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South Korea reported 256 more confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday morning, bringing the national total to 2,022, according to the South Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
The KCDC did not report any new deaths, meaning that the national death toll remains at 13.
Among the 256 new cases, 182 are from Daegu, the epicenter of the outbreak in South Korea. A total of 1,314 cases since the beginning of the outbreak have come from Daegu, according to the KCDC.
An additional 49 cases are from North Gyeongsang Province, which surrounds Daegu city.
California Rep. John Garamendi told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Thursday that the 15th confirmed US coronavirus patient is in “serious condition.”
“This patient is in serious condition and our prayers go out to her and to our family,” Garamendi said.
When asked by Burnett if he had information on how this disease was transmitted, Garamendi said, “The answer is no. That is what the county is doing now. Their public health resources are going around, doing the tracking down of individuals who may have come in contact with this person. Whether this person can actually talk or not is of question. She’s been intubated, and so may not be in a position to discuss it.”
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Family members of the coronavirus patient in Solano County have been identified and are in isolation pending testing.
The family will remain under quarantine for 14 days, Solano County Health and Social Services Public Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas said in a press conference today.
The patient’s workplace has been fully addressed as well, he said. Solano County is also working to identify potential interactions with people that are not employees in the workplace.
Individuals who may have been in contact with the patient will be assessed and be placed under isolation or quarantine as appropriate, Matyas said.
South Korea has reported one new death from novel coronavirus in the city of Daegu, bringing the total number of coronavirus deaths in the country to 13, Daegu’s mayor Kwon Young-jin said in a press briefing on Thursday.
The victim was a 74-year-old man and a member of Shincheonji religious group who died on Thursday morning, Kwon added.
South Korea has the most confirmed coronavirus cases outside of mainland China.
Dozens of employees in Solano County who have been in contact with a coronavirus patient have been identified, Steve Huddleston, vice president of public affairs for NorthBay Health Care, said in a press conference today.
It still remains less than a hundred, Huddleston added.
Some employees were redirected from their work schedules and sent home yesterday to monitor their current health, according to Huddleston.
Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health is reporting its first case of coronavirus.
The case was confirmed Thursday in Lagos State.
President Trump expressed optimism Thursday that Coronavirus would eventually be contained and eliminated in the US, even as he acknowledged it could get worse first.
Trump called his Wednesday appearance before the White House press corps “a really good press conference.”
“One of the advantages is that I get covered live,” he added. “It was a calming press conference.”
He also claimed the media won’t give the administration “credit” for a successful response to the coronavirus.
The President also said that the federal government was busy preparing for the coronavirus while Democrats were working on impeachment.
“While they were working on impeachment, we were working on doing this. Because we were hearing about it,” he said.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, the former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer today that he couldn’t comment on a whistleblower in the Department of Health and Human Services who contends HHS workers handled coronavirus evacuees from Wuhan, China, without the proper protective gear until he reads the complaint.
Instead, Frieden stressed what other top health officials have been saying for the past week, that the virus is going to spread in the US.
He said the Trump administration’s request for $2.5 billion to fight the outbreak is key.
“What we can do now is prepare in the society, generally, in our health care settings, in the government – and one of the key things to track in this next week is what happens with the supplemental funding for this, because that will determine how robust the US response can be.”
By the numbers: A 15th case of the coronavirus, confirmed in a woman in California on Wednesday, could potentially represent the beginning of the virus’ spread in the community, something the CDC has been warning about for weeks.
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A University of California Davis student is under investigation for coronavirus following potential exposure, Dr. Cindy Schorzman announced in a press call today.
That person is being isolated at home, and two other students are being isolated off campus as well, Schorzman said.
All three are roommates at a UC Davis residence hall, according to Schorzman.
Test results for the student under investigation are not expected for a few days, as the nasal and oral swabs were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which is processing hundreds of tests from around the country, Yolo County health officer Dr. Ron Chapman said. The two other students are asymptomatic.
Citing privacy laws, health officials would not say whether the student was potentially exposed to someone with the virus or if they had recently traveled to a suspect location.
A Solano County woman is being treated at UC Davis Medical Center for what might be the first community spread case of coronavirus. The UC Davis Medical Center is not on campus and is about 17-miles away in Sacramento.
A whistleblower at the Department of Health and Human Services is seeking federal protection after complaining that more than a dozen workers who received the first Americans evacuated from Wuhan, China, lacked proper training or protective gear for coronavirus infection control.
The Washington Post was first to report on the complaint and cited a redacted complaint obtained from lawyers alleges that HHS staff were “improperly deployed” and “were not properly trained or equipped to operate in a public health emergency situation.”
The whistleblower also alleges she was unfairly reassigned after raising concerns.
CNN has not independently reviewed the complaint. The Washington Post and New York Times report cite a redacted complaint obtained from lawyers alleges that HHS staff were “improperly deployed” and “were not properly trained or equipped to operate in a public health emergency situation.” The whistleblower also alleges she was unfairly reassigned after raising concerns.
US Office of Special Counsel Communications Director Zachary Kurz confirmed to CNN that “OSC has received the complaint and the case has been assigned.”
A State Department official pushed back on the allegations when he was asked about the report during a coronavirus hearing this afternoon before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
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Anderson Cooper was joined by Dr. Alok Patel this afternoon on Full Circle to discuss the novel coronavirus and how people can prepare as the disease continues to spread across the globe.
One of the big problems when it comes to the coronavirus is diagnosing people with it, Patel said.
The coronavirus transmits like any other common cold, he added.
The face masks are really only for people who are already sick to help prevent them from spreading the disease, Patel said.
WATCH HERE:
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield said the agency has sent out new coronavirus testing guidance to health care workers on Thursday, after what might be the first US case of community spread of the virus.
Earlier in the outbreak, CDC guidance to doctors in the US was that a patient had to have a travel history to China, among other criteria. But a patient at UC Davis Medical Center prompted the CDC to change its guidance.
The patient that prompted the guidance change was transferred from another Northern California hospital last week. According to a letter from UC Davis Health, the patient “did not fit the existing CDC criteria for COVID-19, a test was not immediately administered.” After doctors persisted in their request for the test, on Sunday, CDC went ahead with testing.
On Wednesday, the CDC confirmed the patient tested positive for the coronavirus.
That patient became the first US case of unknown origin, according to the CDC. The patient didn’t have any relevant travel history nor any exposure to another known patient. The patient may be the first US case of “community spread” of the virus, officials said.
Redfield added: “This is a fluid situation. There’s a lot we don’t know and we are learning more every day.”
You might have heard about the Spanish flu — the global flu pandemic that killed more than 670,000 Americans and tens of millions of people worldwide. It’s basically the worst case scenario for what could happen with a pandemic outbreak.
There’s no indication that coronavirus will turn into that: Health officials aren’t even calling this outbreak a pandemic yet.
But John M. Barry, who wrote a book about the 1918 outbreak, has studied the issue extensively. He wrote in Smithsonian Magazine a few years ago that one reason that pandemic was so devastating is that, in the early stages, health officials didn’t tell the truth.
There were a number of reasons for that, including that the US was in the midst of World War I and Congress had passed a law — the Sedition act, since largely repealed — that made it illegal to criticize the government.
The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a simple message for Americans: No, you shouldn’t be afraid.
During a House Foreign Affairs hearing, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan asked CDC Director Robert Redfield a number of rapid-fire questions about what Americans should do as coronavirus spreads.
Houlahan said she wanted to ask simple questions, “for the human beings who are at home, for my kids, my family members, my community.”
Redfield’s answers were equally simple.
Here’s the full exchange:
Houlahan: Should people be afraid?
Redfield: No.
Houlahan: Should people engage in regular handwashing and coughing into their sleeves?
Redfield: Absolutely.
Houlahan: Should people be stocking up on cleaning supplies?
Redfield: No.
Houlahan: Should people be stocking up on prescription medicines that they have?
Redfield: Not at this time.
Houlahan: Should people be stocking up on food supply?
Redfield: Not at this time.
Houlahan: Should you wear a mask if you are healthy?
Redfield: No.
Houlahan: Is there a website where people can go to access good information about these questions?
Redfield: Yes, absolutely, CDC.gov.
When asked if Houlahan missed anything, Redfield took the time to add: “We need to make sure those N95 masks are available for the doctors and nurses that are going to be taking care of individuals that have this illness. And it really does displease me, to find people going out, there is no role for these masks in the community.”
The coronavirus outbreak is continuing to spread across the globe.
As of 3:30 p.m. ET, there are more than 82,000 cases in 51 countries and regions. Cases have been reported in every continent except Antartica.
If you’re just tuning in, here are the latest developments as officials attempt to contain the virus:
Life around Italy’s coronavirus ‘red zone’:
Scott Minerd managed money during the 2008 financial crisis and the bursting of the dotcom bubble. But the influential investor said he fears the coronavirus outbreak impact could exceed those events.
“This is possibly the worst thing I’ve seen in my career,” Minerd, chief investment officer at Guggenheim Partners, told Bloomberg TV today.
Pointing to the spike in cases in South Korea and Italy, Minerd said the outbreak has the potential to “reel into something extremely serious.”
Some context: The S&P 500 plunged into a correction today, signifying a 10% decline from previous highs. All three indexes are on track for their worst weekly percentage drops since October 2008 — and Minerd warned stocks could plunge further if the outbreak isn’t contained.
US stocks sold off sharply again today, with all three major stock indexes falling more than 10% from their most recent high, otherwise known as a correction. Investors continued to fret about the fallout from the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The Dow closed down 1,191 points, or 4.4% – the worst one-day point drop in history. The index has now lost 3,226 points this week.
The S&P 500 also finished down 4.4% and closed below 3,000 points. It was its worst one-day percentage drop since August 2011.
It was the sixth-straight day of losses for the Dow and the S&P.
The Nasdaq Composite closed 4.6% lower.
All three indexes are on track for their worst weekly percentage drops since October 2008.
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Anderson Cooper is joined by Dr. Alok Patel around 5 p.m. ET to answer your coronavirus questions live.
Submit them here and tune in to get caught up on the latest coronavirus news. It will air at the top of your screen here.
The Ministry of Health for the Netherlands has confirmed that one person has tested positive to coronavirus, marking the country’s first confirmed case.
According to the Health Ministry, the individual in question had recently been in the Lombardy region of Northern Italy; Italy’s Health Ministry confirmed Thursday that a total of 403 individuals have tested positive to the virus in Lombardy, while 14 people have so far died in the northern Italian region.
“The patient, who was recently in the Lombardy region, is in isolation,” the Dutch Health Ministry added, confirming that health authorities are looking into the patient’s recent contacts.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Thursday that he is in close contact with Dutch Minister for Medical Care Bruno Bruins, adding via Twitter that “all efforts have been made to prepare” the Netherlands for a Coronavirus outbreak.
