Deaths in Italy topped 1,000, with more than 15,000 testing positive.Ĭongress shut the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield called Europe “the new China,” noting that the vast majority of new cases of the COVID-19 illness are linked to the continent. Within hours, even the European Union’s passport-free travel came into question, with guards in places that had been without borders for more than a decade and airports shut down. President Donald Trump’s announcement of strict rules that keep most Europeans from visiting came as a shock. “We are in the deep unknown.”Īfter weeks downplaying the virus, U.S. “We are in a global panic,” said Estelle Brack, an economist in Paris.
European markets closed with one of the worst days in history. stocks to their worst losses since the Black Monday crash of 1987. The escalating crisis has wreaked havoc on businesses and financial markets, sending U.S. And the coronavirus reached directly into the world’s centers of power Thursday, with politicians in Canada, Brazil, Spain and elsewhere either testing positive for the new virus or putting themselves into self-quarantine as fallout from pandemic further upended daily life. Gatherings were canceled or banned from California to Germany. NEW YORK – Schools shut down across much of Europe.
