March 18 coronavirus news

US stocks erased the prior session's gains and closed lower on Wednesday.

The Dow closed below 20,000 total points for the first time since 2017. It was down 6.3%, or 1,338 points, on the day.

During the afternoon, the index fell so much that it erased all of the gains accumulated under the Trump administration — though it closed slightly above that key level.

The S&P 500 is also edging closer to falling below its January 2017 level. The index finished down 5.2%.

The Nasdaq Composite closed down 4.7%.

Trading was briefly halted in the early afternoon after the S&P fell 7%, triggering the New York Stock Exchange's circuit breaker.

As stocks settle after the trading day, levels might still change slightly.

There are 12,094 cancelations worldwide today, according to Flight Aware.

Flight Aware is continuously updating its data — here's where cancellations stand at this moment: 

On average, COVID-19 fatalities in Italy are happening "eight days" after patients show first symptoms, according to a report by the Italian government. The findings are based on data up to March 17 and only on the outbreak in Italy.

The document published by the Italian National Health Institute details that, on average, it takes four days from when patients show first symptoms until they are hospitalized and four more days until they die.

The median average age of Italian deceased is 80.5 years old, while the median average for those infected is 63, the report says.

Women only make up 30% of the total dead and their median average age at the time of death is higher than men, at 83.6 years old.        

The government also found that most people had two or three existing pathologies prior to being infected with the coronavirus. Among those, high blood pressure was the most common, followed by heart problems and diabetes.

As for the most common complications developed because of the virus, respiratory failure was the leading one, happening in 97.2% of the cases. Liver and heart failure were the second and third most common complications.

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Digestive symptoms may be more common in coronavirus infections than previously thought, with a small study released Wednesday finding that symptoms such as diarrhea and a loss of appetite were the “chief complaint” in nearly half of more than 200 confirmed COVID-19 cases.

The research suggests that, during the coronavirus pandemic, clinicians may need to look beyond the major Covid-19 symptoms identified by US health officials: fever, cough and shortness of breath.

That’s because many patients infected with coronavirus, according to the study, may initially present to the hospital with diarrhea, anorexia and vomiting – not necessarily with respiratory symptoms.

Even when researchers excluded anorexia – a loss of appetite or aversion to food – they found that 1 in 5 coronavirus patients still came to the hospital with diarrhea, vomiting or abdominal pain.

In more severe coronavirus cases, digestive symptoms also became more pronounced, and patients with digestive problems were less likely to be discharged, according to the study.

The research, published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, looked at 204 confirmed coronavirus cases in Hubei province, China. A small number of those patients – seven people – had digestive problems, but no respiratory symptoms at all.

While the researchers cautioned that larger studies would be needed to confirm their findings, they warned that “if clinicians solely monitor for respiratory symptoms to establish case definitions for COVID-19, they may miss cases initially presenting with extra-pulmonary symptoms, or the disease may not be diagnosed later until respiratory symptoms emerge.”

That might explain why many health care workers in China were infected in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, the researchers said.

“Although this was related to improper protection of medical personnel early on,” they wrote, “it may also have resulted from failing to consider COVID-19 in the face of atypical extra-pulmonary symptoms, especially those with digestive symptoms at the beginning of the outbreak.”

The US Senate is now voting on the House-passed coronavirus relief legislation that includes provisions for free testing for COVID-19 and paid emergency leave. 

Once the Senate approves the measure it will go to President Trump for his signature. Trump expressed support for the package last week, paving the way for a broad bipartisan vote in the House.

Passage will also allow the Senate to devote its full attention to passing the next relief package in response to the coronavirus crisis. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Senate Republicans have been critical of the House-passed legislation, but have emphasized that it is urgent to get relief to the American people amid the coronavirus crisis.

McConnell reiterated today that he will not adjourn the Senate until it passes what lawmakers are describing as a "phase three" economic stimulus package in response to the coronavirus outbreak. 

After an initial vote last week, the House approved a set of changes to the legislation on Monday, clearing the path for the Senate to take it up this week.

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Jordanian Armed Forces announced on Wednesday that all of Jordan’s governorates will be completely sealed off at 7 a.m. local on Thursday (11 p.m. ET Wednesday), Jordan’s state-run News Agency (PETRA) reported. 

The Army statement said that “all crossing points to and from Amman and all of the Kingdom’s governorates will be closed."

The announcement added that exceptions will be made for those with permits from the Armed Forces and based on the nature of their work. 

On Wednesday, Jordan’s government held their first cabinet meeting remotely, “as a part of the government’s efforts to lead by example when it comes to social distancing," according to a tweet from the Prime Ministry. 

Jordan’s Prime Minister Omar Razzaz announced on Tuesday the implementation of “Defense Law” in an attempt to contain the spread of novel coronavirus in the country. 

There are now 7,038 confirmed and presumptive positive cases of novel coronavirus in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC says 97 people have died.

CNN’s tally relies on state totals and won’t always match the CDC’s count; CNN has counted more than 7,500 cases and 124 deaths.

The CDC says there are cases in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the US Virgin Islands. Of the cases the CDC is reporting, 269 are travel-related, 276 are from close-contact and a majority, 6,493, are still under investigation, the CDC website says.

The CDC says there are 46 cases among people who were aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, and three among people repatriated from China. These are counted separately from the US total.

On Tuesday, the CDC reported 4,226 cases. The CDC is updating its coronavirus case numbers on weekdays. CDC’s numbers close out at 4 p.m. the day before reporting. The most up-to-date case counts will come from states, CDC officials have said.  

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he is engaged in “intense conversations” with the White House and spoke to the Vice President on Tuesday about the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

His administration sent a letter Tuesday regarding the Army Corps of Engineers and received a “response” this morning.

New Jersey needs more manpower, supplies and space, according to officials who are predicting the state will have a shortage of hospital beds much like the rest of the nation.

The state is bringing 260 beds online, 119 of them are in the northern part of the state, 11 in central region and 50 are in the southern part of the state. The state hopes to have another 227 beds online within the next three to four weeks, according to officials.

Bergen County College will be up and running by Friday as a testing site which will prioritize symptomatic patients along with health care workers and first responders. It can collect up to 2,500 specimens a day, officials said.

Scientists at the University of Oxford have developed a rapid testing technology for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, according to a press release from the university on Wednesday.

The new test takes just half an hour, over three times faster than the current method, the university said.��Previous tests took up to two hours to give a result, according to the press release. The test was validated with real clinical samples at Shenzhen Luohou People’s Hospital in China, the university said. 

The research was initiated by the Oxford Suzhou Centre for Advanced Research in China and experiments carried out in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford.

The scientists are working to develop an integrated device that can test at clinics, airports and at home. They plan to run validations in the United Kingdom and explore how to produce test kits.