February 24 coronavirus news

Our live coverage of the coronavirus outbreak has moved here.

The White House has requested $1.25 billion in emergency funding to address coronavirus, as well as the ability to tap an additional $535 million in emergency funds already appropriated. 

This letter, obtained by CNN, was sent to the Hill just a short time ago.

The Trump administration expects “to allocate at least $2.5 billion in total resources” for the response effort. Much of that would come from shifting already appropriated money from agency accounts.

The US Food and Drug Administration is currently not able to conduct routine inspections on drugs, medical supplies or household goods from China due the US State Department’s travel advisory for China over the coronavirus outbreak, the agency said in a statement.

Inspections are just one tool the FDA uses to make sure products are safe, and the lack of inspections is “not hindering our efforts to monitor medical products and food safety,” officials said. The agency monitors products through import screening, sampling and import alerts and it works with US Customs and Border Protection to look for products that violate legal requirements. Some 60% of FDA-regulated products imported from China are medical devices, the agency said, and 20% are housewares, such as food packaging.

In response to the outbreak, the FDA said it will also use, where appropriate, the agency’s authority to request records from firms “in advance or in lieu of” drug surveillance inspections in China. Paper records will help prioritize what inspections should happen first during what could become a back log in on-the-ground inspections, depending on how long the travel restrictions continue, the agency said.

The FDA reiterated that there is no evidence that the virus can be transmitted through imported goods, but added that this is a “dynamic” situation and the agency will continue to assess it and update guidance as needed.

The FDA promised it is working around the clock to monitor and mitigate any coronavirus-related issues in a collaborative effort with other agencies.

The United States and South Korea are considering scaling back joint military exercises due to the coronavirus outbreak in the Korean peninsula. 

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said military commanders in Korea “are looking at scaling back the command post training due to concerns about the coronavirus.”

Esper said he is confident the US and South Korea will “remain fully ready to deal with any threats that we might face together.”

Hong Kong and Taiwan reported new cases of novel coronavirus on Monday.

Hong Kong reported two new cases of novel coronavirus from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, bringing the total to 81 in the city, the Department of Health said in a statement late Monday.

Meanwhile in Taiwan, officials confirmed two new cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the island’s total to 30, the Central Epidemic Command Center announced at a news conference Monday.

Here’s what we know about the cases:

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg

Officials in San Antonio, Texas, are reporting they have six patients with confirmed cases of novel coronavirus.

One of the patients is from the group of Wuhan evacuees and five patients are from the Diamond Princess cruise ship. The patients with the coronavirus are in isolation at the Texas Center for Infectious Disease.

Nirenberg said he was proud that San Antonio stepped up to help the nation during this “challenge.”

“[L]et’s be clear, the most dangerous, damaging infectious disease is hysteria and so what we’re trying to do is make sure we have a compassionate human response to a crisis that’s happening,” the mayor said.

Dr. Nancy Knight, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s division of global health protection, said lab results are still pending.

“Given the high risk environment that the Diamond Princess cruise ship passengers came from, I would not be surprised if we have additional cases,” Knight said.

A man who tested positive for the novel coronavirus and was evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship is being transferred to the University of Nebraska Medical Center from Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, according to a hospital statement.

The hospital is monitoring 14 people, of which 12 have tested positive for coronavirus. 

President Trump tweeted from India about coronavirus saying that it’s “very much under control in the USA.”

Trump also tweeted that the “stock market starting to look very good to me” linking the two — despite the Dow closing more than 1,000 points down Monday.

This is Trump’s second tweet in the early morning hours in India.

The US stock market dropped heavily today after the number of coronavirus cases surged in Italy and South Korea, putting two more major economies at risk from a virus that has already caused widespread disruption in China.

The Dow Jones index finished down more than 1,000 points at the closing bell on Monday.

The Dow finished down 1,032 points, or 3.6%, its worst day since February 2018. It was only the third time in history that the index closed down by more than 1,000 points. The index is now in the red for the year and at its lowest point total since December 11. The S&P 500 closed 3.4% lower. It was its worst one-day percentage loss since February 2018.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 3.7%, its worst performance since December 2018.

There are now 229 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Italy, according to Italy’s National Civil Protection Service. 

Here’s the breakdown of where those cases are:

There are 101 hospitalized patients with symptoms and another 27 are in intensive care. At least 94 are in home isolation, officials said in a statement. Seven people have died from coronavirus in Italy.

All US senators will be briefed Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. in a classified setting on the novel coronavirus, two sources with knowledge of the plans tell CNN. 

One source said that the briefing will be in a classified setting because the senators who are organizing it wanted to be prepared in case a senator asks a question that can only be answered in a classified setting. 

There will be briefers from the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health and the State Department, one source added. 

A team of health experts from the World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control have arrived in Italy, the site of Europe’s biggest coronavirus outbreak.

The team will “support Italian authorities in understanding the situation,” the WHO said in a statement. Their focus will be on “limiting further human-to-human transmission,” it said.

“WHO experts are providing support in the areas of clinical management, infection prevention and control, surveillance and risk communication,” the statement said.

The WHO said it is concerned over what it calls the “rapid” increase in reported cases in Italy. “However, it should also be noted that based on current data, in the majority of cases (4 out of every 5) people experience mild or no symptoms,” it added.

About coronavirus in Italy: Five people have died and at least 219 others have been infected with the virus in Italy, Angelo Borrelli, head of the country’s Civil Protection agency, said at a Monday news conference.

The bulk of the cases — 167 of them — are in the northern region of Lombardy, whose capital is the city of Milan.

Canada has confirmed its 11th case of coronavirus, according to health officials.

In a joint statement, Health Minister Adrian Dix and Dr. Bonnie Henry, health officer for British Columbia, said the affected person, a male in his 40s, was in close contact with a previously reported confirmed case.

“Both cases remain in isolation at home with support and monitoring from public health teams,” the statement said.  

In total, Canada has 11 total cases of confirmed coronavirus; four in Ontario and seven in British Columbia.

Carnival Corporation, the parent company of nine cruise lines including Princess Cruises, has cancelled all of its ships to mainland China through mid-March.

That includes four ships – run by Costa Cruises, and three additional ships from Princess and Seabourn Ovation that have been rerouted to other countries, according to Roger Frizzell, Chief Communications Officer for Carnival Corp.

In email sent to passengers who were previously booked on one of the Princess ships to China, the company wrote:

The financial impact of these cancellations are $0.03 to $0.04 per share, and if routes to China continues to be impacted through the end of April, it would affect the company’s fiscal 2020 financial performance by $0.55 to $0.65 per share, which includes guest compensation. Passengers received full refunds from the cancelled routes and can receive refunds if they do not wish to embark on the adjusted routes, said Frizzell.

Carnival shares are down more than 22% this year. Shares for Royal Caribbean, another large cruise operator, are down more than 24% this year. 

As of right now routes to China are scheduled to come back online in mid-March, except for Diamond Princess which is suspended through late April. 

Bruce Aylward of the World Health Organization said that that world should “jump on this thing super fast”, when asked by CNN if the rest of the world should adopt the all-society approach used by the Chinese government.

Aylward added that Chinese’s response was broader than their containment efforts in Wuhan and Hubei, saying, “The danger is looking at Wuhan and Hubei and say[ing] okay that is the Chinese approach – because actually that isn’t. That’s the exceptional part of the Chinese approach that is being applied in an area where you got community-level transmission right through the whole place.”

Aylward said countries should “isolate the contacts” and not let them “wander around and restart the transmission chains,” which is what China did.  Aylward’s exception, though, was that it was not necessary to lock down entire cities as China did. 

“So I think the big message is: You can control this particular respiratory virus by using these measures. You don’t have to lock down cities is the big message from China in fact”, said Aylward.  

Anniston, Alabama, Mayor Jack Draper said based on a series of meetings with the Department of Health and Human Services, they were not prepared to handle coronavirus patients.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) told Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday it was evaluating the possibility of using a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston as a backup location for some Americans infected by the virus, according to statements from the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) and the governor’s office. 

During a news conference Monday, Draper said it became apparent after several meetings with HHS that there was no real plan and no idea what would be expected of the local community, first responders and local healthcare.

Officials board the Kalitta Air flight carrying American evacuees from the Diamond Princess cruise ship at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland on February 17 in San Antonio, Texas. 

There are now 53 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in the United States, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.

These include 36 people who were aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, three people repatriated from China and 14 US cases.

This reflects an increase in 18 cases from Friday, all among Diamond Princess passengers. At the time, CDC officials said that there were additional passengers who had tested positive for the virus in Japan and would likely be added to the official US count once those test results had been adjudicated.

The 14 US cases include eight in California, one in Massachusetts, one in Washington state, one in Arizona, two in Illinois and one in Wisconsin. Among these cases, there are two instances of person-to-person transmission, one in Illinois and one in California. 

Ryan Detrick, Senior Market Strategist for LPL Financial, said in a statement today, “The coronavirus might be slowing in mainland China, but the huge jump over the weekend to various other countries has many reassessing 2020 growth estimates.”

Detrick continued:

What’s this about: Earlier today, US stock markets plunged almost 1,000 points as coronavirus fears mount.

The Dow has now lost more than 1,400 points in the span of the three trading days. That sharp drop wiped out the Dow’s gains for the year — leaving the index slightly negative for 2020.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are both down this morning, but remain positive on the year.

Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organization WHO for Health Emergencies, speaks on the second day of the 56th Munich Security Conference, on Saturday, February 15.

Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme, said today it’s too early to declare the novel coronavirus a pandemic — but now is the time to prepare.

He added: “We are in the phase of preparedness for a potential pandemic.” 

Ryan said countries must prepare to take and treat patients and push for adequate containment.

Mary Cahill, left, leaves a news conference where officials discussed the proposal for housing coronavirus patients at the Fairview Development Center in Costa Mesa, California, on Saturday, February 22. A court temporarily blocked the U.S. government from sending up to 50 people infected with a new virus from China to the Southern California city for quarantine after local officials argued that the plan lacked details about how the community would be protected from the outbreak.

Representatives from the southern California city of Costa Mesa will be in court this afternoon to continue its fight against housing coronavirus patients in its city.

Late Friday, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking the possible use of the Fairview Developmental Center to quarantine patients who’ve tested positive for the coronavirus. In the complaint, the city says “Fairview is an inappropriate location for a quarantine, as there is no way to restrict access to or from the facility.”

A hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. local time Monday.

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