The World Health Organization said on Friday that "as cases increase, we are continuing to recommend that all countries make containment their highest priority. We continue to call on countries to find, test, isolate and care for every case, and to trace every contact." Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization's health emergencies program, stated on Friday "We do not know yet what the activity or the behavior of this virus will be in different climatic conditions. We have to assume that the virus will continue to have the capacity to spread. It's a false hope to say, yes, it will disappear in summertime, like influenza virus...There is no evidence right now to suggest that that will happen."
Total Cases: over 101,000
Total Deaths: over 3,400
Total Recovered: over 56,000
What Happened Today:
President Donald Trump signed the $8.3 billion emergency spending bill into law Friday morning and visited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's office in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, the doctor who treated the first U.S. coronavirus patient, told CNBC "I do think that this virus has been circulating now for several weeks in the U.S....Until now, it's been circulating unchecked." At this time, Vice President Mike Pence, who is heading the coronavirus effort, does not believe the U.S. has enough testing kits to meet the future demand the virus will bring.
The New Jersey Department of Education ordered all school districts to develop a plan to teach students at home in the event that schools have to close for extended number of days as the state confirms its first two cases. University of Washington has cancelled in-person classes and asked all assignments be completed remotely. Emerald City Comic Con and SXSW have both canceled their March events today, with Comic Con pushing its event to Summer 2020.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk tweeted: "The coronavirus panic is dumb." This comment follows large tech companies--Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)--all urging their employees to work from home.
Tracking the Spread:
Americas: The United States has reported 51 new cases and 3 new deaths. Canada posted 14, Brazil-5, Argentina-5 and Dominican Republic-1. Costa Rica, Colombia and Peru all reported their first confirmed case Friday.
Europe: Italy reported 778 new cases and 49 new deaths. France-230 and 2 new deaths, Spain- 118 and 5 new deaths, Germany-125, Switzerland-94, Belgium-59, U.K.- 47 new case and 1 new death, The Netherlands- 46 new cases and first death, Sweden-42, Austria-23, Greece-14, Czech Republic-6, Iceland-6, Estonia-5, Ireland-5, Portugal-4, Poland-4, Finland-3, Denmark-3, Romania-3, Norway-2, San Marino-2, Croatia-1, Bosnia and Herzegovina-1, Slovenia-1 and Luxembourg-1. Slovakia and Vatican City have announced their first confirmed case.
Middle East: Iran reported 1,234 new cases and 16 new deaths Friday. United Arab Emirates-17, Palestine-9, Lebanon-6, Bahrain-5, Israel-4, Qatar-3, North Macedonia-2 and Pakistan-1. Serbia has announced its first confirmed case.
Asia: South Korea has announced 309 new cases and 1 new death. China-143 and 30 new deaths, Japan-56, Malaysia-28, Singapore-13, Russia-6, Philippines-2, Indonesia-2, India-, Taiwan-1, Thailand-1, Vietnam-1
Africa: Egypt has reported 12 new cases and Togo and Cameroon have reported their first cases of the virus.