Virus-hit nations boost travel bans
U.S. quarantining cruise passengers
SOAVE, Italy — The battle to halt the coronavirus brought sweeping new restrictions Monday, with Italy expanding a travel ban to the entire country, Israel ordering all visitors quarantined just weeks before Passover and Easter, and Spain closing all schools in and around its capital.
Even as workers in Beijing returned to their jobs and new infections in China continued to subside, Italians struggled to navigate the rapidly changing parameters of the nation’s self-imposed lockdown.
The Grand Princess cruise ship, forced to idle for days off the coast of California because of a cluster of virus cases aboard, arrived in the Port of Oakland on Monday as state and U.S. officials prepared to transfer
its thousands of passengers to military bases for quarantine or return them to their home countries.
The fears fanned by the virus sent Wall Street stocks tumbling to their biggest drop since 2008, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 7.8%. Global oil prices suffered their worst percentage losses since the start of the 1991 Gulf War.
“Now that the virus has a foothold in so many countries, the threat of a pandemic has become very real,” said World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “The great advantage we have is the decisions we all make as governments, businesses, communities, families and individuals can influence the trajectory of this epidemic.”
More than 113,000 people have tested positive for the disease and over 3,900 people with the virus have died, most of them in China. More than 62,000 people have already recovered. But Italy’s intensifying struggle to halt the virus’ spread emerged as a cautionary tale.
“There won’t be just a red zone,” Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said, in announcing that a lockdown covering about 16 million people in the north would be expanded to the entire country today.
Italian doctors celebrated one small victory after the first patient diagnosed with the illness, a 38-year-old Unilever worker, was moved out of intensive care and began breathing on his own. But the virus’ rapid spread was forcing them to operate like war-time medics, triaging patients to decide who would get access to scarce intensive care unit beds.
“Unfortunately we’re only at the beginning,” said Dr. Massimo Galli, head of infectious disease at Milan’s Sacco hospital.
Travelers at Milan’s main train station had to sign police forms self-certifying that they are traveling for “proven work needs,” situations of necessity, health reasons or to return home.
Across Italy, museums and archaeological sites were closed, weddings were canceled and restaurants were told to keep patrons at least 3 feet apart. Officials ordered ski lifts across the country to close after students whose classes were canceled began organizing trips to winter resorts.
Italy reported a big jump in the number of people who have tested positive for the virus, bringing the total to 9,172 cases and 463 deaths, more than any country except China.
Inmates at more than two dozen Italian prisons rioted against restrictions on family visits and other containment measures, and six died after they broke into the infirmary and overdosed on methadone.
Pope Francis celebrated Mass alone at the Vatican hotel where he lives, live-streaming the event, but he did resume some meetings.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the WHO, people with mild illness get better in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover. In mainland China, where the virus was first reported, more than 80,000 people have been diagnosed and more than 58,000 have so far recovered.
But that came only after Chinese officials put quarantines in place. Around the virus spreads, officials are embracing less strict, but still aggressive measures.
CRUISE SHIP DOCKS
In the United States, where more than 600 infections and 26 deaths have been reported, the Grand Princess cruise ship docked in Oakland, Calif., after days idling at sea while dozens of those aboard were tested.
Fleets of buses and planes were ready to whisk the more than 2,000 passengers to military bases or their home countries for a 14-day quarantine. At least 21 people aboard have been confirmed to have the infection.
Workers wearing gloves and yellow protective gear placed a large tent by a platform where passengers will disembark. At least 20 buses and five ambulances were parked nearby, and officials have said those needing acute medical care for any reason will get off first. Live TV footage showed at least one passenger, an older man wearing a face mask, climbing onto a stretcher and being lifted into the back of an ambulance. Officials have said the unloading will take up to three days.
U.S. passengers will be flown or bused from the port — chosen for its proximity to an airport and a military base — to bases in California, Texas and Georgia for testing and quarantine. The ship is carrying people from 54 countries, and foreigners will be flown home.
About 1,100 crew members, 19 of whom have tested positive for covid-19, will be quarantined and treated aboard the ship, which will dock elsewhere, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said.
The State Department on Sunday issued a directive warning Americans of the risks of taking cruises amid the outbreak, noting that other countries with strict screening procedures had stopped passengers from disembarking or quarantined them.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a similar directive Sunday, recommending that travelers — particularly those with underlying health issues — “defer all cruise ship travel worldwide.” The agency added that cruise passengers are at a higher risk of person-to-person spread of the coronavirus.
A spokesman for Carnival Corp., which owns Princess Cruises, Holland America Line and others, noted in a statement to The Washington Post on Sunday that the company’s brands had “enhanced their health screening protocols,” including conducting thermal scans and temperature checks prior to boarding and on board.
In Washington, the Capitol’s attending physician’s office said “several” members of Congress had contact with a person who attended a recent political conference and subsequently developed covid-19. They “remain in good health,” the office said. Four members of Congress — Sen. Ted Cruz and Reps. Matt Gaetz, Doug Collins and Paul Gosar — said they are isolating themselves after determining they had contact with the person.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio suggested Monday that the city’s five boroughs could be quarantined and some public schools might be temporarily closed over the coronavirus outbreak after three more people tested positive for the disease, bringing the total number of New York City cases to 16.
Two of the new cases were in Brooklyn and the other was in Queens, he said on NY1. The state’s total of known positive coronavirus cases is over 100.
De Blasio admitted Monday on CNN that access to the city could be shut down to stop the spread of coronavirus, but he stressed the virus doesn’t easily transmit and the prospect of a total quarantine was distant.
“It’s a possibility but I do think people are getting a little ahead of ourselves, and we should be careful,” de Blasio said.
AROUND THE WORLD
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government has decided to quarantine anyone arriving from overseas for 14 days. The decision comes barely a month before Easter and Passover, typically a busy travel period.
In a bid to slow the virus’ spread in Ireland, officials there canceled all St. Patrick’s Day parades, including the one on March 17 in Dublin that typically draws half a million people to its streets.
Spain’s health minister on Monday announced that all schools in and around Madrid, including kindergartens and universities, will close for two weeks after a sharp spike in new virus diagnoses. The rising caseload implies “a change for the worse,” the minister, Salvador Illa, said.
Trying to send a message of confidence in the economy, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife walked on Paris’ Champs-Elysees avenue but kept a 3-foot security distance from passersby. “I’m shaking hands using my heart,” he said as he waved to people from a distance.
China reported just 19 new cases of the virus, its lowest number since Jan. 20. More than three-quarters of the country’s surviving virus patients have been released from treatment. But the country’s slow reemergence from weeks of extreme travel restrictions spotlighted the virus’ continued economic impact.
“Our business is one-fifth of what it was before,” said Cheng Sheng, who helps run a stand in Beijing that sells sausages and noodles. “There’s much less foot traffic. There are no people.”
Infections were reported in more than half the world’s countries, and flashpoints were seen around the globe.
“We are working for valuable time, time in which scientists can research medicines and a vaccine” and in which governments can help stock up on protective equipment, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country has reported over 1,100 cases and, as of Monday, its first two deaths.
In Iran, state television said the virus had killed another 43 people, pushing the official toll to 237, with 7,161 confirmed cases. But many fear the scope of illness is far wider there.
South Korea reported 35 more cases, bringing its total to 7,513.
After earlier closing its land borders, Saudi Arabia cut off air and sea travel to and from Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Italy, Kuwait, Lebanon, South Korea, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. All Saudi schools and universities closed beginning Monday.
Qatar cut off travel to 15 countries and said it would shut down schools and universities beginning today.
Organizers of the annual Holocaust remembrance march in southern Poland postponed it this year due to coronavirus fears, and soccer authorities said at least four major matches — in France, Germany and Spain — would take place with no fans.
Information for this article was contributed by Colleen Barry, Adam Geller, Olga R. Rodriguez, Daisy Nguyen, Ken Moritsugu, Lori Hinnant, Maria Cheng, Carlo Piovano, Nicole Winfield, Jon Gambrell and Juliet Williams of The Associated Press; by Rachel Siegel, Brittany Shammas, Hannah Knowles, Kim Bellware and Hannah Sampson of The Washington Post; and by Anna Sanders and Shant Shahrigian of The New York Daily News.