Coronavirus live updates: Third cruise ship kept at sea, wealthy losing billions

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 111,300, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
• Global deaths: At least 3,892, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
• US cases: At least 600, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
• US deaths: At least 22, according to Johns Hopkins University.

All Irish St. Patrick’s Day parades, including Dublin’s main celebration that draws around 500,000 revellers from all over the world each year, were canceled due to the risk of a further coronavirus spread Leo Varadkar said. Ireland has so far reported 21 coronavirus cases, including the first community transmission of the virus last week. St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17 each year. —Reuters 

There are differences in what coronavirus-related costs may be incurred by patients depending on the type of their plan, its coverage and insurance carrier. Here are some expenses to consider:

• Copays and cost-sharing may be waived in some cases for COVID-19 testing, but not necessarily for all tests, treatments, office visits or other medical care related to your illness.
• Before your medical coverage kicks in, depending on your plan, you may have to face copays, coinsurance — and your deductible.
• If you’re self-quarantined at home, your plan should cover any doctors visits if you go out and medical care by a licensed professional if you stay in. 
• Your portion of all these costs can add up quickly, so it’s a good idea to have some money saved. —Epperson

CNBC’s Jim Cramer said hedge fund legend David Tepper is worried about the economic fallout from the coronavirus. “I spoke to David this morning and yesterday, and it is the ‘game changer’ make no mistake about it,” Cramer said on “Squawk on the Street.” “He’s very, very concerned.”

Cramer’s reference to “game changer” is a call back to what the Appaloosa Management founder told him in an interview last month at the Super Bowl in Miami for TheStreet. The coronavirus has “certainly ruined the environment” for stocks that had been the case before the outbreak, Tepper told Cramer on the red carpet for 9th Annual NFL Honors show, one day before the big game on Feb. 2.

“You have to be careful, because it may be a game changer. So you’ve just got to be cautious,” Tepper said at the time. Besides his investing interests, Tepper owns the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. —Belvedere

The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, which has borne the brunt of a nationwide contagion, has risen over the past day to 333 from 267, a local official said. The latest national death toll figures are due to be released later in the day. On Sunday, the country-wide tally stood at 366. —Reuters

The Slovak government has ordered a 14-day ban on all cultural, sporting and other events organized by public authorities to avoid the spread of coronavirus, Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini said. The European Union U member country, which has reported seven cases of the infection so far, will also require citizens returning from Italy, China, South Korea and Iran — all with severe outbreaks of coronavirus — to observe a 14-day quarantine at home, Pellegrini said. —Reuters 

The threat of a global pandemic is rising as the new coronavirus rapidly spreads across the world from Asia, to Europe, the Middle East, and now parts of the United States, World Health Organization officials said.

“Now that the virus has a foothold in so many countries, the threat of a pandemic has become very real,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on a conference call from the organization’s Geneva headquarters Monday. 

WHO officials stopped just short of calling a global pandemic, indicating that they are getting closer to making the declaration — even as China and Singapore appear to have successfully contained the spread in their countries. “When you reach 100 countries and when you reach 100,000 cases, it is time to step back and think, two weeks ago it was 30 countries,” said Dr. Mike Ryan, the executive director of the WHO’s emergencies program. —Feuer

Concerns over coronavirus have roiled markets and torched hundreds of billions in paper wealth from the world’s billionaires over the past month. Amazon chief Jeff Bezos lost $7 billion in paper wealth overnight, and more than $18 billion over the past month. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who tweeted that the “coronavirus panic is dumb,” has seen about $4 billion of his paper wealth lopped off overnight. That would bring his losses for the month down to more than $12 billion. Perhaps the biggest billionaire loser from the virus, however, is LVMH chief Bernard Arnault. His losses bump him back down to the second richest man, behind Bill Gates. —Frank

A New York federal court district is barring from its courthouses any people who have been to five countries — China, South Korea, Japan, Italy, and Iran — within the past two weeks because of coronavirus concerns. The ban announced Monday applies to courthouses in the Southern District of New York, which are located in downtown Manhattan, and in the cities of White Plains and Poughkeepsie.

The Southern District handles federal criminal, civil and bankruptcy cases from Manhattan and the Bronx boroughs in New York City, as well as from the counties of Westchester, Putnam, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan. The ban also applies to people who reside in or who have had close contact with someone who has been in one of the five countries in the past 14 days, people who have been asked to self-quarantine by health workers, and people who have been diagnosed with or been in contact with people who have been diagnosed with coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. —Mangan

Thousands of passengers on a third Princess Cruises ship are being kept on board while crew members get tested for COVID-19. The Caribbean Princess, on a 10-day trip to the Panama Canal, was scheduled to dock in Grand Cayman on Monday. But the Çalifornia-based cruise line said it will keep passengers and crew from disembarking, and instead will pick up test kits after notifying the CDC that two crew members had transferred from a Princess ship in California where a guest had tested positive for COVID-19. These crew members being tested are currently “asymptomatic” and are remaining alone in their rooms “out of an abundance of caution” as the ship returns to Fort Lauderdale, the company statement said. The ship is under a “no sail order” from the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which will require it to remain at anchor off the coast of Florida until further notice, the statement said. It was originally scheduled to return to Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday. —Associated Press

Germany confirmed its first two deaths from the coronavirus. A spokesman for the health ministry in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia said an 89-year-old woman with coronavirus had died in the town of Essen and that another patient had died in the badly affected region of Heinsberg. Germany has so far reported 1,112 cases of the coronavirus, with the large state of North Rhine-Westphalia the most affected region. Several hundred cases have also been reported in the southern states of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg. The patient in Essen had tested positive with coronavirus on March 3 after being hospitalized in an already critical condition, local authorities said. The woman’s state of health deteriorated further in the following days and she then died of pneumonia caused by her infection with the coronavirus, they said. The town of Heinsberg said in a statement it would hold a news conference on the second death case later on Monday. —Reuters

Cyprus reported its first two confirmed cases of coronavirus, including a public health professional who had contact with medical patients before he reported his symptoms to authorities. Both patients — males — had traveled from abroad. The first case involved a 25-year-old man who had returned from northern Italy and the second, the health professional, a 64-year-old who returned from Britain on March 3. Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou said it was “regrettable” that the second patient, who developed symptoms on March 3, only reported to authorities on Sunday. “This does complicate efforts by the ministry on the tracing we need to do on the contacts he had over the past five days,” he said. The health professional works at a public health facility in the capital Nicosia. —Reuters

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Rick Cotton, the Port Authority’s executive director for New York and New Jersey, has tested positive for the new coronavirus. Cotton “is going to be on quarantine” and will be working at home, Cuomo said at a press briefing. The team of senior officials who work with Cotton will also be tested, Cuomo said. “Several of them may be on quarantine,” he said. Cotton has been overseeing the arrival of overseas flights coming into airports in the area, including John F. Kennedy International Airport. —Breuninger

As fears about the coronavirus mount, so do concerns about possible quarantines, office closures, and school shutdowns. If you get paid time off from your employer or you can work from home, you shouldn’t have much of a financial issue unless you use up all of your days. If you are sick, you could apply for short-term disability if you are out long enough. Some employers may already have an emergency leave policy, especially if they are used to dealing with things like snowstorms and hurricanes, said Rich Fuerstenberg, a senior partner at the consulting firm Mercer. Check with your employer, since that policy isn’t a guarantee. The most important thing is to have an emergency fund so that you can help cover your expenses for the next month or so, especially if you aren’t going to be getting paid. —Fox

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo identified New Rochelle, a city in Westchester County where the first coronavirus patient in the state was found, as a “significant hot spot” in the state, which now has at least 106 confirmed cases. Cuomo said he’s been in talks with officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the outbreak in New York, particularly in New Rochelle. Schools might be closed “for a number of weeks” in the area and Cuomo said if a student tests positive going forward, that school will be closed “for an initial 24-hour period” while officials investigate. —Higgins-Dunn, Dzhanova

A U.S. Marine in the Washington D.C.-area who recently returned from official travel overseas has tested positive for the coronavirus, the Pentagon said on Saturday, in what would be the third confirmed case among U.S. servicemembers and the first in the U.S. The other two U.S. troops who have tested positive are a sailor in Italy and a soldier in South Korea. Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement that the Marine was assigned to Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and was currently being treated at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital. Fort Belvoir is a major base in suburban Virginia, not far from the Pentagon. The U.S. military did not disclose the Marine’s rank or say where the Marine had traveled. Hoffman said Defense Secretary Mark Esper and the White House had been briefed. A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Marine was a man and that his family was now on a 14-day quarantine. The U.S. military was working with state and local officials to trace contacts that the Marine had in the area. It was unclear whether Fort Belvoir was taking any other precautionary measures. The base did not respond to a request for comment. —Reuters

President Donald Trump sought to downplay the plunging price of oil and the global spread of the new coronavirus as markets fell on Monday, saying that falling gas prices were good for consumers and comparing the coronavirus to the common flu. “Good for the consumer, gasoline prices coming down!” Trump wrote in one of a series of posts on Twitter. In another, he wrote that the flu killed 37,000 Americans last year, compared to 22 known deaths from COVID-19. “Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on,” he tweeted. Trump plans to meet with his economic team, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, later in the day on financial proposals, including paid sick leave, to combat the economic fallout of coronavirus, Reuters reported. —Higgins, Cullen

Saudi Arabia closed off air and sea travel to nine countries affected by the new coronavirus as Mideast stock markets tumbled over fears about the widening outbreak’s effect on the global economy. In the Mideast, there have been over 7,600 confirmed cases, with the vast majority in hard-hit Iran. The country’s health ministry said the new coronavirus has killed another 43 people, pushing the death toll to 237 amid 7,161 confirmed cases. Experts worry Iran may be underreporting its cases. “Out of concern to protect the health of citizens and residents and ensure their safety, the kingdom’s government decided to temporarily suspend the travel,” it said in a statement attributed to an unnamed Interior Ministry official. Separately, Egypt’s prime minister announced a temporary ban on large public gatherings and all events involving people’s movement between cities. Abu Dhabi’s long-haul carrier Etihad, which operated 12 flights daily to Saudi Arabia, said three flights had been airborne at the time of the announcement. When those planes landed in Dammam, Jiddah, and Riyadh, only Saudi citizens could disembark, with others having to return to Abu Dhabi, the airline said. —Associated Press

JetBlue Airways on Monday withdrew its first-quarter and full-year earnings forecast and said it was considering voluntary time-off programs for employees, as the coronavirus outbreak wreaks havoc on the global travel industry. JetBlue said it is adjusting schedules between March and early May due to falling demand, and is evaluating further flight cancellations as the situation around the epidemic develops. The company also said it was delaying some hiring and increasing the frequency with which it cleans aircraft. An industry body last week estimated the outbreak could lower passenger revenue globally for airlines by as much as $113 billion this year, as demand collapses. —Reuters

The president of Princeton University said the school will move to online courses following spring break and said it would begin the decrease the number of gatherings on campus in order to protect students and faculty from the spread of COVID-19.  “While much remains unknown about COVID-19’s epidemiology and impact, our medical advisers tell us that we should proceed on the assumption that the virus will spread more broadly and eventually reach our campus,” President Chris Eisgruber said in a statement. “They also tell us that the best time to put in place policies to slow the spread of the virus is now, before we begin to see cases on our campus, rather than later. Acting now will also give students who wish to do so the option to stay home after spring break and meet academic requirements remotely.” To achieve its goal, the university will move activities such as lectures, seminars, and precepts, online. “We will continue to support, where possible and subject to appropriate restrictions, research, educational, and campus life activities that require physical presence,” Eisgruber wrote. —Cullen 

The Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission issued warning letters to televangelist Jim Bakker and six other companies for reportedly selling unapproved coronavirus drugs and treatment products. “The FDA considers the sale and promotion of fraudulent COVID-19 products to be a threat to the public health,” FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn said in the statement. The products include teas, essential oils, tinctures and colloidal silver, which had been previously cited as not safe or effective for treating any disease, according to a press release. —Higgins-Dunn

All schools in the northern Spanish city of Vitoria-Gasteiz will be closed for two weeks in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus, regional authorities said on Monday. “All education activities are suspended in the city of Vitoria for two weeks…from kindergarten to universities,” a spokesman for the education department of the Basque Country told Reuters. With nearly 150 confirmed cases the Basque Country, of which Vitoria is the regional capital, is among the worst-hit areas in Spain, which has registered 999 cases and more than 20 deaths from the outbreak. —Reuters

CNBC’s Jim Cramer said financial turmoil from the coronavirus shows that monetary policy is no longer an appropriate solution. “This is just the need for fiscal policy,” Cramer said on “Squawk on the Street.” “Monetary policy is over.” Last week, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a half percentage point in response to the growing economic threat from COVID-19. Cramer has been critical of that decision, arguing the government should actually be stepping up to provide financial help to small and medium-sized businesses who may see significant challenges from the disease’s spread. Those businesses should have an opportunity to access zero-interest loans, for example, Cramer said Monday. —Stankiewicz

U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar said President Donald Trump’s administration is working aggressively on the coronavirus disease spreading worldwide after he was asked on a media conference call to respond to the stock market plunging on coronavirus fears. “It’s been a very aggressive, whole of government approach at the state, local and federal level,” Azar told reporters. “We’re taking COVID-19 incredibly seriously,” he also said, using the official name for the virus. —Reuters

Seattle-based Amazon and Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said they were each contributing $1 million to the Seattle Foundation fund. The money will be used toward “resources to organizations in the Puget Sound region working with communities who are disproportionally impacted by coronavirus and the economic consequences of the outbreak,” the company said. The fund currently has over $2.5 million, according to a statement from the nonprofit foundation. Amazon has been battling the coronavirus on several fronts. It recently said it’s removing thosuands of high-priced items to prevent price gouging on its site. It asked employees in Seattle and Bellevue, Washington to work from home if they can through the rest of the month. And last week, an Aamzon employee tested positive for coronavirus. At least 22 people have died from coronavirus in the US, including 19 in Washington where confirmed cases hit 136 people. “Funds will be released on a rolling basis as fundraising continues throughout the outbreak and recovery phases of the crisis, making it possible to move resources quickly and adapt to evolving needs in subsequent funding phases,” the company said. —Haselton

U.S. stocks cratered at the market open as investors braced for the economic fallout from the spreading coronavirus, while a shocking all-out oil price war added to the anxiety. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tanked more than 1,900 points, while the S&P 500 plunged more than 7%. The massive sell-off triggered a key market circuit breaker in morning trading. Trading was halted for 15 minutes until reopening at 9:49 a.m. ET. Investors continued to seek safer assets amid additional fears that the coronavirus will disrupt global supply chains and tip the economy into a recession. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped below 0.5% for the first time ever, while the 30-year rate breached 1%. —Li

The IMF’s chief economist urged policymakers to implement “substantial” fiscal and monetary policies to help consumers and businesses cope with the economic harm of the coronavirus outbreak. In a blog post published Monday, IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath said the human costs of the coronavirus epidemic have risen “at an alarming rate.” She said governments should consider measures like cash transfers, wage subsidies or tax relief, while central banks should be prepared to provide liquidity to banks and companies, as the epidemic disrupts supply chains and consumer demand around the world. —Schulze

The number of people infected with the new coronavirus in the Netherlands increased to 321 on Monday, up from 264 a day earlier, Dutch health authorities said. The authorities reported no new deaths because of the coronavirus, after the first three patients in the Netherlands died in recent days. —Reuters

The U.S. will need a “massive financial package” to curb the spread of COVID-19, former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Monday. The virus has spread past the point of containment, Gottlieb said, and hard-hit regions should be moving toward easing efforts such as school and business closures. He said a bailout now to encourage those steps would cost less than one after the outbreak spreads beyond control. “We’re going to end up with a massive fiscal package, a bailout on the back end of this,” he said on “Squawk Box.” “We are better off using that money up front to help buy some of the actions that we need to mitigate this epidemic rather than spending that money on the back end after we’ve had a very large epidemic.” —Feuer

The Regal Princess cruise ship finally pulled into a Florida port and passengers began disembarking after two crew members tested negative for coronavirus. The Regal Princess was originally to have docked Sunday morning in Port Everglades but spent most of the day sailing up and down the coast. The Coast Guard delivered testing kits to the Regal Princess, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a “no-sail order” for the ship. The crew members in question had transferred more than two weeks ago from the Grand Princess cruise ship in California where nearly two dozen on board have tested positive for the virus, including 19 crew members, according to Princess Cruises. A Port of Everglades spokeswoman, Ellen Kennedy, said Sunday that the CDC had cleared the ship to enter port. She told The Associated Press by email that the ship would be docking at a cruise terminal in the port about 10 p.m. ET Sunday. A Princess Cruises statement issued early Monday said the CDC issued the clearance after the test results came back negative. After the ship docked, passengers stood on their balconies as they waited to disembark, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported from scene. The first passengers were let off about an hour after the ship pulled into port. —Associated Press

Amazon is relaxing its attendance policy for warehouse workers and other employees due to the continued spread of coronavirus. The company informed employees Sunday that it will not count any unpaid time off should they need to take it during the month of March. Amazon told CNBC it made the change to ensure there are no repercussions for needing to stay home due to illness. The change of policy applies to employees whose job requires them to “work from an office, store, fulfillment center, delivery station or sort center,” according to a document obtained by CNBC. Amazon also told employees it will not assign attendance points if they’re unable to come to work. The company uses a point system to track employee infractions in a given period of time. —Palmer

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., are self-quarantining after interacting with a COVID-19 patient at the Conservative Political Action Conference in late February. Gosar said he, along with three of his senior staff, are officially under self-quarantine after sustained contact at CPAC with a person who has since been hospitalized. He said they are all asymptomatic. Cruz said his interaction with an infected individual consisted of “a brief conversation and a handshake.” Cruz said that while he does not meet the CDC criteria for a self-quarantine, he is opting to do it anyway. —Hirsch

The German government’s goal is to avoid any business falling into insolvency as a result of the coronavirus, spokesman Steffen Seibert said. “The government will do everything to support businesses and workers in this great economic challenge,” Seibert told a regular news conference. “Our goal is that, ideally, no business in Germany will fall into insolvency due to the coronavirus outbreak, and ideally no job will be lost,” he added. An Economy Ministry spokeswoman said some firms had already sought liquidity support from the government, and that businesses from the tourism and trade fair sectors, in particular, were informing themselves about aid options. —Reuters

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics torch-lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia this week will be staged without spectators as organizers seek to protect the event from the coronavirus, Greece’s Olympic Committee said. The Olympic torch will be lighted in Olympia at a scaled-down ceremony on Thursday before a seven-day relay that will culminate with a handover ceremony in Greece a week later. —Reuters

Iran has had 237 coronavirus deaths and 7,161 infections, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said on state TV. The figures included 595 new infections and 43 new deaths within the previous 24 hours. Iran has had one of the highest death rates from the illness outside of China, where the virus originated. —Reuters

A maintenance worker at Disneyland Paris has tested positive for the coronavirus, Reuters reported Monday, citing a spokesperson for the resort. The technician has not been in contact with visitors, according to management, but his colleagues have been asked to stay in quarantine. The resort, which receives around 15 million visitors a year on average, remains open to visitors Monday.

Nigeria’s health minister has confirmed the second case of coronavirus in the country. “The new case is an Ogun State contact of the index case, one of 40 persons in isolation being closely monitored. He is clinically stable,” Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said via Twitter on Monday.

South Korea has reported 96 new cases of the coronavirus on Monday, bringing the total number of infections to 7,478. It comes shortly after the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 69 new cases earlier in the day. It marks the slowest daily increase of infections in 11 days. Outside mainland China, South Korea has recorded the highest number of coronavirus cases. —Meredith

Read CNBC’s coverage from CNBC’s Asia-Pacific and Europe teams overnight here: Staff worker at Disneyland Paris tests positive for the virus.

—Reuters, Associated Press, and CNBC’s Annie Palmer, Lauren Hirsch, Sam Meredith, Joanna Tan, Weizhen Tan, Dawn Kopecki, Elizabeth Schulze, Todd Haselton, Noah Higgins-Dunn, Terri Cullen, Tucker Higgins, Michelle Fox, Kevin Breuninger, Dan Mangan, Robert Frank, Matthew Belvedere, Michelle Fox, Sharon Epperson, Sara Salinas and Kevin Stankiewicz contributed to this report.