People in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have been urged to “refrain from non-essential domestic travel” for the next two weeks by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the number of people killed by the coronavirus pandemic around the world surpassed 30,000.
The CDC travel advisory was issued after President Donald Trump decided against calling for a quarantine in the tri-state area which have been hard hit by the epidemic. State officials had questioned whether he had the authority to implement a lockdown and accused the president of creating confusion.
Globally, the number of cases is now at nearly 680,000, with the U.S. leading the way at 124,686 cases, data compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU) showed. Coronavirus-related deaths in the U.S. have doubled in just two days, surpassing 2,000 on Saturday, according to an NBC News tally.
Almost half of them have come in New York State alone, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday that 728 people had died from COVID-19, adding that more than 52,000 people had tested positive for the disease.
Earlier Saturday Trump sparked confusion when he told reporters as he was leaving the White House for Norfolk, Va., that he was considering an “enforceable quarantine” in the tri-state area because he was concerned New Yorkers were traveling to places like Florida and spreading the virus.
However, he later backed away from the idea.
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Across the world more than 30,000 people have died, according to JHU.
Italy has the highest death toll, with a total of 10,023 reported since the outbreak began, JHU data showed.
Italian officials said 889 more people died between Saturday and Sunday and nearly 6,000 new cases were reported, bringing the total number of infected in the country to 92,472.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said late Saturday he had approved a new package of economic measures to help those worst hit by the epidemic. Shopping vouchers and food packages would be provided to the vulnerable, he said.
Conte said 4.3 billion euros ($4.79 billion) would be made immediately available to mayors to deal with their citizens’ needs and another 400 million would be provided in a special fund for “people who don’t have the money to do their shopping.”
Spain, the second hardest-hit nation in Europe, has so far registered 5,982 deaths.
In a televised address Saturday evening, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez extended the nationwide lockdown by two weeks until at least April 9.
“This is the most difficult moment since the creation of the European Union,” Sanchez said, asking for solidarity among European nations.
“This isn’t an asymmetric crisis. It affects all of our countries,” he added. “The answer mustn’t be national, it must be European. We all must row in the same boat.”
Sanchez added that Spain has now acquired 659 million face masks, as the number of cases rose to 72,248.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said Sunday the country is now dealing with 639 imported cases, raising the possibility of a new round of infections after domestic cases tapered off.
Numbers released by the NHC revealed that 44 of the 45 new confirmed cases have come from abroad. No new confirmed cases have emerged from Wuhan, where the outbreak is believed to have originated late last year, as the city reopened its subway and long-distance train service Sunday.
China is trying to aggressively clamp down on imported cases, with restrictions on foreigners entering the country coming into effect Saturday. Airlines have also been ordered to sharply cut international flights from Sunday.
Reuters contributed.