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Public events are being canceled. Travel bans are in place. And schools are closing worldwide as authorities race to combat and contain the global coronavirus outbreak.
The pandemic is taking a toll on the markets. They plunged again Thursday and trading came to a halt after President Trump announced his decision to ban non-U.S. citizens who have recently been in many European nations from entering the United States for a month.
It’s an unprecedented attempt to stop the spread of the new virus, which has infected more than 100,000 people.
“To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days,” Mr. Trump said in a brief, rare address to the nation on Wednesday.
His announcement created confusion, and the White House later clarified in a tweet that the suspension applies to foreign nationals who have traveled to one of 26 European nations in the past 14 days. The restrictions don’t apply to the United Kingdom or Ireland.
The White House said the restrictions would take effect at midnight Saturday.
The president spoke hours after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the U.N. health agency was “deeply concerned by the alarming levels of spread and severity” of the disease it causes, COVID-19.
As of Thursday morning, more than 1,300 cases had been confirmed in the United States and at least 39 deaths were blamed on the virus. There have been more than 126,000 cases worldwide, and more than 4,600 people have died. The vast majority of cases are mild, and almost half of those infected have recovered.
For detailed information on coronavirus prevention and treatment, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website here.
