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US President Donald Trump has backed away from imposing a quarantine in the New York area, instead directing a “strong Travel Advisory” be issued to limit the spread of the new coronavirus.
The announcement on Twitter came late on Saturday as criticism grew over Trump’s suggestion to prohibit travel in and out of coronavirus hotspots in New York, New Jersey and parts of Connecticut.
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The United States now accounts for the highest number of coronavirus infections, recording more than 120,000 confirmed cases on Saturday. The death toll in the country has surged past 2,000.
In Spain, the number of deaths from COVID-19, the illness caused by the new virus, rose to 5,690, and in hard-hit Italy, the death toll jumped above 10,000.
Worldwide, the number of cases has reached more than 660,000. More than 30,000 have died while some 139,000 people have recovered.
Here are the latest updates:
Sunday, March 29
00:50 GMT – Trump to issue ‘strong travel advisory’ for New York region
Trump said he will not impose a quarantine in coronavirus hotspots in three states, including New York, but would instead issue a “strong Travel Advisory” for the region.
After consulting with the White House task force leading the federal response and the governors of the three affected states, Trump said: “I have asked the @CDCgov to issue a strong Travel Advisory, to be administered by the Governors, in consultation with the Federal Government. A quarantine will not be necessary.”
….Federal Government. A quarantine will not be necessary. Full details will be released by CDC tonight. Thank you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2020
00:40 GMT – Coronavirus deaths surge past 2,000 in US
Confirmed coronavirus-related deaths in the US doubled in two days, surpassing 2,000 on Saturday, according to the Johns Hopkins University, and highlighting how quickly the virus is spreading through the country.
The US ranked sixth in deaths, after Italy, Spain, China, Iran and France. Italy alone had more than 10,000 dead.
Rhode Island announced its first two deaths from the coronavirus, leaving just three states with zero reported deaths: Hawaii, West Virginia and Wyoming.
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Italy’s coronavirus death toll passes 10,000 (3:30) |
00:33 GMT – New York governor slams quarantine idea ‘anti-American’
Andrew Cuomo, who has criticised the federal government’s response as his state became the country’s virus epicenter, said roping off states would amount to “a federal declaration of war”.
The governor of New York said the prospect of a quarantine didn’t come up when he spoke with Trump earlier on Saturday, adding that he believed it would be illegal, economically catastrophic, “preposterous” and shortsighted when other parts of the US are seeing cases rise, too.
“If you start walling off areas all across the country, it would be totally bizarre, counterproductive, anti-American, anti-social,” Cuomo told CNN. He added that locking down the nation’s financial capital would shock the stock market and “paralyse the economy” at a time when Trump has indicated he’s itching to get the economy back on track.
00:00 GMT – Trump floats lockdown in New York region
Trump said he was considering a quarantine as early as Saturday for coronavirus hotspots in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, though it wasn’t clear whether he had the power to order state residents to stay put.
Trump told reporters that he had spoken with Republican Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, among others, and that “a lot of the states that are infected but don’t have a big problem, they’ve asked me if I’ll look at it, so we’re going to look at it”.
Hello, I’m Zaheena Rasheed in Male, Maldives, with Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
Read all the updates from yesterday, March 28 here.
