The rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak continued to upend life around the world Tuesday as more countries tightened quarantine measures.
Confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, which has rapidly spread across United States in a matter of weeks, have now been reported in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. West Virginia became the last state to confirm its first case on Tuesday. At least 100 people infected with the virus have died in the U.S. — a toll that experts expect to rise quickly.
Schools, offices, bars, restaurants and many stores remain closed across major U.S. and European cities, and dozens of countries are shutting their borders or implementing mandatory self-isolation for travelers arriving from abroad.
Here are some other significant developments:
North Carolina’s Outer Banks will begin restricting tourists and visitors in an effort to reduce travel and limit permanent residents’ exposure to the coronavirus, officials in Dare County announced Tuesday.
The New York mayor said city officials are “absolutely considering” a shelter-in-place order similar to the one that took effect Monday in the San Francisco Bay area, where six counties are almost completely shut down.
Health departments in the United States reported the largest number of coronavirus-related deaths Monday on any one day since the onset of the outbreak: 22, bringing the nationwide total to 89.
Calls have intensified for social distancing as one of the only measures that could prevent the United States from facing a situation as dire as Italy’s, where more than 2,000 people have been killed by the coronavirus. President Trump and his coronavirus task force suggested that tax deferments and possibly cash payments could be on the way for American individuals and businesses.
China’s Foreign Ministry hit back at Trump’s description of the pandemic as a “Chinese virus,” accusing him of insulting China and saying the United States “should first take care of its own business.”
