Italy begins lockdown to stop virus' spread

Italy is taking a page from China's aggressive fight against the spread of the coronavirus and restricting movements of some 16 million people, a quarter of its population, in the country's wealthy Lombardy area in the north - including the cities of Milan and Venice - until at least April 3.

The country is dealing with the worst coronavirus epidemic outside of Asia. Deaths rose to 366 with more than 130 reported Sunday, a 50 percent increase from the day before. The number of cases in the country nearly tripled from about 2,500 infections on Wednesday to more than 7,375 on Sunday.

Funerals and cultural events are banned. Schools are closed. The government's decree requires that people keep a distance of at least 1 meter (3 feet) from one another at sporting events, bars, churches and supermarkets.

"We are facing an emergency, a national emergency," said Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in announcing the decree at a news conference.

Pope Francis for the first time live-streamed his Sunday Prayer, which usually draws thousands to St. Peter's Square in Rome. The Vatican also said that it, like Italy's government, would close its museums and pontifical villas.

Globally, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases exceeded 105,000 on Sunday as infections spread in at least 108 countries with more than 3,800 deaths, officials said.

In the US, the virus is now in 33 states, with 533 cases and 21 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University as of Sunday afternoon.

Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force, said Sunday that it was possible there might be regional lockdowns in the US.

"I don't think it would be as draconian as 'nobody in and nobody out,'" he said on Fox News Sunday. "But there'll be - if we continue to get cases like this, particularly at the community level - there will be what we call mitigation."

He said the Trump administration was prepared to "take whatever action is appropriate" to contain the outbreak, including travel restrictions in areas with a high number of cases.

In California, the Grand Princess cruise ship, which has lingered in limbo for days off the coast with more than 3,500 passengers aboard, will dock at the Port of Oakland on Sunday "to begin disembarking guests who require acute medical treatment and hospitalization," the cruise line tweeted. Others will be allowed to leave the ship on Monday. They will be tested and quarantined at military bases in California, Texas and Georgia.

At least 21 people on board, including 19 crew members, have tested positive for the disease. "That number is fluid," said Governor Gavin Newsom at a news conference Sunday, indicating that more people with the infectious disease might be identified after testing.

The crew will be quarantined on the ship, and it will leave Oakland as soon as possible and will remain elsewhere for the duration of the crew's quarantine, officials said. They didn't say where that location would be.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said that offering the use of the port "is the right thing to do''. She said the city has "received some very strong assurances that they will employ the best isolation practices known" in evacuating and transporting passengers and that nobody from the ship will be quarantined or released into the community.

There are passengers from 54 countries on the ship, and the US State Department said it is working with other countries to repatriate several hundred.

Canada announced Sunday it is meeting a request from the US to repatriate its citizens aboard the ship and will fly them to Canadian Forces Base Trenton, where they will be assessed and undergo a 14-day quarantine.

Passengers will be screened for symptoms before boarding the plane. Anyone exhibiting symptoms won't be permitted to board and will be further assessed to determine next steps, Canadian officials said.

Governor Newsom said 114 people have tested positive across California and more than 10,000 people across the state are being monitored.

Six states have declared states of emergencies, granting their governors additional powers to fight the virus's spread: California, Florida, Maryland, New York, Oregon and Washington.

Trump, asked Saturday in Palm Beach, Florida, if he was concerned about the growing number of confirmed cases, replied: "No, I'm not concerned at all. No, I'm not. We've done a great job."

But Fauci said Sunday he isn't encouraged as he learns more about the outbreak's scope in the US.

"Unfortunately, that better sense is not encouraging because we're seeing community spread," he told NBC's Meet the Press, referring to cases of the virus in people who had neither traveled outside the US nor had known contact with a confirmed case.

Fauci acknowledged that there have been delays in coronavirus testing, saying there were "some missteps with regard to the test and some technical aspects to it". But he said distribution of test kits is accelerating, with 1.1 million kits already sent out, and an additional 400,000 planned by Monday with about 4 million by the end of next week.

New York state officials said Sunday that the number of people infected with coronavirus in the state rose to 105, up from 89 Saturday. Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Missouri and Vermont announced their first cases of the virus over the weekend.

In Washington state, Governor Jay Inslee said Sunday that measures are being considered to limit the spread of the virus, including social distancing and reducing the number of social activities going on.

He said the next steps are "particularly to protect our vulnerable populations, and our nursing homes and the like".

Most of the state's 18 deaths are connected to the Life Care Center, a nursing home in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland. At least 138 cases of virus have been confirmed in the state.

In the Middle East's hardest hit country, Iranian state media reported that all flights to Europe would be suspended indefinitely.

The health minister in France, one of Europe's bigger trouble spots with more than 1,100 confirmed cases, announced a ban on gatherings of more than 1,000 people. Neighboring Germany has more than 1,000 cases, as well.

Israel, with 39 cases, is considering requiring all Israelis and foreign nationals arriving from abroad to go into self-quarantine, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday.