With the United States entering its 15th day of lockdown Monday and the death toll soaring, President Trump steeled the nation late Sunday for an extended shutdown, dashing hopes of a quick resumption of normal life.
The global number of confirmed cases topped 700,000 on Sunday, with over one in seven in the United States.
As world leaders warned that the outbreak could take months, if not years, to fully get over, financial markets remained jittery about the lasting damage. Countries are rolling out unprecedented stimulus steps to prevent economic collapse.
Here are some significant developments:
On Sunday evening, President Trump said federal guidance urging social distancing will stay in place through April 30. He backed off of his hope that the country will be “opened up” by Easter Sunday, saying that deaths due to the coronavirus will likely peak in two weeks.
New York surged past 1,000 confirmed deaths related to the novel coronavirus, the state said Sunday. The United States now has over 140,000 confirmed cases, the most of any country and nearing on twice those announced in China, the outbreak’s epicenter.
Officials in South Korea, widely praised for its handling of the novel coronavirus outbreak, warned that they were seeing a sustained increase in cases in Seoul and areas around the capital.
EasyJet, one of Europe’s largest carriers, said it would ground its entire fleet as demand collapses in the face of government restrictions on travel.
As policymakers turn to dramatic action to contain the damage, Australia’s government said it would subsidize wages for private-sector workers in a bid to prevent widespread job losses.
