March 15 coronavirus news

The New Jersey city of Hoboken is implementing a city-wide curfew and new restrictions, starting Monday, in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Hoboken is located right next to New York City's Manhattan, just across the Hudson River.

Residents must stay home from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m., unless they have to work during those hours, according to a statement from Mayor Bhalla.

The statement also announced drastic new restrictions on the city's restaurants and bars, effectively banning them from serving food within their venues - meaning they can only serve food through delivery and takeout.

"The time is now to enact proactive policies that will help save lives in the long run," said Bhalla in the statement. "We must all now do our part."

Even as the US government declares a national emergency and restricts travel from countries worldwide, there is confusion and apparently few preventative measures in place at airports nationwide.

Five hour lines in Chicago: Katherine Rogers arrived at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport after flying in from Paris and through London. At O'Hare, she has been in line for a mandatory coronavirus screening for five hours -- and is told there's an hour left to go.

Ann Lewis Schmidt says she flew into O'Hare from Iceland, and has been in line for an-hour-and-a-half.

"Very close quarters," Schmidt said. "So if we didn’t have the virus before, we have a great chance of getting it now!"

Rogers and Schmidt both say they've not seen any hand sanitizer stations.

CNN has reached out to O'Hare International Airport and Customs and Border Patrol but has not yet received a response.

Sharing pens in New York: Katelyn Deibler landed at New York's John F. Kennedy airport from Ukraine on Saturday. It took over 2.5 hours to go through passport control and customs.

Deibler says she was given forms about symptoms and travel history upon arrival -- but there weren't enough forms for all passengers, so they had to wait for more.

Nick Carlin, another passenger, confirmed that they were told to share pens. He also says there was no hand sanitizer at JFK. 

The Oregon Health Authority has reported the state's first death from the coronavirus.

The patient was a 70-year-old man in Multnomah County, who was hospitalized at the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and died Saturday.

There are currently 36 presumptive positive cases in Oregon.

US President Donald Trump spoke with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier today, as the US announced new travel restrictions with the UK, according to the White House.

The two leaders discussed also discussed a video conference next week between G7 leaders on the pandemic, said White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere.

The UK government put out a statement confirming Trump and Johnson spoke about coronavirus, but it did not mention the new travel restrictions.

Cruise ships will be banned from docking in Chile starting Sunday morning local time, announced Chilean health minister Jaime Manalich on Twitter.

Earlier, he said that two cruise ships with about 1,300 people on board were quarantined off the coast of Chile, and one passenger had tested positive for coronavirus.

The passenger is an 83-year-old British man. He is being treated at hospital and is “in good condition," said Manalich.

The ship, the Silver Explorer, is now docked in the city of Castro. A second ship, the Azamara Pursuit, was not under quarantine.

Correction: This post has been updated to correct the status of an Azamara cruise. It is not under quarantine and there are plans to disembark, according to a company statement to CNN.

Starting today, the Metro Manila region of the Philippines is going under partial lockdown to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

Metro Manila, known officially as the National Capital Region, is comprised of 16 cities, home to about 12.8 million people, according to the latest data from the Philippines Statistic Authority.

The entire country has 64 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization.

Here's what the lockdown will mean.

Movement restricted: The region has suspended all land, sea, and air transport effective today through April 14.

If the situation worsens in a specific community, all households will be isolated, transportation suspended, and health and food services regulated. And people who want to leave quarantined areas will need to be checked by health authorities for symptoms.

Border points: Tens of thousands of police officers and Armed Force members are stationed at more than 70 checkpoints, conducting checks on people coming in and out of the region.

Workers will need to provide proof of employment or business to cross the border. International travelers entering the region need to show a ticket for a flight scheduled 12 hours from entry into Metro Manila.

A travel ban is still in place for those entering the country from greater China, parts of Korea, while heightened checks are in place for those arriving from Italy and Iran.

Social distancing: The lockdown prohibits movie screenings, concerts, sporting events, and community assemblies. People attending essential work-related gatherings and religious events must keep one meter (about three feet) apart.

All schools are suspended until April 14, and the government is strongly urging companies to allow employees to work from home.

China confirmed 20 new cases and 10 deaths today -- a slight uptick from the previous few days, but still consistent with a general downward trend this week.

The new numbers bring the country's total to 80,844 cases and 3,199 deaths, according to the National Health Commission.

Of these total cases, 66,911 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospital, said the NHC.

The past few days have seen falling numbers of daily new cases -- down to a dozen or so, compared to just a few weeks ago, when country reported thousands of new cases a day.

Passengers on the Golden Princess cruise ship docked in a New Zealand harbor are not being allowed to disembark, as three people aboard have been quarantined by the ship's doctor, according to the Canterbury District Health Board.

One of the quarantined passengers has coronavirus symptoms and is being treated as a suspected case. The two others had been in contact with a confirmed case in the past two weeks, said the health board.

The ship departed Melbourne, Australia, on March 10. It had been on a 13-day New Zealand itinerary, and is now docked in Akaroa, in the Banks Peninsula, while it awaits "precautionary health testing," said the operator Princess Cruises in a statement to CNN.

Canterbury District Health Board Medical Officer of Health, Ramon Pink, said the local public health team is taking a precautionary approach.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Saturday announced that all cruise ships will be banned from coming to New Zealand until June 30.

Japan announced 64 new coronavirus cases, bringing the nationwide tally to 1,477, according to Japan’s Health Ministry.

It's the largest single-day increase the country has seen.

Of the 1,477 total cases, 697 are associated with the Diamond Princess cruise ship, and the remaining 780 are land cases.  

One Diamond Princess passenger tested positive after having seemingly recovered from the virus. The 70-year-old Japanese man tested positive on February 14, then was released from hospital after testing negative on March 2. Yesterday, he had a high temperature, was re-tested, and diagnosed positive again.

Spike in Japan: The spike in Japan's numbers come as the crisis appears to be stabilizing in other Asian countries. South Korea and mainland China, the two hardest hit countries in the region, have both a slowdown in infections and deaths this week.

But Japan has seen its numbers jump -- just earlier this week, health officials said the average rate of infection was 30 new cases per day.

The spike in numbers, and the broader global pandemic, have sparked calls to cancel the Tokyo 2020 Olympics -- but organizers say preparations are continuing.