USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — With an urgency unseen since the Great Recession, Congress is rushing to develop a sweeping economic lifeline for American households and businesses suddenly capsized by the coronavirus outbreak.

Democrats said at least $750 billion would be needed. And top White House officials briefing Senate Republicans at the Capitol said a similar-sized package needs to pass, some suggesting in a matter of days.

“ASAP,” White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said late Monday. “There’s an urgency.”

SEATTLE (AP) — U.S. researchers gave the first shots in a first test of an experimental coronavirus vaccine Monday, leading off a worldwide hunt for protection even as the pandemic surges.

With careful jabs in the arms of four healthy volunteers, scientists at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute in Seattle began an anxiously awaited first-stage study of a potential COVID-19 vaccine developed in record time after the new virus exploded out of China and fanned out across the globe.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden has been declared the winner of last week’s Democratic presidential primary in Washington state, giving him victories in five out of six states that voted March 10.

After nearly a week of counting votes, the former vice president on Monday held onto a small lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders that turned out to be insurmountable.

Washington was a state that Sanders had been hoping to win. In 2016, he won more than two-thirds of the delegates from the Washington caucuses over Hillary Clinton.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Racing to stall an expected surge of coronavirus cases, the White House on Monday released a series of sweeping guidelines that for the next 15 days will temporarily rewrite the norms of American society.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio called off its presidential primary just hours before polls were set to open there and in three other states, an 11th-hour decision the governor said was necessary to prevent further fueling the coronavirus pandemic that has paralyzed the nation.

Health Director Amy Acton declared a health emergency that would prevent the polls from opening out of fear of exposing voters and volunteer poll workers — many of them elderly — to the virus. Arizona, Florida and Illinois were proceeding with their presidential primaries.

USA (AP) --- The United States implemented dramatic new restrictions on Americans going out in public and 7 million people in the San Francisco area were put on a near-total lockdown to control the coronavirus emergency that has walloped the global economy.

Not everyone was adhering to the clampdowns, however.

New York, Mar 16 (PTI) New York officials have announced the closure of city's public schools, the largest public school system in the nation, beginning Monday till at least April 20 and ordered all restaurants to limit to food takeaway only, as the city responded with "wartime mentality" to combat the fast-spreading deadly coronavirus.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday announced that he has made the "painful decision" to suspend classes in all NYC public schools, beginning March 16. There are now 329 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New York City and 5 fatalities.

Washington, Mar 16 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has advised his countrymen against hoarding of essential items as reports of grocery stores being swept by panic buying due to the coronavirus crisis emerged, saying supply chains in the country are the most powerful in the world and there is no shortage of daily goods.

The US mainstream media, including newspapers and channels, on Sunday showed pictures and visuals of empty shelves in grocery stores in the country.

16 March 2020; AFP: Food has been quickly disappearing from US supermarket shelves in signs of panic-buying but President Donald Trump and other government and industry officials assured on Sunday that the supply chain is intact and there's plenty of food.

"You don't have to buy so much... Relax," Trump said at a press conference of his new-coronavirus task force, after speaking with CEOs of major US supermarkets and food companies such as Walmart and Costco.

SYDNEY/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Airlines around the world said they would make more drastic cuts to their flying schedules, shed jobs and seek government aid after countries further tightened border restrictions because of the fast spreading coronavirus.

The owner of British Airways said on Monday that it would cut flying capacity by at least three quarters in April and May, and that its outgoing boss, Willie Walsh, would defer his retirement as the carrier tries to survive the fallout of the virus.