President Donald Trump issues national guidelines for the public to help slow the spread of the virus in the next 15 days. The guidelines ask that citizens work from home unless otherwise needed, avoid social gatherings of groups more than 10, avoid discretionary travel, not to visit the elderly, practice good hygiene and to follow the directions of state and local authorities. "If everyone makes this change or these critical changes and sacrifices now," Trump stated during a press conference Monday," we will rally together as one nation and we will defeat the virus and we're going to have a big celebration all together."
Total Cases: Over 182,000
Total Deaths: At Least 7,000
Total Recovered: Over 79,000
What Happened Today:
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebresyesus criticized some nations in a press conference on Monday, saying that some countries have not has "an urgent enough escalation in testing, isolation and contact tracing, which is the backbone of the response..."We have a simple message for all countries: Test, test, test. Test every suspected case. If they test positive, isolate them and find out who they have been in contact with two days before they developed symptoms and test those people too.
The first human trials for a potential vaccine began Monday. In a statement, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci said "this Phase 1 study, launched in record speed, is an important first step toward achieving [a safe and effective vaccine]." The agency has been working with the biotech company Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA).
The International Monetary Fund said that it is ready to use $1 trillion lending capacity to help countries around the world that are financially struggling. "As a first line of defense, the Fund can deploy its flexible and rapid-disbursing emergency response toolkit to help countries with urgent balance-of-payment needs...in many cases, these arrangements can provide another vehicle for the rapid disbursement of criss financing," wrote Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the IMF.
Airlines for America, the lobbying group for the biggest airlines in the United States, called the U.S. government on Monday to provide more than $50 billion in emergency support in the form of grants, loans and tax relief. Major airlines reported that flight cancellations were outpacing new bookings and decline in demand is worsening every day.
Officials in San Francisco and France have ordered their residents to stay home in "shelter-in-place" in effort to slow the spread. San Francisco Mayor London Breed stated, "Effective at midnight, San Francisco will require people to stay home except for essential needs. Necessary government functions & essential stores will remain open." French President Emmanuel Macron issued similar measures, telling citizens that their movements would be severely limited for 15 days. In addition, Canada and E.U. have closed their borders to all non-citizens.
Tracking the Spread:
Americas: United States-983 new cases (18 new deaths), Canada-100 (3), Chile-81, Brazil-34, Uruguay-23, Ecuador-21, Colombia-20, Peru-15, Mexico-10, Argentina-9, Dominican Republic-10, Guatemala-7, Costa Rica-6, Jamaica-5, Martinique-5, French Guiana-4, Trinidad & Tobago-4, Guyana-3, Honduras-3, St. Barth-2, Bolivia-1, Guadeloupe-1, Cayman Islands(1).
Europe: Italy-3,233 new cases (349 new deaths), Spain-1,954 (48), Germany-1,459 (4), France 1,210 (21), Netherlands-278 (4), Belgium-172 (6), Austria- 158 (2), United Kingdom-152 (20), Switzerland-136 (5), Norway-92, Portugal-86 (1), Sweden-81 (4), Ireland-53, Poland-52 (1), Czechia-51, Denmark-50 (2), Finland, Estonia and Slovenia-34, Romania-29, Greece-21, Iceland-19, Slovakia and Bulgaria-11, Albania, Malta and Belarus-9, Croatia-8, Hungary-7, Faeroe Islands-7, Moldova-6, Luxembourg and Latvia-4, Lithuania-4, Ukraine-4, Monaco-4, Channel Islands-3, Gibraltar-2, Greenland-1, Bosnia & Herzegovina-1.
Middle East: Iran-1,052 new cases (129 new deaths), Pakistan-52 (1), Israel-85, Qatar-38, Turkey-29, Jordan-17, Saudi Arabia-15, Bahrain-14 (1), Cyprus-13, Kuwait-11, Morocco-10, Iraq and Serbia-9, Afghanistan-5, Palestine-1.
Asia: Malaysia-138 new cases, South Korea-74, Thailand-33, Russia-30, Armenia-24, China-21 (13 new deaths), Singapore and Indonesia-17, India-15, Taiwan-8, Hong Kong-6, Vietnam and Brunei-4, Uzbekistan-4, Mongolia-3, Bangladesh-3, Philippines-2, Azerbaijan-2, Kazakstan-1.
Africa: Egypt-40 (2), Algeria-6, South Africa-3, Burkina Faso-12, Rwanda-2, Cameroon-1, Ethiopia-1, Benin-1, Liberia-1, Somalia-1, Tanzania-1.
Oceania: Australia-101.