cases thus far, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins Monday morning. At least 22 Americans have died, with the majority of deaths following an outbreak at a Kirkland, Wash., nursing home.
The virus’s quick spread across the U.S. over the past week has prompted universities and school districts to cancel in-person classes, businesses to ask their employees to work from home, organizations to cancel high-profile events and local officials to implore residents avoid large crowds.
The death toll from the virus in Iran rose to 237 on Monday, up from 194 the day before, according to the country’s health ministry. The ministry also confirmed 595 cases of infections, bringing the total number of patients to 7,161 patients.
In a sign of the toll the disease is taking, dozens of Iranian officials have contracted the coronavirus and several have died. Among the newly infected is the head of Iran’s National Disaster Management Organization Esmail Najjar.
The former deputy commander for political affairs in Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Farhad Tazri, was confirmed dead on Monday, according to the semiofficial Tasnim News Agency. A prominent former reformist politician, Mohammadreza Rahchamani also died, said the semiofficial ISNA news agency.
Iran has released roughly 70,000 prisoners due to the risk of contracting the coronavirus in prison, the judiciary’s news outlet Mizan Online said.
In China, health authorities reported 40 new cases on the mainland in the past day, bringing its total number of confirmed infections to 80,735, up about 1% from a week ago. More than two-thirds of those taken ill have recovered.
While China also has by far the highest death toll from the respiratory disease, at 3,119 fatalities, its officials have said lockdowns of cities, strict quarantine measures, and widespread workplace and school closures have helped limit infections across the country.
A few weeks ago, China was reporting thousands of new cases daily. In late January the government locked down much of Hubei province, where Wuhan is, to stem the spread of the virus, and hasn’t lifted those restrictions.
In recent days, major cities including Shanghai and Beijing have seen people returning to malls, shops reopening and other business activities gradually resuming. On Monday, Shanghai government officials said some major tourist spots and sports facilities had reopened after being closed for more than a month.
Walt Disney Co.’s Shanghai Disney Resort said it would partially resume operations as a first step in reopening in phases, while the main Shanghai Disneyland theme park would remain closed until further notice.
Global Spread
Locations ordered by date of first reported infection.
Cumulative daily reported infections
Updated March 8, 2020 11:20 a.m. ET
*Cruise ship docked in Japan
Note: Data begins when Johns Hopkins and WHO began publishing daily global case numbers. China first reported a pneumonia cluster in Wuhan in early December 2019.
Sources: Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering, the Lancet, Associated Press
Vivien Ngo/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Governments are preparing for a new wave of coronavirus cases among people who have traveled to countries other than China. Health authorities in Hong Kong, which has 114 confirmed cases, said several people who tested positive for the virus in recent days had been on a tour to India in February. India has reported 39 coronavirus infections.
On Monday, South Korean Vice Health Minister Kim Ganglip said the spread of the coronavirus appears to be slowing in the country but that new infections could come from people returning from abroad.
The country added 165 cases, the lowest daily new numbers since Feb. 25, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
China said it has a total of 67 imported cases, including people who recently traveled to Italy and Iran.
In Japan, a new rule kicked in Monday that effectively bans tourists from China, Hong Kong, Macau and South Korea until the end of March, as the country seeks to prevent more new imported infections. Japan reported 488 cases on Monday, up 33 from a day earlier.
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Several people died and more than 20 others remained missing after a hotel being used as a quarantine center collapsed in China. Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images
France’s central bank said the impact from the coronavirus epidemic on French businesses will slash 0.2 percentage points from the country’s economic growth in the first quarter. Gross domestic product will rise 0.1% in the first quarter of 2020 compared with the prior quarter, according to the Bank of France’s monthly survey of business activity.
The declining growth projections are another signal of the economic slowdown from the virus, infections of which have started to spike in France to more than 1,100 as of Sunday, second in Europe behind Italy. Health officials have closed schools in two regions of France and many workers are being urged to stay home.
Stocks markets in Europe plunged Monday as part of the global rout. France’s CAC-40 was down more than 7% in early trading, while the U.K.’s FTSE 100, also influenced by a collapse in oil prices, was down more than 8.5%.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle start copyrighting their Instagram photos to 'The Duke and Duchess of Sussex' after the Queen banned them from using 'Sussex Royal' in their branding
Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan Markle, 38, have made subtle change to Instagram
Couple have started to credit photographs to 'The Duke and Duchess of Sussex'
Up until a week ago, they attributed the copyright to the 'Sussex Royal' brand
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have started to copyright their Instagram photographs 'The Duke and Duchess of Sussex' following the Queen's decision to ban them from using 'Sussex Royal' in their branding.
The couple took to the Sussex Royal Instagram account and shared a picture from Saturday, where they joined veterans, serving members, world-class musicians, composers and conductors of the Massed Bands of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines for the annual Mountbatten Festival of Music — an event to help raise funds on behalf of the Royal Marines Charity.
However, there was one subtle difference on their social media page - the copyright of the pictures had changed from previous, with the credit instead being attributed to 'The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.'
It was a stark difference to just a week earlier, where a snap of Prince Harry launching a new eco-friendly travel firm in Edinburgh had been credited to 'Sussex Royal' - the last time the brand appears to have been used on their Instagram.
The Duke, 35, and Duchess of Sussex, 38, attributed this photograph of Prince Harry at the Travelyst conference in Edinburgh to the 'SussexRoyal' brand on February 26
The last time the couple used the 'SussexRoyal' trademark on their Instagram account was one week ago (pictured)
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex received a long round of applause and a standing ovation from the audience in the Royal Albert Hall in London as they took their seats at the Mountbatten Festival of Music
Following the event, the royal couple shared a photograph to their Instagram account alongside the credit: 'The Duke and Duchess of Sussex' (pictured)
Harry and Meghan first began using the Sussex Royal branding this time last year, after they split their household from that of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – known as Kensington Royal.
The Sussexes' Instagram page, @sussexroyal, has amassed 11.2million followers – the same number of fans as William and Kate's account.
But at the end of February, documents filed at the Intellectual Property Office showed a request to use the names Sussex Royal and Sussex Royal Foundation for commercial and charity activities in the UK had been removed.
It followed the Queen's decision that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could not use the 'Royal' label after deciding to step down as working royals and move to North America.
The Sussex Royal Instagram account also credited this photograph, where Meghan Markle visited the Southbank theatre's Immersive Storytelling Studio on 5 March, to 'The Duke and Duchess of Sussex'
The couple first made the subtle Instagram account change two days ago, when they shared this photograph of Meghan Markle
A statement they released at the time struck a more hostile tone in some sections, and said that neither the government nor the Queen herself own the word 'royal' internationally - but they would nonetheless stop using the title.
The statement read: 'While there is not any jurisdiction by The Monarchy or Cabinet Office over the use of the word 'Royal' overseas, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex do not intend to use 'Sussex Royal' or any iteration of the word 'Royal' in any territory (either within the UK or otherwise) when the transition occurs Spring 2020.'
Additionally, a statement issued by the palace stated that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will no longer use their HRH titles.
Meghan and Harry's statement states, however, that they will keep the prefixes His and Her Royal Highness.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's new flashy website, sussexroyal.com, featuring their new branding
Authorities in China reported the fewest number of new cases of coronavirus since infections started being tracked in January, but the epidemic is continuing to spread rapidly elsewhere around the world Monday, rattling global stock markets.
In the latest update from China's National Health Commission, the country said it detected 40 new cases of the virus in the past 24 hours, down from 44 new cases the previous day. China now has 80,735 total cases, among which 19,016 remain in treatment and 58,600 have been released. More than 3,000 have died.
Coronavirus live updates:Grand Princess to dock in California with 21 infected people; State Department issues warning
New infections in South Korea also appear to be slowing.
Other international-related coronavirus developments Monday:
An exclusion zone in northern Italy came into effect as the number of cases there jumped to 7,375. Italy is the worst-hit nation in Europe. The Italian government is shutting down its museums, which include access to the Sistine Chapel, until April 3. Italy's quarantine order locks down 16 million people – a quarter of its population – across a large swath of its territory in the north close to Milan.
Stock markets in London and Frankfurt dropped sharply after big losses on bourses in Tokyo and Shanghai. Investors have been on edge about the surging economic costs of the virus but further aggravating sentiment Monday: A squabble between Saudi Arabia, Russia and other major producers about how much to cut oil output to prop up prices amid the virus outbreak. Oil prices plunged more than 20%.
France is banning events of more than 1,000 people to limit the spread of the coronavirus and recruiting recently retired medics and medical students to help deal with growing numbers of infections. The country reported 1,126 cases as of Sunday, up 19% from the day before. So far, 19 people in France have died.
Israel is considering requiring all Israelis and foreign nationals arriving from abroad to go into self-quarantine, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted.
Iran has suspended all flights to Europe. Iran says the new coronavirus has killed another 43 people, pushing death toll to 237 amid 7,161 confirmed cases. Iran has released 70,000 prisoners to try to contain the virus spreading in jails.
Saudi Arabia has suspended pilgrimages to the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina. It has also cordoned off access to many towns in the east of the country.
The torch lighting ceremony for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo may be held in Olympia, Greece, without spectators, according to a Reuters report. As coronavirus spreads, organizers face a ticking clock over whether to cancel the summer Games. The event is due to be held in Japan from July 24 to August 9.
A Holocaust remembrance march in southern Poland has been postponed this year because of fears about the new coronavirus sweeping the globe. The event was expected to draw 110 delegations from around the world.
Games in Germany’s Bundesliga soccer league will take place without fans.
Britain is holding meetings to decide to whether to implement a policy of "social distancing" to limit the outbreak's spread. This would involve banning large gatherings, mandating that people work from home where possible and limiting contact with transportation hubs and other densely populated areas.
In South Korea, with the number of new cases slowing Monday to 367 from 483 the day before, Health Minister Park Neung Hoo said the outbreak – once the biggest outside of China, now it's in Italy – appeared "a little bit stagnant."
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has established a "no-touch" policy between himself and members of the public as the virus spreads in the country. Duterte, 74, has previously spoken about various health issues he faced over the years.
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KABUL, Afghanistan — Just a few minutes and a thin wall apart, both President Ashraf Ghani and his chief rival, Abdullah Abdullah, took the oath of office as the president of Afghanistan on Monday, essentially splitting the country’s government in half while plunging it into a new crisis during sensitive peace talks.
As both men were delivering their speeches broadcast on split-screens across the country, a barrage of rockets landed in the capital near the site of the ceremonies. Sirens blared in the diplomatic area near the presidential palace.
Mr. Ghani’s inauguration was briefly interrupted, with some in the audience running for cover. But the president refused to leave the stage and urged calm.
“I am not wearing an armored vest,” Mr. Ghani said, opening his jacket. “We have seen big attacks. A couple explosions shouldn’t scare us.”
The capital city had remained under lockdown for much of Monday, as marathon efforts led by U.S. diplomats to prevent a split government following a monthslong election dispute failed. President Ghani, who was declared the winner of a bitterly disputed vote, had announced that he was going ahead with his inauguration. Mr. Abdullah, who accuses Mr. Ghani of winning unfairly through fraud, had said that he would hold a simultaneous swearing-in next door.
Mr. Abdullah has been the chief executive of the coalition government brokered by the United States when a previous election in 2014 ended in another messy stalemate. This is the third presidential election, out of the country’s total of four since the U.S. invasion in 2001, that has been bitterly disputed and has required American mediation to find a way out.
All of this played out in the middle of a U.S.-negotiated peace plan with the Taliban, which calls for a full U.S. military withdrawal over the next 14 months as well as the start of direct talks between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgency.
The Afghan government is supposed to be preparing for those talks now. But the political conflict in Kabul has threatened plans for those to start on Tuesday. And an increasingly fraught disagreement between Mr. Ghani’s government and the U.S. negotiating team over the potential release of thousands of Taliban prisoners threatens to collapse the process in yet another way.
Mr. Ghani was declared the winner by a thin margin of about 12,000 votes above the minimum 50 percent required. Mr. Abdullah’s team has disputed about 15 percent of the total vote. They accuse Mr. Ghani of pressuring the election commission to rush the process of auditing the questionable votes, making sure he begins his second term in office before progress in peace talks shifts the conversation to power-sharing with the Taliban.
A previous attempt by Mr. Ghani to hold his swearing-in late last month was delayed by U.S. shuttle diplomacy, as it would have brought the crisis to a head right on the eve of the Taliban and United States signing their deal in Qatar on Feb. 29, officials said. Mr. Ghani’s advisers said the election crisis needed to be brought to a conclusion so that a government with a clear mandate could lead the talks with the Taliban.
Now, Mr. Ghani’s inauguration, and Mr. Abdullah’s rival ceremony next door,happened on the eve of another milestone in the peace deal: the Taliban and a delegation representing the Afghan government and other parties were supposed to start direct negotiations on Tuesday. That appears unlikely now.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special envoy for the talks, came to Kabul soon after signing the deal with the Taliban, in hopes of figuring out a solution between Mr. Ghani and Mr. Abdullah to keep the government from splitting. He shuttled between the two leaders half a dozen times on Sunday, officials said, with the meetings stretching to the early morning hours on Monday.
Mr. Khalilzad even briefly managed to get Mr. Ghani and Mr. Abdullah to meet face to face close to midnight on Sunday, but Afghan officials from both sides said there was no breakthrough.
Mr. Khalilzad, Gen. Austin S. Miller, the commander of U.S. NATO forces in Afghanistan, and dozens of other diplomats attended Mr. Ghani’s inauguration, which was administered by the Afghan chief justice. No senior diplomat was seen in attendance at Mr. Abdullah’s ceremony next door, which was administered by a religious cleric.
Advisers to Mr. Abdullah said they had been ready to find a solution to the crisis in the form of an all-inclusive government, something not unlike the current setup negotiated by Secretary of State John Kerry after the 2014 vote ended in a stalemate. The Abdullah team’s bottom line was that whatever form the government took, nothing should validate an official victory through the vote for Mr. Ghani.
Mr. Ghani’s advisers said they were willing to accommodate Mr. Abdullah through a “solution in accordance with the Constitution,” essentially ruling out Mr. Abdullah’s continuing in his current extra-constitutional role as chief executive. But they said that Mr. Abdullah’s demands had made that impossible.
Late into Sunday night, state television broadcast drone footage of the palace boulevards lined with large Afghan flags for the occasion. Representatives and diplomats from 45 countries, and about 2,500 domestic guests, were invited to Mr. Ghani’s event, his inauguration officials said.
Mr. Abdullah’s team, hours after, announced that they had issued 10,000 invitation cards. Seats were arranged around a fountain, and a stage was decorated with flowers.
“We have just sent invites to embassies and foreign organizations in Kabul,” Fazal Ahmad Manawi, a senior adviser to Mr. Abdullah, said on Twitter around 9 p.m.
Around 2 a.m. on Monday, Mr. Manawi tweeted that the American side had told them that Mr. Ghani had agreed to postpone his inauguration to allow more time for negotiations between the two camps. One adviser to Mr. Abdullah, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mr. Khalilzad had managed to persuade Mr. Ghani to postpone after getting Secretary of State Mike Pompeo into the conversation. There was no immediate confirmation of that claim from American officials.
But just hours later, at 6 a.m., Shahhusain Murtazawi, a senior adviser to Mr. Ghani, said the inauguration was going ahead on Monday as planned.
For many Afghans, the political crisis has been a draining distraction from more dire challenges facing the country, including the resumption of fighting with the Taliban, the spreading of coronavirus, and poverty rates that are growing worse by day.
“I am a member of the cheering squad, we are here to clap and cheer when they speak,” said Noorullah, a teenager from Parwan Province, who was at Mr. Abdullah’s inauguration. “I don’t care about any of them because they don’t care about the country — just look at where the price of potatoes has come to.”
One of the most telling episodes of the crisis was underway in Dar-e-Suf District, in the northern province of Samangan, where the district governor was abducted by the Taliban a couple of weeks ago. As part of their campaign of appointing officials to show their parallel government, Mr. Abdullah’s team stepped right in to fill the vacancy even before the fate of the abducted governor was clear, pushing aside the caretaker appointed by the central government.
About 50 armed men accompanied Mr. Abdullah’s appointee to the district headquarters on Saturday under falling snow, tying his waist with a shawl and declaring him the new chief.
