SOAVE, Italy — Fear over the new coronavirus epidemic sent global stock markets and oil prices plunging Monday, touched off prison riots in Italy and caused a cascading shutdown of sites and events ranging from Saudi schools to a Holocaust march. While many of Beijing's white-collar workers returned to work...
Homeless at 'Double Risk' of Getting, Spreading Coronavirus
SALEM, Ore. — They often don't have places to wash their hands, struggle with health problems and crowd together in grimy camps. That's what makes homeless people particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus. Almost 200,000 people live in those conditions in the United States, according to a White House report, with...
Virus Hammers Business Travel as Wary Companies Nix Trips
Amazon and other big companies are trying to keep their employees healthy by banning business trips, but they've dealt a gut punch to a travel industry already reeling from the virus outbreak. The Seattle-based online retail giant has told its nearly 800,000 workers to postpone any non-essential travel within the...
Virus Reaches New Countries as Crisis Seems to Ease in China
SEOUL, South Korea — The coronavirus appeared for the first time in New York, Moscow and Berlin and clusters of the disease surged around the world, even as new cases in China dropped to their lowest level in six weeks Monday and hundreds of patients were released from hospitals at...
'Amazing Race' Suspends Filming as Virus Precaution
LOS ANGELES — The globe-trotting reality series “The Amazing Race” is taking a breather as a precaution due to the virus outbreak affecting several countries. CBS said in a statement Friday that it had temporarily suspended production and was sending contestants and crew members home as a precautionary measure. Filming...
California Low on Test Kits and Face Masks in Its Battle Against Coronavirus
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that the state is monitoring 8,400 people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus and has only 200 kits for diagnosing it, even as California is addressing the problem with urgency. Other officials said the state may not have enough face masks to protect...
In Scramble to Stop Virus, Testing Raises Tough Questions
NEW YORK — Health officials confronted tough questions and doubts Thursday about testing to intercept the fast-spreading virus, with scrutiny focused on a four-day delay in screening an infected California woman despite her doctors’ early calls to do so. The questions are global: not just who, when and how to...
Stocks Fall on Wall Street, Head for Worst Week Since 2008
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks fell sharply Friday and were on track for their worst week since October 2008 as the spreading coronavirus threatens to derail the global economy. The virus outbreak has been shutting down industrial centers, emptying shops and severely crimping travel all over the world. More companies...
US, South Korea Militaries Face New Enemy in Viral Outbreak
SEOUL, South Korea — The U.S. and South Korean militaries, used to being on guard for threats from North Korea, face a new and formidable enemy that could hurt battle readiness: a virus spreading around the world that has infected more than 1,200 people in South Korea. As the new...
Desperate to Stop Virus' Spread, Countries Limit Travel
SEOUL, South Korea — Police manned checkpoints in quarantined towns, guests were confined to their rooms in a hotel in the Canary Islands, governments issued travel warnings and more flights were suspended Tuesday as officials desperately sought to stop the seemingly inevitable spread of a new virus. Clusters of the...