Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Virus cases across the U.S. rising.
More than 100 infected in US; death toll rises to 6
NEW YORK — The coronavirus spread to more countries and world capitals Monday — and the U.S. death toll climbed to six — as new cases in China dropped to their lowest level in over a month.
A shift in the crisis appeared to be taking shape: Hundreds of patients were released from hospitals at the epicenter of the outbreak in China, while the World Health Organization reported that nine times as many new infections were recorded outside the country as inside it over the past 24 hours.
Alarming clusters of disease continued to swell in South Korea, Italy and Iran, and the virus turned up for the first time in New York, Moscow and Berlin, as well as Latvia, Malaysia, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Jordan and Portugal.
The worldwide death toll topped 3,000, and the number of those infected rose to more than 90,000 in 70 countries on every continent but Antarctica.
Global health officials sought to reassure the public that the virus remains a manageable threat.
“Containment is feasible and must remain the top priority for all countries,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Around the world, the crisis reshaped the daily routines of millions of people.
Across Japan, children stayed home after the government announced the closing of schools until April.
In Paris, the galleries of the Louvre museum were off limits.
With Israel holding a national election, special voting booths were set up for those under quarantine.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel was rebuffed by her interior minister when she extended her hand to greet him.
At the United Nations, officials said they were postponing a major conference on women that had been expected to bring up to 12,000 people from its 193 member countries to New York next week.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned that the world economy could contract this quarter for the first time since the international financial crisis more than a decade ago.
“Global economic prospects remain subdued and very uncertain,” the agency said.
Nevertheless, the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared nearly 1,300 points, or 5%, as stocks roared back from a seven-day rout on hopes that central banks will take action to shield the global economy from the effects of the outbreak. Finance ministers and bank leaders from the Group of Seven major industrial countries said they will confer by phone Tuesday to discuss an economic response.
Health officials in Washington state, where a troubling cluster of cases surfaced at a nursing home outside Seattle, said four more people had died from the coronavirus, bringing the number of deaths in the U.S. to six, all in Washington.
In Seattle, King County Executive Dow Constantine declared an emergency and said the county is buying a hotel to be used as a hospital for patients who need to be isolated.
“We have moved to a new stage in the fight,” he said.
Over 100 cases have been confirmed in the U.S., with more almost certain in the coming weeks.
Thousands of test kits were on their way to state and local labs, and new guidelines intended to expand screening were put in place.
Global health officials said they were encouraged that even in some countries that had taken far less aggressive measures than China’s, the virus remains in check.
Because the virus is not transmitted as easily as the flu, “it offers us a glimmer that this virus can be suppressed and contained,” said Dr. Mike Ryan, the WHO’s emergencies chief.
Vice President Mike Pence, who is overseeing the government’s response to the virus, met with the nation’s governors and pledged to continue updating them weekly by teleconference. President Donald Trump met with pharmaceutical companies to talk about progress toward a vaccine.
China reported just 202 new cases, its lowest daily count since Jan. 21, and the city at the heart of the crisis, Wuhan, said 2,570 patients were released. At the largest of 16 temporary hospitals that were rapidly built in Wuhan in response to the outbreak, worries over the availability of supplies and protective gear eased.
But in other places, problems continued to multiply.
South Korea, with the worst outbreak outside China, reported 599 new cases, bringing the total to 4,335. The death toll rose to 26.
In Iran, a confidant of Iran’s supreme leader died from the virus. The Islamic Republic confirmed 1,501 cases and 66 deaths, but many believe the true number is larger. Its reported caseload surged more than 250% in just 24 hours.
Italy’s caseload rose to 2,036, including 52 deaths. Officials said it could take up to two weeks before they know whether measures including quarantining 11 towns in northern Italy are slowing the spread of the virus.
In the U.S., four Americans exposed to the virus aboard a Japanese cruise ship were released from quarantine in Nebraska after testing negative.
In Texas, tension between U.S. and local officials brewed over the planned release Monday of more than 120 ex-passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise ship in quarantine in San Antonio. Mayor Ron Nirenberg declared a public safety emergency in an attempt to continue the quarantine.
He and other officials in San Antonio called for more lab testing of the passengers after one woman tested positive after release.
The CDC has broadened guidelines for who should be tested for the virus to include people with symptoms but without a travel history to virus hot zones.