Italy, UK Report Record Jump In Deaths As European Outbreak Now Larger Than China’s: Live Updates

by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Wed, 03/18/2020

Summary:

US deaths hit 114
Senate to vote on 2nd economic rescue bill
Iran reports another 147 deaths
Hong Kong reported 14 new confirmed cases
Trump says China hasn’t asked the US to suspend tariffs
UAW succeeds in pushing Detroit automakers to shut down factories
UK reportedly about to close schools as Boris scrambles to catch up with policy U-turn
HUD suspends evictions
Cuomo bars NY companies from having more than 50%
Wal-Mart shares hit record high
US, Canada agree to close border
Cuomo says state “looking into” reports of Covid-19 cluster in Borough Park
White House now pushing to send 2 $1,000 checks to every American
Spanish Olympic Committee head says Tokyo Games should be postponed
* * *

Update (1330ET): Italy has reported another record jump in deaths on Wednesday: 475 new deaths were confirmed, bringing total to 2,978. Meanwhile, the total number of confirmed cases has climbed to 35,713 from 31,506.

UK also reported its largest jump in deaths, reporting an additional 37 fatalities, bringing the total to 104.

Update (1255ET): The UAW has reportedly succeeded in convincing Detroit automakers to shut down all US factories, following similar decisions by German and South Korean car companies.

As the reporters in the briefing room chew over Trump’s insistence on blaming China while maintaining a 4ft perimeter of personal space, we’d like to highlight the results of a study by the University of Southampton showing there could have been a 95% reduction in cases world wide if China had acted to contain the virus 3 weeks earlier.

The UK is reportedly about to close schools across the country as PM Boris Johnson continues his policy about-face after the experts advising the administration’s shifted their view and warned that if Johnson were to stay the course – ignoring the quarantines and closures being implemented everywhere else – it would likely result in “hundreds of thousands” of deaths.

The education secretary has said that the situation for schools has become “increasingly challenging” and that the circumstances are “shifting.”

* * *

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2020 at 1:49 pm and is filed under BioWeapon, God Help Us, Health, Pandemic, World Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.