This is CNBC’s live blog covering all the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak. All times below are in Eastern time. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks.
- Global cases: More than 387,382
- Global deaths: At least 16,767
- US cases: At least 46,450
- US deaths: At least 593
The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
11:48 am: Trump pushes a ‘return to work’ as Kudlow predicts coronavirus stimulus will fuel economic rebound
President Donald Trump and his top economic aide Larry Kudlow suggested that a massive coronavirus stimulus bill could provide the foundation for an economic revival in the United States.
“Our people want to return to work,” Trump tweeted. “They will practice Social Distancing and all else, and Seniors will be watched over protectively & lovingly. We can do two things together.”
Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, echoed Trump’s remarks from a Monday evening press briefing that some states with low numbers of confirmed cases might be able to ease off their restrictions quickly. That relief could come soon after the White House’s 15-day guidelines on social distancing expire next week, Kudlow said. —Kevin Breuninger
11:42 am: Ford partners with GE, 3M to begin manufacturing protective equipment, ventilators
3M N95 particulate filtering face mask are seen at a store in East Palo Alto, California, United States on January 26, 2020.
Yichuan Cao | NurPhoto | Getty Images
Ford announced it will partner with 3M and GE Healthcare to begin producing face masks and ventilators to help fill potential shortages caused by the coronavirus.
Ford will work with 3M to manufacture a newly designed respirator and boost production of 3M’s powered air-purifying respirator, which uses a blower instead of lung power to draw air through the filter. Ford said unionized employees will be able to manufacture the new respirators.
Ford and GE Healthcare will begin manufacturing a “simplified version of GE Healthcare’s existing ventilator design” to aid patients who may experience trouble breathing caused by COVID-19. —Noah Higgins-Dunn
11:35 am: India’s prime minister orders lockdown of the country’s 1.3 billion people for 21 days
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a “total lockdown” in the country of 1.3 billion people during a televised address, the most extensive stay-at-home order yet in the world’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
The 21-day lockdown was set to begin at midnight.
“To save India and every Indian, there will be a total ban on venturing out of your homes,” Modi said, adding that if the county failed to manage the next 21 days, it would be set back by 21 years. —Associated Press
11:27 am: ‘Troubling and astronomical’ coronavirus cases increase urgency for hospital beds, New York Gov. Cuomo says
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said a “troubling and astronomical” number of coronavirus cases have increased the urgency across the state for more hospital beds as the pace of new infections rises at a rapid clip. Cases soared across the state to 25,665, Cuomo said.
“We’re not slowing it and it is accelerating on its own,” Cuomo said at a press conference. He said the state is now projecting it will need more hospital beds and a lot sooner than previously thought. The state now estimates it will need 140,000 hospital beds, up from previous projections of 110,000. “That apex could be, they project, 14 to 21 days away.” —Wiliam Feuer, Berkeley Lovelace Jr., Noah Higgins-Dunn
11:19 am: White House to use Defense Production Act to procure test kits, FEMA chief says
The Trump administration plans to use the Defense Production Act for the first time during this coronavirus pandemic to procure thousands of COVID-19 test kits as the disease continues its spread across the country.
Peter Gaynor, the Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, told CNN that the administration had decided to use the Defense Production Act to acquire some 60,000 kits. The FEMA chief added that the White House will add “DPA language” into its mass contract for 500 million masks. —Thomas Franck
11:08 am: Total number of Italian coronavirus cases could be ’10 times higher’ than known tally, according to one official
The number of coronavirus cases in Italy is probably 10 times higher than the official tally, the head of the agency collating the data said as the government readied new measures to force people to stay at home.
“A ratio of one certified case out of every 10 is credible,” Angelo Borrelli, the head of the Civil Protection Agency, told La Repubblica newspaper, indicating he believed as many as 640,000 people could have been infected.
Italy has seen more fatalities than any other country, with latest figures showing that 6,077 people have died from the infection in barely a month, while the number of confirmed cases has hit 64,000. However, testing for the disease has often been limited to people seeking hospital care, meaning that thousands of infections have certainly gone undetected. —Reuters
10:26 am: New Mexico stay-at-home instruction now in effect
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued “stay-at-home” instructions late Monday, to take effect Tuesday. Residents should remain in their homes except for outings absolutely necessary for health, safety and welfare, Grisham said in a statement.
New Mexico Secretary of Health Kathy Kunkel also issued an order closing all non-essential businesses. The public health emergency order requires 100% of the state’s non-essential workforce to work from home. It is in effect until April 10. Essential businesses that are allowed to remain open include health-care operations, homeless shelters and grocery stores. —Hannah Miller
10:12 am: Two large US private labs say they could soon process 300,000 coronavirus tests per week
Two of the largest private labs in the U.S. will collectively be able to process more than 300,000 COVID-19 tests by the end of the week, their CEOs say. LabCorp CEO Adam Schechter told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” the company is processing around 20,000 tests daily and will by the end of the week be able to “a lot more” than 100,000 tests per week.
Quest Diagnostics is conducting about 25,000 COVID-19 tests per day, with plans of increasing daily capacity to around 30,000 by the end of the week, CEO Steve Rusckowski told CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” That would put Quest’s weekly capacity around 200,000, he said. —Kevin Stankiewicz
9:40 am: Dow surges 1,300 points, rebounds from three-year low, on hope a coronavirus rescue bill is close
Stocks jumped on Tuesday as investors hoped U.S. lawmakers were close to an agreement on a stimulus bill to rescue the economy from the coronavirus.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded more than 1,300 points higher, or 7.1%. The S&P 500 gained 6.2% while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 5.7%. —Fred Imbert, Thomas Franck
8:29 am: Officials postpone the 2020 Olympics amid coronavirus pandemic
The International Olympic Committee postponed the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, officials announced Tuesday. The event was scheduled to start July 24 in Tokyo.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he and the head of the IOC agreed to delay the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo for about a year. The games will take place “no later than summer 2021,” according to a statement from the IOC.
Abe was speaking to reporters after a phone call with IOC President Thomas Bach on postponing the Games amid growing concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.
Tokyo had completed preparations when the virus started spreading across the world. Despite insisting for months the Games would go ahead as planned, Abe this week said a delay may be unavoidable if all the events could not be held. —Jabari Young, Reuters
7:53 am: Dow futures surge 900 points in premarket
7:12 am: Gilead’s potential treatment gets FDA’s orphan drug label
Gilead Sciences’ experimental drug remdesivir, seen as one of the more promising potential treatments for the coronavirus, received the orphan drug designation on Monday from the Food and Drug Administration. The announcement comes days after President Donald Trump called on the FDA to streamline its approval process for treatments such as remdesivir, which is currently being tested in clinical trials, with results expected as early as next month. The orphan drug status provides a seven-year market exclusivity period, as well as tax and other incentives for drug companies developing treatments for rare diseases that affect fewer than 200,000 people. —Reuters
7:08 am: China to lift lockdown on Wuhan city, the epicenter
Two months after Chinese authorities locked down the city at the center of the outbreak, the end is in sight. Hubei province said that travel restrictions on the capital city of Wuhan will be removed starting April 8, which would end a lockdown that began on Jan. 23. New confirmed virus cases in China have dwindled in the last several days, with nearly all now attributed to travelers returning from overseas. —Evelyn Cheng
7:04 am: Deaths slow in Italy, while trade unions vow to strike
A woman wearing a protective mask walks outside Castel Sant’Angelo, as Italy tightens measures to try and contain the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Rome, Italy March 23, 2020.
Remo Casilli | Reuters
Italy’s death toll rose by 602, the smallest increase in four days, according to Reuters. The number of new confirmed cases also slowed. These figures have raised expectations that the worse could be over for the country with the highest number of deaths from the virus worldwide. However, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Italy had not yet reached the “most acute phase” of the infection.
Conte stepped up the national lockdown measures over the weekend, ordering the closure of all industrial production and almost all private and public offices. However, metalworkers and bank unions vowed to strike this week. They are demanding more stringent measures for the factories that are still open and for bank employees, who they say do not have enough masks, gloves or disinfectant. —Silvia Amaro
6:59 am: Spain reports 6,600 new cases, over 500 dead
A military team enters the Abando Indalecio Prieto Renfe station in Bilbao during disinfection tasks due to the coronavirus crisis on March 23, 2020 in Bilbao, Spain.
H. Bilbao | Europa Press News | Getty Images
The number of new cases in Spain jumped Tuesday to 39,673 from 33,089 cases registered on Monday, the health ministry reported. The number of fatalities rose to 2,696 overnight from 2,182, the ministry said. —Reuters
5:41 am: Euro zone business activity suffers largest collapse ever recorded
The euro zone economy suffered “an unprecedented collapse” in business activity in March as the coronavirus outbreak intensified, according to provisional purchasing manager’s index survey data from IHS Markit. The data showed that the “flash” euro zone composite PMI collapsed from 51.6 in February to 31.4 in March. The survey measures business activity in the services and manufacturing sector in the 19-member euro zone. A reading below 50 indicates a contraction. This is the largest monthly fall in business activity since comparable data were first collected in July 1998. The prior low was seen in February 2009, when the index hit 36.2. —Holly Ellyatt
5:20 am: Indonesia reports sharpest daily spike of cases yet
Indonesia reported an additional 107 cases, marking the biggest daily increase for the Southeast Asian nation. It takes the country’s total number of COVID-19 infections to 686. Seven further deaths from the virus in the last 24 hours means the nationwide death toll now stands at 55. —Sam Meredith
5:00 am: UK wakes up to life under lockdown
Military vehicles cross Westminster Bridge after members of the 101 Logistic Brigade delivered a consignment of medical masks to St Thomas’ hospital on March 24, 2020 in London, England.
Leon Neal | Getty Images
The U.K. government has tightened restrictions on the British public. As of Tuesday morning, all nonessential public buildings and places are closed, ranging from libraries to churches, outdoor gyms and playgrounds, and all social events including weddings and baptisms have been stopped. The public has been told to stay at home and can now only leave home for essential trips to buy food or medicines, to provide essential care, travel to work if absolutely necessary or to exercise once a day. —Holly Ellyatt
Read CNBC’s coverage from CNBC’s Asia-Pacific and Europe teams overnight here: Britain goes into lockdown; global cases surpass 382,000
