March 31 coronavirus news

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan issued a stay-at-home order for his state that went into effect at 8 p.m. ET on Monday night. Violating the order carries a penalty of up to a year in jail or a fine not to exceed $5,000.  

Hogan said it was “one of the last tools in our arsenal,” telling CNN’s John Berman that “we've reached the point where we believe it's necessary to further get people off the streets so we can continue to save thousands of lives.” 

The Republican governor said the federal government and every individual states are aware they need more supplies and coronavirus testing — and coordination is key. 

“Without the tests, we really are flying blind,” he says.

Dr. Anthony Fauci has predicted up to 200,000 deaths from coronavirus. Hogan said he's been listening to both Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx.

Watch more:

Indonesian President Joko Widodo declared a national public health emergency today during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The country's Ministry of Health will coordinate with regional leaders to implement social distancing measures, according to state-run Antara News Agency.

Widodo also announced that all Indonesian citizens who have recently traveled home from abroad will be required to undergo a 14-day period of self-isolation, Antara reported.

"If they exhibit no symptoms (of coronavirus), they can return to their hometowns," he said. "Shortly after arriving in their hometowns, they must maintain high discipline to conduct self-isolation."

Earlier today, Indonesia banned most foreign visitors from entering or transiting through the country.

The White House is expected to reissue federal coronavirus guidelines sometime today, which may feature some slight adjustments, according to an administration official. 

Trump announced Sunday that he would extend the federal guidelines another month.

There's been an internal debate over whether to ease up on the social distancing efforts, and some aides recommended the President only extend them another 15 days. However, health advisers argued that a month was necessary. 

Trump told aides it would be better to ease the guidelines earlier than expected rather than have to extend them yet again. 

The bleak images from Elmhurst Hospital played a major role in Trump's decision to keep the guidelines in place. Two officials said polling that showed the public largely favored keeping the guidelines intact also played a role.

Some officials don't trust the models the President is being shown. This is a pretty prevalent line of thinking inside the West Wing. Several aides have dismissed them, believing they are overblown and that past projections have been wrong. 

Officials from the task force are expected to preview those models at some point today, though it's not clear when or how yet. 

While New York state still leads the nation — by far — in growing numbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths, the rate of daily increases did appear to slow a bit in the last seven days

An analysis of CNN's count shows that the state’s average rate of day-over-day increase for the last seven days was 17% — compared to 58% for the previous seven-day period.

This is in line with what New York Governor Andrew Cuomo suggested in a news conference Monday.

"There is no doubt that the number is still increasing. There is no doubt that rate has slowed," Cuomo said. "We had a doubling of cases every two days, then the doubling of three days and doubling of four days and every five days and we now have a doubling of cases every six days."

It is too early to definitively pinpoint what's behind the latest numbers trend, though New York is just over one week into its "PAUSE" program, an executive order outlining major restrictions and other containment measures.

It is also important to note that increased testing can impact these numbers. While more testing often leads to higher case totals, it can also lead to a backlog of test results and a delay in the true number.

When it comes to death rate reports, CNN's count shows that New York state had an average daily increase of 34% for the last seven days, compared to 61% for the previous week. But death rate increases are much harder to interpret, since patients die over longer periods of time.

CNN's tally is based on daily updates obtained from state and local health authorities.

Airline passengers around the world are due $35 billion in ticket refunds this quarter, according the International Air Transport Association, which represents airlines globally. 

That sum, due to the drop in airline travel linked to the coronavirus, is “an immense amount of money to refund,” the group’s head, Alexandre de Juniac, told reporters on Tuesday. 

IATA said it is asking governments to change the rules to allow airlines to make more refunds in the form of vouchers rather than cash. He said the cases where airlines are able to provide passengers a voucher for future travel rather than a refund is helpful because it can “preserve the cash of the airline.” 

The group’s latest projections are for a worldwide loss of $39 billion in this quarter alone across the industry, versus a profit of $7 billion in the same time frame last year. Last week, it predicted $252 billion in industry-wide losses due to the coronavirus. 

WATCH:

French President Emmanuel Macron has promised to give 4 billion Euros to Sante Publique France, a public health agency, to purchase masks and ventilators.

Macron, speaking at a mask production factory in Saint Barthélemy d’Anjou, went on to stress the importance of production of masks in France.

He said “our priority is to produce more in France,” adding that “the aim is by the end of the year we will have achieved full independence” in mask production.

The ramping up of mask production will allow France to raise capacity from 3.3 million masks a week to 15 million by the end of April. France has already placed an order of 1 billion masks from China. 

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to monitor data around the coronavirus pandemic and could put out new recommendations on the use of face masks — if the guidance warrants, US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said during an appearance on "Fox & Friends" today.

As of now, Adams said there is not enough data to recommend that the public wear masks.

Currently, the World Health Organization and CDC both recommend to wear masks only if you are sick or are caring for someone who is sick.

"What the World Health Organization and the CDC have reaffirmed in the last few days is that they do not recommend the general public wear masks. Here's why: On an individual level, there was a study in 2015 looking at medical students -- and medical students wearing surgical masks touch their face on average 23 times," Adams said.

Earlier this month, Adams urged Americans to stop buying masks, tweeting "They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can't get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!"

Today, Adams reiterated that masks need to be saved for health care workers.

When it was brought up that masks are widely used in China, Adams responded, "They have a culture there of wearing masks and everyone already has one and they're more accustomed to wearing them without touching their faces."

"We know a major way that you can get respiratory diseases like coronaviruses is by touching a surface and then touching your face," Adams added. "So wearing a mask improperly can actually increase your risk of getting disease."  

WATCH:

Panama's President Nito Cortizo has announced that men and women will only be able to leave their homes on separate days as part of the country's measures to fight coronavirus.

The new restrictions mean women can go outside on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while men will be allowed out on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, Cortizo posted on Twitter on Monday.

"On Sundays, everyone will have to stay at home," he added.

Chinese health authorities will include asymptomatic cases of the novel coronavirus in their official count starting Wednesday, according to an announcement on Tuesday.

The move comes amid growing public concern over asymptomatic cases, of which 1,541 were under medical observation in China by the end of Monday, according to the National Health Commission (NHC). This includes including 205 cases imported from overseas.

Officials will also further tighten screening and quarantine rules targeting asymptomatic cases -- defined as people who have tested positive for the virus without displaying any symptoms -- said Chang Jile, a senior official with the NHC, at a press conference in Wuhan.

Until now, asymptomatic cases have not been counted as confirmed cases under Chinese government guidelines.

Asymptomatic cases – as well as their close contacts – will be isolated for 14 days immediately upon discovery.

Their quarantine will only be lifted after they twice test negative for coronavirus, in tests administered 24 hours apart. If they develop symptoms during isolation, they will become confirmed cases and undergo treatment at designated hospitals.

On Monday, a taskforce on the virus chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, the country’s deputy leader, urged “placing priority on asymptomatic cases, from detection, contact tracing, to isolation and treatment, in order to lock in previous gains and plug potential loopholes in the containment,” according to a government statement.

A woman in Henan province in central China was infected with the deadly virus last week after coming in contact with a friend, a local doctor who was later identified as an asymptomatic case.

As the Chinese government prepares to lift lockdown measures at the original epicenter of the pandemic, the Henan story has stirred intense interest and anxiety over how infectious asymptomatic carriers are, and whether the authorities have been transparent enough in reporting such cases.