US coronavirus news: Trump says economy 'may be' heading for recession as White House issues new Covid-19 guidelines

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President Trump says: "We're doing really, really well" at Coronavirus press conference

Donald Trump said the coronavirus outbreak could trigger a recession on Monday, as states across the country prepared to enter into lockdown with shops and venues closing nationwide.

The president said the US "may" see a recession as a result of the outbreak, but added that "the market will take care of itself" during a press conference at the White House.

The Dow Jones plummeted 3,000 points on Monday, reflecting the market's worst one-day point drop in history. Monday's drop came just one day after the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates to near-zero, a dramatic move that appeared to do little to restore confidence in the market, while cities and states across the US announced sweeping closures to avoid spreading the virus.

Meanwhile, San Francisco's mayor ordered the city's residents to "shelter at home" for three weeks in one of the most stringent responses yet to the coronavirus by a major US city.

The death toll rose to at least 69 and the number of cases in the US rose to more than 3,500, with experts suggesting those numbers are actually far higher due to the lack of nationwide testing.

The White House has meanwhile been forced to deny rumours of a national quarantine and nightly curfews, as reports indicated the US Health and Human Services Department suffered an attempted cyber attack amid its response to the pandemic.

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Key Points

• White House forced to deny national coronavirus quarantine rumours
• US cities on lockdown as CDC recommends gatherings of no more than 50
• Trump 'attempted to acquire US monopoly over possible vaccine'
• New York Stock Exchange halts all trading as market plunges
• Biden and Sanders attack president over coronavirus response in eerie debate

[16 March 2020 12:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

White House National Security Council says national quarantine rumours are 'FAKE'

As the Chinese city of Wuhan - the epicentre of the outbreak - warns the crisis remains "severe" despite a drastic decline in the number of new cases being diagnosed due to the government's control measures, the White House National Security Council has moved to deny rumours of a national quarantine being called in the US.

Here's the council's tweet:

The White House is meanwhile ordering the press corps to undertake mandatory temperature checks and seating them apart in the (seldom used) briefing room.

 

Here's John T Bennett's report.

[16 March 2020 12:15 · Joe Sommerlad]

Chinese tech entrepreneur Jack Ma donates huge supply of face masks and testing kits to US with first tweet

The founder of e-commerce plattorm Alibaba has joined Twitter and used his first tweet to post a photo of a huge donation of 1m face masks and 500,000 coronavirus testing kits his foundation is sending to the US.

Meanwhile, in Tennessee, two brothers are being forced to donate their massive hand gel haul after receiving "hate mail and threats" for attempting to profiteer from the crisis by reselling the sanitiser on Amazon for a healthy whack.

[16 March 2020 12:30 · Joe Sommerlad]

'If we're successful in developing a vaccine, this should reach, protect and help people not only regionally but worldwide'

Dietmar Hopp, owner of the German pharmaceutical manufacturer CareVac, has issued this response to the story we mentioned early about Trump attempting to monopolise their under-development coronavirus vaccine.

[16 March 2020 12:45 · Joe Sommerlad]

Los Angeles shuts bars, restaurants and venues to slow spread of coronavirus

As states like Florida, Alabama and Hawaii announce dozens of new infections, Conrad Duncan has the latest on the City of Angels, which has has joined New York by going into partial lockdown over the coronavirus outbreak in the US, closing bars, nightclubs and entertainment venues to slow the spread of the virus.

Eric Garcetti, LA’s mayor, announced a range of emergency measures on Sunday designed to limit large gatherings and encourage social distancing between residents. Under the new strictures, bars, nightclubs, dine-in restaurants, gyms and entertainment venues, such as cinemas and live music venues, would be closed to the public from midnight on Monday.

Bars and restaurants will still be allowed to sell food but only through takeaway services.

[16 March 2020 13:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

New Orleans to offer 'drive-through' coronavirus testing as city considers curfew

  The Louisiana city will be one of four US cities to partner with the federal government to test a drive-through coronavirus testing centre programme, as officials discuss whether to put a citywide curfew in place.

Officials will also determine whether its 1,200 restaurants and countless bars will be forced to limit their hours, potentially devastating the city’s massive hospitality industry and its thousands of workers that serve a metro area of 1.2m residents and nearly 20m tourists annually.

At least two people in the city have died following the outbreak, with a bulk of the state’s 91 confirmed cases within city limits. The state’s disproportionate rate of infections rivals its much-larger neighbouring state Texas, which has four times as many people living in the state.

“The rate of infections is increasing much faster than other cities in the US,” said Jennifer Avegno, director of the New Orleans Health Department.

[16 March 2020 13:15 · Joe Sommerlad]

Huge lines in gun stores across America as country panic-buys weapons

The president might very well say this...

...given that long lines are forming outside gun stores from California to Alabama to New York State.

Here's Andrew Naughtie's report.

[16 March 2020 13:30 · Joe Sommerlad]

Arnold Schwarzenegger urges fans to self-isolate while feeding carrots to pet ponies

For some much-needed levity, let's cut to a former governor of California to see how he's coping with social distancing...

Enviably, it seems.

Here's Louis Staples's on the eccentric Hollywood action icon for Indy100.

[16 March 2020 13:45 · Joe Sommerlad]

[16 March 2020 14:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

Who won and who lost the latest 2020 showdown?

Alex Woodward has this verdict on last's night's Bernie and Joe Show, where the former was accused of attempting to use "the Force" against his foe.

 Without a live audience, what followed was a more-focused, often-aggressive and policy-driven debate between the candidates, as the Covid-19 crisis bookended the debate and gave both men a chance to frame their platforms against the crisis and offer Americans a compassionate, decisive message that has been absent from the White House, our man says.

[16 March 2020 14:15 · Joe Sommerlad]

New York Stock Exchange halts all trading as market plunges

Trading on the New York Stock Exchange was halted for 15 minutes after the Dow Jones fell 9.7 per cent – more than 2,250 points – and the S&P dropped 8 per cent on opening on Monday morning.

The plunge comes a day after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to zero in an effort to stabilise the markets following weeks of instability.

In a statement on Sunday, the US central bank said: "The coronavirus outbreak has harmed communities and disrupted economic activity in many countries... The Federal Reserve is prepared to use its full range of tools to support the flow of credit to households and businesses."

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