Live Updates On The Coronavirus Pandemic

Live Updates On The Coronavirus Pandemic

Times Square in New York on Sunday.

© Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times

Global restrictions rise, but so do the number of new infections.

Countries closed borders, cities from New York and Los Angeles to Paris and Madrid closed bars and restaurants, schools closed more classrooms and hundreds of millions of people closed their doors on one another as the authorities took ever more drastic steps to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

The consequences of China’s harsh measures to halt the virus — restricting the movement of about 700 million people at one point — became apparent on Monday when the government released economic data showing industrial output falling to its lowest level in decades and unemployment rising at its highest rate ever in February.

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While the economic ramifications of China’s approach are still playing out, Beijing did succeed in slowing the rise of new infections, as the total number of cases outside the country has for the first time surpassed those inside it.

The Federal Reserve, seeking to steady financial markets, cut interest rates to near zero and said it would buy hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. government debt. But global stocks still tumbled on Monday.

As the virus continues to spread across the United States, public life is increasingly shut down. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommends a ban on gatherings of more than 50 people for the next eight weeks.

And as Americans are asked to isolate themselves, the United States has stepped up plans to isolate itself from the world, with travelers from Britain and Ireland on Monday joining the list of other European countries barred from entering the country.

But even as a patchwork of new restrictions were put in place across the country — with different states and localities charting their own course — there was growing concern that hospitals could soon be overwhelmed.

“We have an impending catastrophe when this wave of growth crashes on the hospital system,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said in an appearance on CNN on Monday.

Within Europe, countries are closing themselves off. The Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia have all closed themselves off to foreigners. And Germany, the economic engine of the Continent, said that it would partly close its borders with five neighboring countries.

Still, the number of new cases across the Continent continues to surge, and there is growing worry that the health care systems of Spain and France could soon face the kind of dire situation playing out in Italy — where doctors have had to make grim decisions about which patients to treat.

Gallery by photo services

There is a scramble across the Continent to step up production of ventilators, with leaders calling for the kind of effort seen in wartime to produce munitions.

The Spanish government warned on Monday that it would probably extend the state of emergency and keep people indoors beyond the initial period of 15 days.

Jérôme Salomon, a top official at the French health ministry, said the situation was “deteriorating very quickly.” He told France Inter radio on Monday that many people did not seem to be taking calls for social distancing seriously, and he tried to dispel the notion that the virus seriously threatens only the elderly. There are 300 to 400 people in intensive care in France, he said, and roughly half of them are under age 65.

© Jose A. Alvarado Jr. for The New York Times Big Mozz, a New York restaurant, closed early on Sunday and plans to remain shut for at least a week.

Trading on Wall Street is halted after steep sell-off at opening.

Stocks on Wall Street plunged on Monday, following global markets downward after an extraordinary move by the Federal Reserve failed to prevent further panic.

Trading was halted after U.S. stocks dropped 8 percent at the open.

Investors were also confronted with weak economic readings out of China and the United States, the world’s largest economies. Chinese officials reported that retail sales, manufacturing activity and investment in the first two months of the year had slumped even more than economists expected, and a gauge of manufacturing activity in New York State collapsed by the most ever in a month.

© Andrew Testa for The New York Times The Columbia Road Flower Market in London on Sunday.

“Unfortunately this is the new reality,” wrote economic analysts with the investment bank Jefferies in New York. “This report is a harbinger of what is to come.”

European markets also tumbled on Monday, falling more than 6 percent. France’s main stock index briefly fell 10 percent.

An emergency interest rate cut by the Fed on Sunday underscored its deepening worry that the pandemic is severely depressing revenue for industries around the world while consumers hunker down, raising the risk of a worldwide recession. The central bank cut interest rates to near zero and said it would buy hundreds of billions of dollars in government debt, moves reminiscent of its actions during the 2008 financial.

Those moves were intended to ensure that credit flows freely, spurring businesses and households to continue borrowing and spending. But markets appeared to absorb the action as the latest indication that the world had arrived at a dangerous place — a clear sign that they should dump risky assets like stocks and seek refuge in government bonds.

© Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Patients who recovered from the coronavirus wore protective clothing as they lined up to be tested again at a hospital in Wuhan, China, on Saturday.

Across America, states limit public interactions.

With a growing chorus of public officials across the United States warning that the nation’s health care infrastructure could buckle under the pressure of a large surge in coronavirus patients, states and localities issued more restrictions on public life and urged all Americans to take personal responsibility to stop the spread of the virus.

For many students, parents and teachers, it was the first Monday without a regular school week, and the number of families affected continued to grow. New York City, the largest district in the nation, with 1.1 million students, was set to shut down, and Massachusetts moved to close schools across the state beginning Tuesday.

Officials took some of their most aggressive steps yet to stop the spread of the virus, shutting restaurants and bars in New York City, Los Angeles, Massachusetts, Ohio, Washington State and Puerto Rico, with the exception of takeout or delivery in some places.

© Craig Z. Rodarte/U.S. Navy, via Getty Images The U.S.S. Boxer, an amphibious assault ship, in 2016. A sailor has tested positive for coronavirus.

The move will close bars in New York City, Boston and California, among other places, for the St. Patrick’s Day holiday on Tuesday, which is typically one of their busiest days of the year.

Movie theaters, theaters and gyms were also closing. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom called for people 65 and older to shelter in their homes.

The number of coronavirus cases in the United States climbed to over 3,600 across 49 states on Monday. West Virginia is the only state without a documented case of the virus.

In California, Governor Newsom also issued guidelines calling for the closing of all bars, night clubs and wineries. He said that restaurants could remain open, but they must reduce their occupancy by half to allow for more “social distancing” among diners.

And movie theaters and gyms were closed in Los Angeles by its mayor, Eric Garcetti, who also said on Sunday evening that he was temporarily closing bars, nightclubs and restaurants except for takeout and delivery.

Italy’s deaths jump, Germany seals its borders, and France and Spain sound the alarm.

As Italian doctors and health care workers struggled to cope with surging demand from critically ill patients and the death toll in the country rose above 1,800, Spanish and French officials worried that their own health care systems could soon be overwhelmed and set about imposing ever tighter restrictions on the movement of their citizens.

Jérôme Salomon, a top official in France’s health ministry, said on Monday that the situation in France was “deteriorating very quickly.”

About 300 to 400 people infected with the virus in the country are in critical condition, he said, and about half of those patients are under 65 years old.

“We are seeing that the number of cases is doubling every three days,” Mr. Salomon told France Inter radio.

France announced the closing of all “non-indispensable” businesses, including restaurants, bars and movie theaters, after a sharp rise in coronavirus cases. The number of French cases has passed 5,400, with 127 deaths.

In Spain, residents were ordered to confine themselves to their homes — and to leave only to buy food, go to work, seek medical care or assist older people and others in need. All schools, restaurants and bars in the country were ordered to close.

Yet José Luis Ábalos, Spain’s transportation minister, warned on Monday that the lockdown may not have a significant or immediate impact.

Spain — with about 8,000 cases and about 300 deaths — now has the highest number of cases in Europe after Italy. The government ordered medical students, private hospitals and factories producing medical equipment to help boost the resources of the public health system.

As other countries in Europe saw their own numbers surge, many sought to seal themselves off from one another. Germany was the latest country to significantly curtail entry of foreigners, effectively closing its land borders.

Switzerland also ratcheted up its response after recording 840 new cases of infection on Sunday, a rise that brought the national total to 2,200. The Swiss authorities have barred people entering from Italy unless they live or work in Switzerland, and the interior minister said checks were likely to follow at all national borders.

New York City is closing all schools, restaurants and bars.

New York City is closing down the nation’s largest school system and said that all bars and restaurants would close, limiting those outlets to takeout and food delivery.

And Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo called for the Army Corps of Engineers to expand hospital capacity to deal with a surge in patients and keep the health care system from being overwhelmed.

The measures by New York City — the most aggressive and disruptive efforts so far to stem the spread of the coronavirus — were announced after local authorities came under intense scrutiny for a limited response.

“I’m very, very concerned that we see a rapid spread of this disease, and it’s time to take more dramatic measures,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Sunday afternoon. “This is a decision I have taken with no joy and a lot of pain.”

The city’s schools will be closed on Monday for all students and employees, but teachers will be asked to report to work later in the week for training on how to provide remote learning, Mr. de Blasio said, adding that his goal was to reopen all schools on April 20.

Some locations will reopen on March 23 as “enrichment centers,” set up to provide instruction and services for vulnerable children, including homeless students and children with special needs. But Mr. de Blasio said there was a strong chance that schools would not reopen at all this school year.

Later on Sunday, he ordered that all restaurants bars and cafes limit their operations to food take out and delivery. Nightclubs, movie theaters and concert venues will also close starting on Tuesday.

Across the Hudson River in Hoboken, N.J., that city has also introduced severe restrictions, including a curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. beginning Monday. All bars and restaurants will be limited to takeout and delivery services.

All public and private schools in Nassau County, which includes some of the most densely populated areas of Long Island, are closed starting Monday, and New Jersey’s governor said on Sunday that a statewide school shutdown was “imminent.”

In Connecticut, all public schools will shut down on Tuesday and remain closed until at least March 31.

U.K. considers adding restrictions amid growing pressure.

British officials are expected to announce measures this week to combat the coronavirus, as cases more than quadrupled in the country from a week earlier. The government has been criticized by scientists, public health officials and citizens for mixed messaging about what measures will be taken.

The government is holding an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss its next moves and whether to adopt some of the more stringent regulations being put in place across the Continent.

It is likely to release advice on social distancing, including measures that will ask people over 70 to remain in their homes, according to government ministers who spoke about the issue over the weekend.

Matt Hancock, Britain’s health secretary, told the BBC that every person over 70 in the country would be instructed “within the coming weeks” to self-isolate at home for an extended period. He did not provide a time frame, but said it could be for “a very long time.”

The government also said it planned to hold daily televised news conferences, delivered by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior ministers, to update the public starting on Monday afternoon.

Downing Street also said Mr. Johnson would speak with British manufacturers to seek support in producing essential medical equipment, including ventilators that are vital in treating severe coronavirus cases.

No gatherings of 50 or more for now, urges the Centers for Disease Control.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Sunday that no gatherings with 50 people or more — including weddings, festivals, parades, concerts, sporting events or conferences — be held in the United States for the next eight weeks, in one of the federal government’s most sweeping efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The C.D.C. said that its recommendation did not apply to “the day-to-day operation of organizations such as schools, institutes of higher learning, or businesses” and added that it was not intended to supersede the advice of local health officials.

“This recommendation is made in an attempt to reduce introduction of the virus into new communities,” it said, “and to slow the spread of infection in communities already affected by the virus.”

The C.D.C. also urged people to take care with even small gatherings. “Events of any size should only be continued if they can be carried out with adherence to guidelines for protecting vulnerable populations, hand hygiene and social distancing,” its recommendation said. “When feasible, organizers could modify events to be virtual.”

There are now more new cases outside China than in the country, where the outbreak began.

As the coronavirus epidemic continues to surge worldwide, there are now more total confirmed cases outside China than inside China, the country where the virus first spread, according to numbers released Monday.

Statistics released by China’s National Health Commission showed that by Sunday the country had recorded 80,680 infections.

The total for the rest of the world — everywhere outside mainland China — exceeded 85,000, according to figures tabulated by Johns Hopkins University. Italy, in particular, has recorded a grim rise in infections and deaths in recent days, and said that total cases in the country are near 25,000.

Since January, China has imposed sweeping restrictions on travel, commerce and transport, especially in Hubei Province, where the outbreak began. The country’s top leader, Xi Jinping, has trumpeted his efforts to bring the epidemic under control.

Fatalities from the virus outside China are also approaching the number recorded there since January. By Sunday, China’s official death toll had reached 3,213. More than three quarters of those occurred in Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei, where the outbreak has struck hardest. To date, more than 3,100 have died outside China.

As the outbreak expands outside, the authorities took measures on Monday to further protect Beijing, the capital. All travelers to the city will undergo a 14-day quarantine at sites designated by the government. Previously, arriving travelers were allowed to self-isolate at home.

Other places including Anhui Province, Inner Mongolia and the city of Sanya on Hainan Island announced similar quarantine measures.

Also on Monday, Jack Ma, China’s richest man, said he had donated surgical masks and testing kits to the United States, just weeks after China desperately imported medical equipment from around the world to handle its outbreak.

“All the best to our friends in America,” Mr. Ma, the founder of the e-commerce giant Alibaba, said on Twitter on Monday.

Sailor aboard crowded Navy vessel tests positive.

A sailor aboard the U.S.S. Boxer, an amphibious assault ship crewed by hundreds, tested “presumptive positive” for the coronavirus, the Navy said in a statement on Sunday, making it the first case aboard a U.S. Navy ship.

People who had close contact with the sailor were ordered into “self-isolation” the statement said, adding that none of those people were aboard the ship.

“U.S.S. Boxer is taking appropriate preventive measures and conducting a thorough cleaning in accordance with specific guidance from the C.D.C. and Navy-Marine Corps Public Health Center,” the statement said.

Amphibious assault ships like the Boxer are often characterized as miniature aircraft carriers. They are sprawling vessels with several berthing areas, multiple decks and the ability to transport hundreds of Marines and their aircraft.

Reporting was contributed by Michael Cooper, Karen Weise, Reid J. Epstein, Katie Glueck, Shane Goldmacher, Jeanna Smialek, Neil Irwin, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Safak Timur, Emmet Lindner, Marc Santora, Megan Specia, Aurelien Breeden, Raphael Minder, Melissa Eddy and Tiffany May.