COVID-19 News from Around the Web

Amazon told sellers and vendors on Tuesday that it was suspending shipments of all nonessential products to its warehouses to deal with the increased workloads following the coronavirus outbreak. Amazon is now prioritizing medical supplies, household staples, and other high-demand products to its warehouses until April 5. The change only affects shipments to Amazon's warehouses, not the last-mile deliveries to consumers. "We are temporarily prioritizing household staples, medical supplies, and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so that we can more quickly receive, restock, and deliver these products to customers," the message read.

Kevin Durant was among four members of the Brooklyn Nets who tested positive for the coronavirus, the superstar told The Athletic. The team announced Tuesday that multiple players were diagnosed with the deadly virus, without disclosing names. “Of the four, one player is exhibiting symptoms while three are asymptomatic,” the team added in a statement. “All four players are presently isolated and under the care of team physicians.”

San Francisco Bay area officials ordered some 7 million residents to “shelter in place” on Monday. Residents there are prohibited from leaving their homes, except under “limited circumstances,” according to the order. New York City officials are considering a similar move as they prepare for an “onslaught” of new coronavirus cases in the coming weeks, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

California's schools will likely stay closed for the rest of the academic year over coronavirus concerns, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday in a jaw-dropping prediction for families barely settling into new weekday routines with children at home. "This is a very sobering thing to say," Newsom said, as he warned that schools are unlikely to reopen in the coming weeks and will more than likely remain closed until the summer break. "I don't want to mislead you."

The world’s richest nations prepared more costly measures on Tuesday to combat the global fallout of the coronavirus that has infected tens of thousands of people, triggered social restrictions unseen since World War Two and sent economies spinning toward recession. … While the main aim is to avoid deaths - currently at over 7,800 - global powers were also focusing on how to limit the inevitably devastating economic impact.

Mass disruptions shuddered across the globe Tuesday as governments struggled to slow the spread of the coronavirus while also trying to keep their economies afloat. The chaos stretched from Lithuania, where border traffic jams were nearly 40 miles (64 kilometers) deep, to Detroit, where bus service came to a sudden stop when drivers didn’t show up for work. … Increasingly worried about the economic fallout of the global shutdown, the U.S., Britain and the Netherlands announced rescue packages totaling hundreds of billions of dollars, while longtime International Monetary Fund critic Venezuela asked the institution for a $5 billion loan.

The United Kingdom's government is urging the public to work from home and avoid pubs, restaurants and theaters to slow the spread of the coronavirus as the death toll hit 67, with 1,950 confirmed cases. But, unlike some other European countries, including Ireland, the U.K. will keep schools open for now. In a news conference Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told people to avoid unnecessary social contact and travel and to not visit nursing homes. He also suggested that by the weekend, he will call for those older 70 and those with the most serious health conditions to stay at home for 12 weeks. "It now looks as though we are approaching the fast growth part of the upward curve, and without drastic action, cases could double every five or six days," Johnson said. Johnson said he was not shutting schools, in part because it would require parents, including National Health Service staff, to stay home. On Tuesday, the Foreign Office advised against nonessential international travel. The government's strategy is to try to avoid a spike in cases that could easily inundate the NHS. The coronavirus pandemic comes at a vulnerable time for the country's NHS. A decade of crippling funding cuts has left tens of thousands of vacancies and has led to record emergency room wait times. Doctors worry about whether the system can hold up.

Yelitza Morls was in Florida with her 13-year-old daughter when she heard on Saturday that her flight home to Venezuela had been canceled due to her country’s ban on international flights to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. … Airline industry group ALTA said Colombia, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina, Honduras, Guatemala, Bolivia, Panama and El Salvador had also restricted flights into their territories, some completely. As a result, the continent is experiencing an unprecedented reduction in air connectivity. The region’s largest carrier, LATAM Airlines Group, canceled 90% of international flights.

When the epidemic was at its most severe, many Wuhan patients said they were unable to get treated due to an extreme shortage of hospital beds and medical resources. Now, as the number of new reported cases in China slows to a trickle, millions of residents are still restricted by the government to their homes; they're not even allowed to go outside to shop for groceries.

The European Union is locking down its borders, imposing a 30-day entry ban on nonessential travel for non-EU citizens to slow the spread of the coronavirus. German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the measure Tuesday night, saying people in the member nations can still move freely between those countries. The ban went into effect immediately. While the primary goal is to contain the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus in both directions, officials also said it is aimed at reducing pressure on health systems. There are to the ban a handful of exceptions, which include, citizens of Norway, Switzerland, Great Britain, and Andorra, as well as third-country nationals with long term residence rights in an EU country.

It took Muhammad Siddique five years to save up for a pilgrimage to Mecca, but now the COVID-19 pandemic has left his plans up in the air. The pilgrimage — a process known as Hajj — is considered one of the most important obligations for a Muslim to fulfill. Every follower of the religion who has the money and the health to complete the journey to Mecca is required to do it once in their lifetime during the 12th month of the Islamic lunar calendar. This year, that falls during July and August. But after Saudi Arabia closed off travel to the holy city for another pilgrimage called Umrah last month, many potential travellers are concerned that Hajj could be affected too. The unprecedented move to cancel Hajj wasn't even taken during the 1918 flu epidemic that killed tens of millions worldwide.

The overall price tag of the package could be around $1 trillion, Mnuchin told reporters on Capitol Hill after meeting with GOP senators, making it one of the largest federal emergency fiscal packages ever assembled. He also gave lawmakers a dire warning if they failed to act, saying the unemployment rate could spike to nearly 20 percent from the roughly 3.5 percent level it notched in February, according to three people familiar with his comments who spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal internal deliberations.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced a plan on Tuesday to send money to Americans immediately to ease the economic shock from the coronavirus crisis and said military-style hospitals will likely be deployed to virus hot zones to care for patients.

As Congress works on a rescue package to help shore up a U.S. economy hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, a wide swath of business, from the solar power industry to casinos and hotels, along with doctors, nurses and educators are urging lawmakers to give them a share of the pie. The House has passed an estimated $100 billion aid package of sick pay, emergency food aid and free virus testing. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised “significant and bold new steps above and beyond what the House has passed.” And the White House is pitching an $850 billion aid package, with other proposals likely to follow.

Job-loss projections range up to 4.6 million. … Employers are slashing jobs at a furious pace across the nation due to mass shutdowns over the coronavirus, slamming state unemployment offices with a crush of filers facing sudden crises. Long before official government data is expected to reveal the depths of the economic shock inflicted by the coronavirus, reports from state officials and businesses around the country indicate the gathering of a massive wave of unemployment on a scale unseen since the Great Recession.

U.S. hotel companies are seeking $150 billion in direct aid for their workers for what they say is an unprecedented fall-off in demand because of the new coronavirus. CEOs of Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and other chains met Tuesday with President Donald Trump to describe the impact and seek help. Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta told the president that Hilton has never closed a hotel that wasn’t slated for remodeling or demolition in its 100-year history. Now, several Hilton hotels in big U.S. cities are closed and worldwide, its hotels are only 10% to 15% occupied. Last year, the average U.S. occupancy rate was 67%. “I’ve been doing this for 35 years. Never seen anything like it,” Nassetta told Trump.