March 30 coronavirus news

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says there are now 140,904 confirmed and presumptive positive cases of novel coronavirus in the United States. 

The CDC says 2,405 people have died. 

Remember: CNN’s tally relies on state totals and won’t always match the CDC’s count; CNN has counted more than 143,856 cases and 2,490 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, 886 are travel-related, 2,351 are from close contact and a majority, 137,667 are still under investigation, the CDC website says.

The CDC is updating its coronavirus case numbers daily. Their 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. 

Hundreds of thousands of Britons are still struggling to return to the UK from overseas, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said at a news conference.

“Many travelers haven’t yet managed to get back home, from young backpackers to retired couples on cruises and we appreciate the difficult predicament they find themselves in,” Raab said.

Raab said the first priority is to keep as many commercial flights running as possible. He urged airlines to offer alternative flights at little to no cost and told travelers “please book your tickets as soon as possible” if commercial airlines are still running. 

Raab said he had spoken to foreign ministers in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, India and Pakistan to urge them to keep commercial routes flying.

“We’ve got a lot more to do,” he admitted. To give a sense of the scale of the task, Raab said 150,000 UK nationals have already returned from Spain, 8,500 travelers from Morocco and round 5,000 from Cyprus.

Where commercial routes do not exist, the government will provide up to 75 million pounds (approximately $92 million) financial support to enable charter flights to fly to priority countries to bring back UK residents, Raab announced.

World Health Organization officials on Monday said they still recommend not to wear face masks unless you are sick with Covid-19 or caring for someone who is sick.

"There also is the issue that we have a massive global shortage," Ryan said about masks and other medical supplies. "Right now the people most at risk from this virus are frontline health workers who are exposed to the virus every second of every day. The thought of them not having masks is horrific."

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO infectious disease epidemiologist, also said during Monday's briefing that it is important "we prioritize the use of masks for those who need it most," which would be frontline healthcare workers. 

"In the community, we do not recommend the use of wearing masks unless you yourself are sick and as a measure to prevent onward spread from you if you are ill," Van Kerkhove said. "The masks that we recommend are for people who are at home and who are sick and for those individuals who are caring for those people who are home that are sick."

The House and Senate Sergeant at Arms announced that Capitol Hill will be closed to tours until 8 a.m. ET on May 1.

This is an extension of the restricted access, first put in place on March 12. The tours were originally suspended until the end of March.

Coronavirus will not go away by itself and rather it needs to be pushed down using public health care measures, said Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization health emergencies program.

Everyone has talked about flatting the curve, Ryan said, but “the question is how do you go down? And going down, isn’t just about a lockdown and let go. To get down from the numbers, not just stabilize, requires a re-doubling of public health efforts, to push down. It won't go down by itself, it will be pushed down.” 

Speaking on Monday, Ryan said lockdowns are essential, because it means fewer people will be exposed to the virus, “so there are less people at risk from any individual case. If you get those cases out of the community quickly, they’ll expose even less people, and that’s how you get ahead of an epidemic.”

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, World Health Organization infectious disease epidemiologist, added we need to focus on the now, “we need to focus on what must be done now to get us out of this.”  

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was just asked what he wanted to stay to President Trump after the US Navy Hospital Ship Comfort arrived in New York City.

The mayor said he had an “emotional moment” and felt “a sense of peace” with the ship’s arrival to New York City, but “the toughest weeks are ahead.”

The federal government is the only force that can help New York City reach the level of preparedness it needs to save every life that it can, de Blasio said.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said that hundreds of ventilators will be provided to the state from the federal government's stockpile.

Murphy tweeted Monday:

The total number of coronavirus cases in Italy, including those who have recovered and those who have died, has reached at least 101,739, the Civil Protection Agency said Monday.

However, the number of new cases of coronavirus in Italy has decreased for the fifth day in a row. 

Italy recorded 1,648 new cases on Monday, bringing the total of active cases to 75,528. The percentage increase of new active cases — 2.2% — is the lowest since the start of the outbreak in the country. 

The number of deaths increased slightly to a total of 11,591 (812 more than Sunday). There are also 1,590 people who have recovered from the virus in the last 24 hours, the biggest daily increase since the beginning of the crisis. A total of 14,620 people have recovered.

The UK Department of Health announced today that 22,141 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the UK.

The government also published its UK death toll as 1,408 as of noon ET on Sunday.