FOLLOW US

Thu

August 6, 2026

America March 1, 2020 6 mins read

Virus outbreak batters economies, raises fear of spread

America ı By Catherine Davis

0 Comments

1000 (1)

Amid fears about where the next outbreak of a fast-spreading new virus would appear, infections and deaths continued to rise across the globe Sunday, emptying streets of tourists and workers, shaking economies and rewriting the realities of daily life.

Panic-buying of daily necessities emerged in Japan, tourist sites across Asia, Europe and the Mideast were deserted, and governments closed schools and banned big gatherings. Amusement parks have been shuttered and concerts canceled.

In Paris, the Louvre Museum closed its doors and priests stopped placing sacramental bread in worshippers’ mouths.

While the new coronavirus has extended its reach across the world, geographic clusters of infections were emerging, with Iran, Italy and South Korea seeing rising cases. The United States, meanwhile, recorded its first death, a man in his 50s in Washington state who had underlying health conditions but who hadn’t traveled to any affected areas.

“Additional cases in the United States are likely, but healthy individuals should be able to fully recover,” President Donald Trump said at a Saturday briefing, where officials announced heightened warnings about travel to certain regions of Italy and South Korea as well as a ban on travel to Iran.

China on Sunday reported a slight uptick in new cases over the past 24 hours to 573, the first time in five days that number has exceeded 500. They remain almost entirely confined to the hardest-hit province of Hubei and its capital, Wuhan.

South Korea reported 210 additional cases and two more deaths from the virus, raising its totals to 3,736 cases and 20 fatalities. South Korea has confirmed the second largest number of virus infections outside mainland China, with most of the cases reported in the southeastern city of Daegu and nearby areas.

South Korea’s president used a speech marking the 101st anniversary of an anti-Japanese independence uprising to call for national unity to overcome the soaring virus outbreak.

Iran’s death toll from COVID-19, the disease the virus causes, climbed to 54 as the number of confirmed cases jumped overnight by more than half, to 978 people. The new figures represent 11 more deaths than reported on Saturday and 385 new cases.

The outbreak in Iran has prompted its neighbors to seal their borders to Iranians, while other Gulf states have halted flights to Iran.

The list of countries hit by the virus has climbed past 60. More than 87,000 people worldwide have contracted the virus, including nearly 3,000 deaths.

Many cases of the virus have been relatively mild, and some of those infected apparently show no symptoms at all. That can allow for easier spread, and worries are mounting that prolonged quarantines, supply chain disruptions and a sharp reduction in tourism and business travel could weaken the global economy or even cause a recession.

Around the world, the virus, and the fear that accompanies it, caused turmoil.

Islam’s holiest sites were closed to foreign pilgrims, while professional baseball teams played in deserted stadiums in Japan. Officials in France advised residents to forgo customary greeting kisses.

The spreading epidemic even shut down France’s Louvre Museum on Sunday, with workers who guard its trove of artworks fearful of being contaminated by the museum’s flow of visitors from around the world.

“We are very worried because we have visitors from everywhere,” said Andre Sacristin, a Louvre employee and union representative for its staffers.

“The risk is very, very, very great,” he said in a phone interview. While there are no known virus infections among the museum’s 2,300 workers, “it’s only a question of time,” he said.

A short statement from the Louvre said a staff meeting about virus prevention efforts stopped the museum from opening as scheduled Sunday morning. On Sunday afternoon, would-be visitors were still waiting to get inside.

The shutdown followed a government decision Saturday to ban indoor public gatherings of more than 5,000 people.

South Korea’s men’s professional basketball league said its regular season would be halted from Sunday, after an infection was reported at a hotel in southern South Korea where a team had stayed.

Tokyo Disneyland and Universal Studios Japan announced they would close, and big events were canceled, including a concert series by the K-pop supergroup BTS.

The last group of about 130 crew members got off the Diamond Princess on Sunday, vacating the contaminated cruise ship and ending Japan’s much criticized quarantine that left more than one fifth of the ship’s original population infected with the new virus.

The British-flagged and U.S.-operated Diamond Princess had carried an infected passenger part way before returning to its home port in Yokohama, near Tokyo, on Feb. 3. Of the 3,711 passengers and crew members on board, 705 were infected on the ship, triggering international criticism of the quarantine and Japan’s disease control capability.

In France, the archbishop of Paris advised parish priests not to administer communion by placing the sacramental bread in worshippers’ mouths. Instead, priests were told to place the bread in their hands.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recommended that a meeting March 9 where about 10,000 people are to commemorate the 25th anniversary of a U.N. conference on women’s rights be drastically scaled back because of the spread of COVID-19.

Thailand reported its first death from the disease on Sunday, a 35-year old Thai man who worked as a salesperson and had contact with foreign tourists.

Italian authorities say the country now has more than 1,100 coronavirus cases, with 29 deaths so far.

Pakistan’s interior ministry said it was closing its Chaman border with Afghanistan for a week amid the virus outbreak. Pakistan has confirmed four cases, and Afghanistan has confirmed one case.

As governments scrambled to control the spread and businesses wrestled with interruptions, researchers working to better understand the disease reported that the death rate may be lower than initially feared as more mild cases are counted.

A study by Chinese researchers published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine analyzing 1,099 patients at more than 500 hospitals throughout China calculated a death rate of 1.4%, substantially lower than earlier studies that focused on patients in Wuhan, where it started and has been most severe.

Assuming there are many more cases with no or very mild symptoms, “the case fatality rate may be considerably less than 1%,” U.S. health officials wrote in an editorial in the journal.

That would make the new virus more like a severe seasonal flu than a disease similar to its genetic cousins SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, or MERS, Middle East respiratory syndrome.

There’s growing evidence of the vast cost and economic turmoil of the disease that emerged in central China in December. A new report shows a sharp decline in Chinese manufacturing in February after efforts to contain the virus shut down much of the world’s second-largest economy. The survey comes as global stock markets fall sharply on fears that the virus will spread abroad.

Previous Article

Trump Praised as “First Black President” by Ex-NFL Player

Read More
225 Posts

Catherine Davis

Catherine Davis is a contributor to the USA Herald. She covers politics and reports on issues of the times.

Discussion

No comments yet. Be the first to join the discussion!

Don’t Miss It
U.S. News August 06, 2026
Why Andrew Tate Still Hasn’t Been Convicted
By – Rochdi Rais
America August 05, 2026
Equifax $2.2M Settlement: Are You Owed Up to $600?
By – Rihem Akkouche
High Profile Court Cases August 05, 2026
Andrew Tate’s 42 Charges, Listed and Explained
By – Rochdi Rais
America August 05, 2026
Cambridge Professor Plagiarism Scandal Ends in Resignation
By – Rihem Akkouche
Arizona January 11, 2025
Kelly Warner Law Firm Blames USA…

In what appears as a desperate attempt to defend multiple…

By – USA Herald
Arizona January 4, 2025
Aaron Kelly Law Firm Resorts To…

Attorney Aaron Kelly and his law partner Daniel Warner are…

By – Jeff Watterson
Arizona December 12, 2024
Arizona Bar Opens Investigation on Attorney…

USA Herald recently reported on a developing story involving Attorneys…

By – Paul O'Neal
America August 5, 2026
Senate confirms Erica Schwartz as CDC…

For nearly a year, the top office at the Centers…

By – Rihem Akkouche
America August 5, 2026
Iran-Oman Hormuz Deal Does Not Reopen…

The proposed Iran-Oman Hormuz deal advanced Wednesday after both countries…

By – Michallie Harrison
America August 5, 2026
New Mexico Takes DOJ to Court…

Sometimes a warning shot is exactly that — a warning.…

By – Rihem Akkouche
America August 5, 2026
3 people killed, in Caswell County…

Prospect Hill is the kind of place where mornings usually…

By – Rihem Akkouche
America August 5, 2026
Abdul El-Sayed Wins Michigan Senate Primary…

Some victories arrive with a landslide. Others creep across the…

By – Rihem Akkouche
Entertainment August 5, 2026
Perez Hilton Was Hospitalized After Self-Harm

Perez Hilton was hospitalized Tuesday night after a TikTok livestream…

By – Michallie Harrison
America August 5, 2026
Gangbanger Family Accused of Helping Son…

 A Gangbanger family is at the center of a sweeping…

By – Jackie Allen
America August 4, 2026
Reflecting Pool Damage: DOJ Says Construction…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The controversy over the Reflecting Pool damage…

By – Jackie Allen
America August 4, 2026
P&G acquires supplements maker Thorne for…

Some acquisitions feel like a natural next chapter. Others feel…

By – Rihem Akkouche
America August 4, 2026
Donald Trump attacks oil companies for…

Some fights simmer quietly behind closed doors. This one played…

By – Rihem Akkouche
America August 4, 2026
Texas A&M System sued over limits…

When a secretly recorded classroom confrontation ricocheted across social media…

By – Rihem Akkouche
America August 4, 2026
Thermo Fisher Sued Over 401(k) Snub…

Imagine being handed a retirement plan menu where every single…

By – Rihem Akkouche
America August 4, 2026
Build Your Dreams: Chinese EV Giant…

Build Your Dreams, better known by its initials BYD, has…

By – Jackie Allen
America August 4, 2026
Spokane Wildfires: Arson Charge Filed as…

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The Spokane wildfires have left widespread…

By – Jackie Allen
America August 3, 2026
Illegal Immigrant Arrested by ICE in…

A Guatemalan illegal immigrant accused of rape and several other…

By – Jackie Allen
America August 3, 2026
AI Cheating Debate Grows After Mississippi…

AI Cheating has become the center of a national conversation…

By – Jackie Allen
America August 2, 2026
Key Evidence Claims in Bryan Kohberger…

The latest claims surrounding key evidence in the Bryan Kohberger…

By – Jackie Allen
America August 1, 2026
JK Rowling Wins Apology After Amnesty…

JK Rowling has received a public apology from Amnesty International…

By – Jackie Allen
America August 1, 2026
JK Rowling Wins Apology After Amnesty…

JK Rowling has received a public apology from Amnesty International…

By – Jackie Allen
America August 1, 2026
Stormed the Border: Spain Says 25,000…

CEUTA, Spain (AP) — Spanish authorities say thousands of migrants…

By – Jackie Allen
America July 31, 2026
Curiosity Rover Finds Vast Martian Honeycomb…

NASA’s Curiosity rover has discovered an extraordinary expanse of honeycomb-like…

By – Jackie Allen
America July 30, 2026
Amish Community Murder: Ohio Man Pleads…

An Amish Community murder case which stunned Ohio has ended…

By – Jackie Allen
America July 30, 2026
E. Jean Carroll Case: Trump Asks…

President Donald Trump has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to…

By – Jackie Allen
America July 29, 2026
Netflix Releases The Idaho Murders: College…

BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare is a…

By – Jackie Allen
Entertainment August 5, 2026
Perez Hilton Was Hospitalized After Self-Harm

Perez Hilton was hospitalized Tuesday night after a TikTok livestream…

By – Michallie Harrison
America August 2, 2026
Iran’s Alien Files? Tehran’s U.S. Conspiracy…

INSIDE THIS REPORT Iranian media once promoted an extraordinary claim…

By – Samuel Lopez
America July 31, 2026
Sainsbury to Sell Argos for £120m…

Sainsbury’s has finally reached the finish line on something it’s…

By – Rihem Akkouche
America July 30, 2026
Show Me the Money: Accuser in…

INSIDE THIS REPORT Aleksandra Vasilevna Mendoza is pushing Kick to…

By – Samuel Lopez
America July 30, 2026
Kohberger Gets New Taxpayer-Funded Lawyer as…

INSIDE THIS REPORT Kohberger has been appointed counsel for post-conviction…

By – Samuel Lopez
America July 30, 2026
Milwaukee Lawyer Gets 21 Years After…

INSIDE THIS REPORT — A Milwaukee jury convicted attorney Robert L.…

By – Samuel Lopez
Breaking News July 29, 2026
Trump Ends Medicare Part D Subsidy,…

The Trump administration is ending a Medicare Part D subsidy…

By – Michallie Harrison
Health July 17, 2026
Taylor Farms Linked to Third Major…

Taco Bell became the public face of a massive Cyclospora…

By – Michallie Harrison
America July 4, 2026
Beach Closures Expand Across Long Island…

Beach Closures were spread across parts of New York just…

By – Jackie Allen
Health July 2, 2026
The Hidden Science Behind Why Your…

For millions of people, the first conscious act of the…

By – Tyler Brooks
Health July 2, 2026
The High Cost of the Infinite…

A significant legal chapter is closing for one of the…

By – Tyler Brooks
Health July 2, 2026
Kentucky Medicaid Alert How The Upcoming…

A significant change is arriving for thousands of Kentucky residents…

By – Tyler Brooks
Sports July 31, 2026
FIFA World Cup Stake Sale Sparks…

The proposed FIFA World Cup stake sale has triggered a…

By – Michallie Harrison
America July 28, 2026
5 of the Best Free-to-Read Online…

Online Comic Books have changed the way readers discover superheroes,…

By – Jackie Allen
America July 25, 2026
Human Trafficking Operation Nets 15 Arrests,…

SHELBY COUNTY, Ala. — A human trafficking operation in north…

By – Jackie Allen
America July 25, 2026
Adrien Broner Hit With Sexual Battery…

INSIDE THIS REPORT Havana Saint accuses Adrien Broner of sexual…

By – Samuel Lopez
Sports July 22, 2026
Why the Hungarian Grand Prix Never…

The lights go out and twenty-two Formula 1 cars explode…

By – Theresa Jardim
America July 21, 2026
Professional Boxer Killed in Texas Bicycle…

Hannah Rapp, a rising professional boxer who recently challenged for…

By – Jackie Allen

No posts found.

No posts found.

Signup for the USA Herald
exclusive Newsletter