A boy wears a mask, behind the Beauty Arts Palace in Mexico City. The Secretariat of Health of Mexico has announced the first two confirmed cases of Covid-19. Photograph: Cristopher Rogel Blanquet/Getty Images
A boy wears a mask, behind the Beauty Arts Palace in Mexico City. The Secretariat of Health of Mexico has announced the first two confirmed cases of Covid-19. Photograph: Cristopher Rogel Blanquet/Getty Images
With the Trump press conference over, we’ll wrap up this blog for the day.
In summary, in terms of coronavirus news in the US:
The first US coronavirus death has been reported in Washington state. There has been some confusion over the gender of the person who died.
Donald Trump has rejected criticism for his remarks at a rally in South Carolina on Friday night, in which he referred to the coronavirus outbreak as a hoax. In the White House briefing room, the president told reporters he had been referring to Democratic criticism of his administration’s response, not to the virus itself.
Mike Pence has rejected, or at least skirted, criticism of his appointment to oversee the federal response to the outbreak given his record in office as governor of Indiana, where there was a major HIV outbreak in 2015 which critics said was affected by the conservative Christian’s ideological approach to science-based policy and events.
Also, Pence has detailed new US moves:
Additional travel restrictions on Iran
An increase to the highest level for the advisory that Americans should not travel to specific regions in Italy and South Korea
State department co-ordinated screening in those countries of individuals coming to America
30m face masks a week being added to US stocks.
We’ll report more as the day goes on, of course. In the meantime, here’s a selection of further Guardian reading:
…and with questions from a Russian-sounding reporter about possible arms control talks to come and another on the Afghanistan deal, Trump says “we’ll be doing this quite often” – meaning answering questions in the White House briefing room which no longer hosts White House press briefings – “to keep you abreast of the facts”.
He skips a question about reports he might consider tax cuts to ease the coronavirus-related pain but says there will be a “very major middle income tax cut” proposal soon.
Trump is now asked about the economic impact on the US by the coronavirus outbreak and what the Federal Reserve might do as the markets plunge.
The Fed has an important psychological role to play, Trump says, and says it should have acted more strongly sooner. He wants lower interest rates. And the Fed should be a “leader not a follower”.
“Our Fed has not been a leader at all,” he repeats.
Now on to the mentioned meeting with pharmaceutical companies on Monday to discuss a vaccine, although the meeting was set up previously to discuss drug prices. An aide says the development of said medicines can be expedited.
“When it came to healthcare Indiana has been a leader,” Trump says, claiming it was started “with others” by Pence.
Pence says Indiana had two experiences with the spread of infectious diseases. He mentions MERS in 2014 and says he then learned of the extraordinary capabilities of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and dealt with the issue effectively.
In 2015, he says, the outbreak of HIV was in a “very small town” and he “immediately deployed health resources”. The state of Indiana did not allow for needle exchanges, he says, but he declared an emergency and made a needle exchange avaialable, treating the patients and ending the outbreak.
Here’s some Guardian coverage of that outbreak, for further reading:
Trump says he has been in very close contact with China and President Xi Jinping over the outbreak and again cites US companies re-opening there as proof of Chinese progress: Starbucks and Apple.
A health official says there is no evidence of link to travel or contact in the woman who died in Washington state.
A question about why Trump would consider closing the border with Mexico, which seems to have little to do with the coronavirus outbreak. Trump says he is not considering closing ports of entry, but is thinking about “all borders” in general.
“This too will end,” says Trump about the outbreak.
Is the White House taking precautions regarding the president’s travels? Trump thinks so, referring to his “tremendous rally” in South Carolina and all the other travel he does.
Dr Fauci now answers a question about the dangers or not to people who get coronavirus, and repeats that the elderly and those with chronic health conditions are most likely to die. Every once in a while there will be a one-off, he says, when a healthy 25-year-old will get ill.
“That’s gonna happen, that happens with influenza,” he says.
It also seems that being infected and recovering means one cannot get the virus again.
Now a question about the Afghanistan deal and the nomination of John Ratcliffe for director of national intelligence, which is controversial.
Trump is asked about his remarks in Charleston about the outbreak being a hoax.
“Hoax referred to the action they [Democrats] tried to take to try to pin this on somebody,” he says, “certainly not” to the coronavirus.
Was Dr Anthony Fauci – standing next to president – ever muzzled?
“That’s a very dishonest question,” says Trump, adding: “He was never muzzled.”
Fauci doesn’t seem keen to speak but he clarifies that “has never been muzzled ever”. He says he merely stood down on some media appearances to clarify what he should be doing and when.
Will the southern border be closed?
Trump says it’s being looked at – the new cases overnight were reported at the other end of the country, in the north west.
Should Americans change their daily routine?
Trump and officials say no.
A South Korean question about US troops there: “We care very much for the troops,” Trump says. It’s all working out fine, he says.
Back to the word “hoax”. Could it make people think he is saying the virus was a hoax even if he wasn’t?
He says no, then spins to talking about how well his administration has performed on coronavirus so far.
Alex Azar is also expressing sympathy for the family of the Washington state patient who died, referring to her as a woman. He repeats official guidance about the risks from coronavirus and says the government wants to follow a “basic containment strategy” in terms of travel.
Next, Dr Anthony Fauci who does not refer to the gender of the person who died. And in fact, Governor Inslee’s statement has been changed to remove reference to the gender of the person who died too.
Pence commends Trump for his guidance of course and then announces:
Additional travel restrictions on Iran
An increase to the highest level for the advisory that Americans should not travel to specific regions in Italy and South Korea
The state department will co-ordinate screening in those countries of individuals coming to America
Pence then commends the members of his task force for their work and says he has spoken to congressional leaders about a supplementary funding bill for federal agencies and for state and local authorities.
“The average American does not need to go out and buy a mask,” Pence says. But 3M will produce 30m more masks a month nonetheless and availability will be increased.
Risks remain low, Pence says, but Trump’s actions “give evidence to the fact that at his direction we’re going to continue to lead in this effort”.
Trump says his administration has taken “the most aggressive action in modern history to confront this disease” and says moving quickly has put the US ahead of the game. China seems to be making tremendous progress, he says, and “their numbers are way down”.
Trump is repeating his “most aggressive” claim for the US response, in comparison to all other countries. On Monday, he says, he’ll be meeting pharmaceutical companies to discuss a developing a vaccine “very rapidly”.
“Tremendous amounts of supplies are already on hand,” he says – there have been problems with federal testing kits.
Pence led a task force meeting this morning, Trump says, and they came up with some “pretty strict edicts”.
“Our country is prepared for any circumstance, we hope it’s not going to be a major circumstance,” he says, asking the media and politicians not to do “anything to incite panic at all”.
Trump is addressing the press flanked by Mike Pence, the vice-president he put in charge of coronavirus response efforts to not-universal acclaim, and federal health officials. It’s a long preamble on Afghanistan, in which Trump said he would personally meet Taliban leaders soon and said the US could yet go back in “with a force like nobody’s ever seen”. So much for that.
Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus with Alex Azar, health and human services secretary; Dr Anthony Fauci, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases director; Mike Pence, vice-president; Robert Redfield, director of the CDC; and Dr Jerome Adams, the US surgeon general. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP
The coronavirus outbreak is very important to many people, Trump says, paying tribute to the officials with him and others in a more than usually husky voice. A lot of progress has been made, he says, and he will update us here. Remember, the first US death was confirmed just before he came out.
There are 22 patients in the US – the president says one person died overnight and it was a woman in her late 50s. Washington state governor Jay Inslee just announced it was a man.
Trump begins by congratulating the “incredible people” who have worked so long on “our longest war” in Afghanistan for what he says is 20 years. It’s actually a little more than 18 since the invasion in 2001 but regardless an agreement was signed in Doha this morning with the Taliban, committing the US to troop withdrawals if the Taliban keeps the peace.
We’ll concentrate on the coronavirus news here of course, so here’s our report on the Afghanistan deal:
Here in the US the first coronavirus death has been confirmed, in Washington state out on the west coast. I’m in New York City but the president is at the White House in Washington DC and he is about to give a news conference. We’ll blog it live. Here he comes.
Reuters reports that the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Italy has climbed above 1,000, according to an official who said the number of deaths had surged to 29.
Its been a tough journey for the first-division soccer club from Wuhan, the city at the epicentre of the virus outbreak in China.The team came to Spain for preseason training and doesn’t know when it will be able to return home.
Players haven’t seen their relatives in more than two months. One of them lost a family member because of the virus. Their arrival prompted fears among local residents in the midst of the rapidly spreading outbreak. They had to be repeatedly tested before concerns about their condition abated.
It hasn’t been easy for the nearly 50 members of the Wuhan Zall team, but on Sunday they will get some reprieve from their ordeal by attending the Spanish league clásico between Real Madrid and Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. The team will also tour the famed venue in Madrid on Monday.
Its really a well-deserved reward for them, José González, the team’s Spanish coach, told the Associated Press in a telephone interview. It will be an experience that without a doubt they will never forget. They have been training and training day after day, distracted by the situation back home, so it will be a nice break for them to watch a game like this between Real Madrid and Barcelona.
The team will be at the Bernabéu on an invitation from Real Madrid and La Liga, which has a partnership with the Chinese Super League, the country’s main soccer competition. The league has been suspended because of the coronavirus and is not expected to resume until mid-April. Wuhan Zall was originally scheduled to stay in its preseason base in southern Spain until mid-February, just before the leagues planned start. Now it is expected to remain in the country at least until the end of March.
Other Chinese clubs are in a similar situation in countries like Thailand, Japan and the United Arab Emirates, though Wuhan Zall is actually based in the city at the centre of the outbreak that has killed more than 2,800 people worldwide, most of them in China.
Wuhan Zall arrived in Spain at the end of January but previously practiced in the Chinese city of Guanghzou, nearly 1,000 621 miles away from Wuhan. Although the team was far from the initial outbreak, Spanish health authorities had to come out publicly to say there was no reason for local citizens to be concerned about the squads arrival. Three players arrived from China later and had to stay in quarantine and be tested for the virus before joining the rest of the group.
The fear of the unknown obviously always exists, González said. I understood those who were reticent about the team coming to Spain. But with time it became clear that there was no problem with the team being here.
González, a former striker who had played in China, said his focus has been to take the players minds away from the situation at home. Going to the clásico was one way of doing that, as was the decision to give them 10 days of vacation while in Spain.
I honestly try to talk about the subject (virus) as little as possible, he said. Because they are already talking about it all the time, in their rooms, with their relatives back home. I dont want to talk about it as well every time I see them. I try to make training as fun as possible so I can see them smiling a bit.
Iraq has detected five new cases of the coronavirus, four in Baghdad and one in the central Babel province, the country’s health ministry has announced, taking the total number of cases in the country to 13.
The patients were placed in quarantine, days after Iraq banned public gatherings and barred entry by travellers from Kuwait and Bahrain. It has now prohibited travel to or from a total of nine countries.
Iraq has cultural and religious ties with Iran and annually receives millions of Iranian pilgrims. An Iraqi family of four, the first known Iraqis to have caught the disease, who returned from Iran tested positive for the coronavirus in Kirkuk province on Tuesday.
However, it was not immediately clear if the five new cases announced on Saturday were people who had recently been in Iran.
