March 18 coronavirus news

London could go into lockdown as early as Friday afternoon in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus, according to reports in multiple UK news outlets. 

Multiple UK government sources told CNN that conversations had taken place inside Downing Street looking at restricting travel in and out of the city, shutting parts of London's public transport and how these measures would be enforced.

Downing Street declined to comment on specifics or timing, but would not rule out any of the above measures put to them by CNN, repeating its position that the government will do all that is necessary to protect public health. 

Pressed on the lockdown rumours in his daily coronavirus press briefing, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “We live in land of liberty ... and it's one of the great features of our lives we don't tend to impose those sorts of restrictions on people in this country, but I have to tell you we will rule nothing out and we will certainly wish to consider bringing forward further and faster measures where that is necessary."

The sources said that if such drastic measures were introduced, then Londoners would be given plenty of time to take any personal measures necessary ahead of the lockdown period. 

Sources close to the Mayor of London's office told CNN that it didn't know anything at the moment, explaining that they had not been privy to any government thinking. 

Johnson has repeated this week that London is ahead of the rest of the country in terms of the virus spreading and comments from Scotland's first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, that London could see tougher measures than the rest of the UK prompted fears of lockdown. 

Right now, multiple sources close to the Prime Minister say they don't expect an announcement to be made imminently.

However, the regularity with which they are reminding us that the situation is developing faster than initially expected means that Londoners might be wise to keep an eye on the news in the coming days. 

Watch: Brits blame UK government as coronavirus fears rise

Miami's Archdiocese has suspended all mass and other church events due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to statement.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu issued several emergency orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on Wednesday.

The orders include the temporary authorization for take-out or delivery beer or wine; the temporary modification of data and privacy governance plans, which will give school districts greater flexibility developing remote learning tools; and the temporary expansion of access to Telehealth Services to protect the public and health care providers, according to a release from Sununu’s office.

The American Farm Bureau is raising concern over potential labor and supply chain issues as the State Department announced it is suspending immigrant and nonimmigrant visas out of their US embassies across Mexico.

H2A seasonal workers make up about 250,000 of the farming workforce – with about 93% coming from Mexico.

With the closure of the US Embassy’s, those visas are not being processed. US farms and ranches could face a serious labor shortage at a critical time for planting and harvesting crops essential to the domestic food supply, the American Farm Bureau said in a statement.

“This is a critical matter for U.S. farmers and ranchers,” writes Duvall in the letter. “More than a quarter-million individuals participate in the H-2A program and help to sustain U.S. farms and ranches. We urge the Administration to find an appropriate mechanism, either through an emergency waiver or some other means, to ensure that H-2A workers may continue to safely come to America’s farms and ranches.”

USDA acknowledges this concern and is actively speaking to the state department to minimize impact.

Both the men's and women's professional tennis tours have announced that their seasons will be suspended until June 7.

The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women's Tennis Association (WTA) released a joint statement outlining the upcoming tournaments and highlighted that both tours plan to pick back up starting June 8.

Additionally, the player rankings will be frozen indefinitely. Currently, Novak Djokovic and Ashleigh Barty top the singles rankings. 

Aligning with the ATP and WTA, the International Tennis Federation also announced the suspension of tournament play.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parsons expects health officials will be able to process 7,000 to 10,000 COVID-19 tests a day starting in April, including private testing, he said at a news briefing on Wednesday. 

Officials expect positive tests "to climb," with the increase in testing, Parsons said. 

Parsons addressed questions regarding his decision to leave closures of schools, restaurants and businesses to local officials and business owners.

If businesses close or remain open, "it's up to the private sector," Parsons said. 

Some small school districts don't have daycare facilities separate from K-12 schools but the large majority of districts have already decided to close, according to Parsons. 

The US Census Bureau says it is suspending field operations for two weeks due to the coronavirus outbreak.

During that time, it says it will evaluate all of its operations. 

A man died in Santa Clara County from novel coronavirus, according to a statement from the public health department.

This is the sixth death in Santa Clara County and the 15th in California.

More data: In the US, at least 120 people have died as a result of COVID-19.

The number of cases in California currently stands at 612.

Santa Clara County has five new coronavirus cases, and another eight have been confirmed in San Francisco. No details of the severity or transmission have been provided.

The Senate won’t be able to complete action on the $1 trillion coronavirus stimulus package before next week and will work through the weekend to try to hammer out a deal with Democrats, two Senate Republican leaders said Wednesday.

Asked if the Senate could pass a bill as early as Thursday – an ambitious time frame some GOP senators said they hoped to meet – Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, was dubious it could be done that quickly. 

Sen. John Thune, the Republican Whip, agreed.

“We’re trying to accelerate everything, pull it together quickly. But by the time you get into negotiations with the Democrats, it pushes it through the weekend,” Thune said. “We’ll see what happens. As you know around here, when there’s a sense of urgency things can happen more quickly.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declined to say if he agreed it would last into next week.

Cornyn pointed to troubles House Democrats had last week when they pressed to quickly pass a coronavirus relief bill but then had to take more time to make technical corrections to the bill before sending it to the Senate, where it is set to pass Wednesday.

“Haste does make waste. I think what we saw come out of the House at 1 am Saturday, it wasn’t ready for prime time. It took them a couple of days to get it in shape and pass it. So we don’t want to make unintentional errors or mistake. But we don’t have time to dilly dally either,” Cornyn said.  

Cornyn, who said the Congress needs to be on a “war-footing” to respond to the crisis, said he’s concerned if the virus is not quelled, the Trump administration may come back with another trillion dollars request.

“What I worry about more than anything is that it’s not going to be the end. Because if this think keeps going, will the Secretary coming back and say we need another trillion? I’m a fiscal conservative and I think the federal government spends more than it brings in, and that’s a problem, but I don’t think we’re going to solve that problem now. We just need to respond to this emergency,” Cornyn said.