How Italy, South Korea differ in tackling coronavirus outbreak - Aljazeera.com

In Italy, millions are locked down and more than 1,000 people have died from the coronavirus.

But in South Korea, which was hit by the disease at about the same time, only a few thousand are quarantined and 67 people died.

More:

The story of the two outbreaks illustrates a difference in approach. 

Italy started out testing widely, then narrowed the focus so that now, authorities do not have to process hundreds of thousands of tests. But there's a trade-off: They can't see what's coming and are trying to curb the movements of the country's entire population of 60 million people to contain the disease.

Coronavirus: Too late to stop? | UpFront (24:55)

In South Korea, authorities are testing hundreds of thousands of people for infections and tracking potential carriers like detectives, using mobile phone and satellite technology.

Both countries saw their first cases of the disease called COVID-19 in late January.

South Korea has since reported nearly 8,000 confirmed cases, after testing more than 222,000 people.

In contrast, Italy has more than 12,000 confirmed cases after carrying out more than 73,000 tests on an unspecified number of people.

Epidemiologists say it is not possible to compare the numbers directly. But some say the different outcomes point to an important insight: Aggressive and sustained testing is a powerful tool for fighting the virus.

Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, said extensive testing can give countries a better picture of the extent of an outbreak. When testing in a country is limited, he said, the authorities have to take bolder actions to limit the movement of people.

"I'm uncomfortable with enforced lockdown-type movement restrictions," said Konyndyk. "China did that, but China is able to do that. China has a population that will comply with that."

Previous lessons

Italy and South Korea are more than 5,000 miles (8,000 km) apart, but there are several similarities when it comes to coronavirus.

Both countries' main outbreaks were initially clustered in smaller cities or towns, rather than in a major metropolis - which meant the disease quickly threatened local health services.

Both confirmed their first cases after doctors decided to ignore testing guidelines.

South Korea, which has a slightly smaller population than Italy at about 50 million people, has around 29,000 people in self-quarantine. It has imposed lockdowns on some facilities and at least one apartment complex hit hardest by outbreaks. But so far no entire regions have been cut off.

Seoul says it is building on lessons learned from an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2015 and working to make as much information available as possible to the public.

South Korea is also enforcing a law that grants the government wide authority to access data: CCTV footage, GPS tracking data from phones and cars, credit card transactions, immigration entry information, and other personal details of people confirmed to have an infectious disease.

The authorities can then make some of this public, so anyone who may have been exposed can get themselves - or their friends and family members - tested.

Coronavirus: What is a pandemic and how will things change? (02:14)

In addition to helping work out who to test, South Korea's data-driven systems help hospitals manage their pipeline of cases.

People found positive are placed in self-quarantine and monitored remotely through an app or checked regularly in telephone calls until a hospital bed becomes available. When this occurs, an ambulance picks the person up and takes them to a hospital with air-sealed isolation rooms. 

This approach comes at the cost of some privacy. South Korea's system is an intrusive mandatory measure that depends on people surrendering what, for many in Europe and the US, would be a fundamental right of privacy.

"Traditional responses such as locking down affected areas and isolating patients can be only modestly effective, and may cause problems in open societies, says South Korea's Deputy Minister for Health and Welfare Kim Gang-lip.

In South Korea's experience, he told reporters on Monday, lockdowns mean people participate less in tracing contacts they may have had. "Such an approach," he said, "is close-minded, coercive and inflexible."

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2020-03-13 08:00:00Z
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World markets dip as Italy coronavirus deaths surge: Live updates - Al Jazeera English

South Korea, once the largest coronavirus outbreak outside China, has seen its newly recovered patients exceed fresh infections for the first time on Friday, as it reported its lowest number of new cases for three weeks.

However, death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has jumped in the last 24 hours by 189 to 1,016, a rise of 23 percent, the country's Civil Protection Agency said on Thursday.

More:

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a pandemic as Italy tightened its strict quarantine and the United States imposed a ban on flights to Europe.

More than 4,613 people have died and over 126,000 have been infected globally, according to the WHO. About 68,000 victims have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the virus.

The escalating coronavirus emergency has sent stocks crashing to their worst losses in 30 years.

Here are the latest updates:

Friday, March 13

06:30 GMT - China spokesman suggest coronavirus originated from US

Zhao Lijian, a top spokesman of the Chinese government and senior foreign ministry official, posted on social media on Friday a report published in a Canada-based conpiracy website suggesting that the coronavirus originated from the US.

"Just take a few minutes to read one more article. This is so astonishing that it changed many things I used to believe in. Please retweet to let more people know about it," Zhao wrote on Twitter.

His post accompanied an article with the headline: 'A shocking update. Did The Virus Originate in the US?'

Earlier, Zhao also posted a video of the US Congress hearing, suggesting that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was "caught on the spot" saying that "patient zero" began in the US. 

05:57 GMT - Turkey confirms second coronavirus case

Turkey’s health minister has announced the country's second case of the coronavirus, which is linked to the first case.

"He is from the immediate circle of our first patient, who was followed up as soon as the diagnosis was made," Fahrettin Koca wrote on Twitter on Friday.

"We have taken the necessary measures to keep the possible spread of the virus within these limits. We will overcome this problem together," he added.

04:59 GMT - Indonesia to ban face-mask exports

Indonesia will temporarily ban the export of face masks to safeguard domestic supply amid the coronavirus outbreak, Reuters news agency reported on Friday.

"We will issue a temporary export ban for mask products to meet demand from domestic industries and consumers," Trade Minister Agus Suparmanto told reporters.

The ban will be kept in place until the government is satisfied local supply is adequate, he said.

Prices for face masks have jumped in some parts of Indonesia as buyers stock up on protective supplies such as masks and hand sanitisers due to worries about the coronavirus.

There are an estimated 34 cases in Indonesia, with one fatality and two recoveries.

04:20 GMT China's first coronavirus case traced back to November 17

The South China Morning Post reported that the first case of someone in China suffering from the coronavirus was traced back to November 17.

The Hong Kong-based newspaper and website cited government data from China.

The exclusive report said that a 55 year-old man from Hubei province may have been the first person to have contracted the deadly disease in mid-November last year.

South Korea reported 177 fully recovered patients were released on Thursday, and more than 110 new cases [Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters]

03:35 GMT - South Korea sees more virus patients released than new infections

South Korea - once the largest coronavirus outbreak outside China - saw its newly recovered patients exceed fresh infections for the first time on Friday, as it reported its lowest number of new cases for three weeks.

The country confirmed 110 new cases on Thursday, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said, taking the total to 7,979.

But 177 fully recovered patients were released the same day, it added.

South Korea has an advanced medical system widely available to all, and has embarked on a huge coronavirus testing drive.

03:35 GMT - F1 cancels season-opening Australian Grand Prix

As thousands of fans queued to get into the Australian Grand Prix for the first Formula One weekend of the season, the teams and drivers were packing up to leave.

Concern over the coronavirus left organisers with little choice on Friday but to cancel the season-opening race, particularly after McLaren's withdrawal because a team member tested positive for the COVID-19 illless and following heavy criticism from six-times world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Principals of nine F1 teams and organisers met overnight and "concluded with a majority view of the teams that the race should not go ahead," a joint statement by motorsport's governing body, the organisers and F1 said.

Chinese labourers work at a construction site in China's Guizhou province on Wednesday [China Daily via Reuters]

03:19 GMT - Over 95 percent of larger Chinese firms outside Hubei resume work

China's vice industry minister Xin Guobin said on Friday the work resumption rate outside of Hubei province, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, is about 60 percent for small and medium firms and more than 95 percent for larger firms.

Xin, speaking to reporters at a State Council briefing, said China will coordinate with other countries to push forward on business resumption even as the pandemic stokes uncertainty about the return to normalcy.

The country is trying to get back to work after imposing strict restrictions on transport and people to slow the spread of infections.

03:17 GMT - Hong Kong records fourth coronavirus death

An 80-year old man became the fourth patient in Hong Kong to die due to the coronavirus, Reuters reported on Friday, quoting a Nethersole Eastern Hospital spokeswoman.

Hong Kong has so far confirmed around 130 coronavirus cases.

02:57 GMT - Filipino diplomat first known coronavirus case at UN in New York

A female diplomat from the Philippines mission to the United Nations tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday, according to a note sent to UN missions, making her the first known case at the world body's New York headquarters, Reuters reported on Friday.

"As of today, the Philippine Mission is in lockdown, and all personnel are instructed to self-quarantine and to seek medical attention should they develop the symptoms. We are assuming that all of us have been infected," wrote Philippines acting UN Ambassador Kira Azucena in a message seen by Reuters.

According to the online UN directory of diplomatic staff, there are about 12 diplomats at the Filipino mission, which is on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin posted on Twitter that the diplomat was young, spritely and "doing well," adding that she had recently returned from Florida. 

The infected is doing well; she's young, spritely, smart and taking some doctor prescribed meds. Thank you. I just talked to Kira. https://t.co/lwb8VWtDz8

— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) March 13, 2020

02:52 GMT - China coronavirus deaths reach 3,176, infections hit 80,813 

China's National Health Commission reported on Friday at least seven new coronavirus deaths as of the end of Thursday, pushing the total number nationwide to 3,176.

Beijing also reported at least eight new confirmed cases during the same period, pushing the total number of cases to 80,813.

At least 68,000 patients have reportedly recovered from the infection.

01:54 GMT Friday - Canadian PM Trudeau's wife positive of coronavirus

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's wife, Sophie, has tested positive for the new coronavirus, according to the prime minister's office.

Trudeau's office had earlier said that the Canadian first lady returned from a speaking engagement in Britain and had mild flu-like symptoms, including a low fever, late on Wednesday night.

The prime minister is quarantining himself at home.

Read more here.

Personal message from Sophie. pic.twitter.com/rXVilM6dxH

— Cameron Ahmad (@CameronAhmad) March 13, 2020

01:37 GMT Friday - Japan says Olympics on track despite Trump's suggestion to postpone

Japan is on track to hold the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as planned, top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said on Friday, after US President Donald Trump suggested a possible delay of a year.

Suga did not confirm or deny whether Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe discussed Trump's comments in a phone call earlier on Friday.

The two leaders spoke for about 50 minutes about the coronavirus pandemic, among other topics, Suga said.

A senior government spokesman is set to brief reporters on the talks shortly.

"They did not talk about travel restrictions between Japan and the United States while I was present," he said, adding he left the talks before they ended.

00:27 GMT Friday - Saudi Arabia detects 17 cases of coronavirus, total at 62

At least 11 of the new cases of coronavirus infections in Saudi Arabia involve Egyptian citizens [File: Amr Nabil/AP]

Saudi Arabia detected 17 new cases of coronavirus, 11 of whom were Egyptians, state news agency (SPA) said on Friday.

This brings the total number of cases detected in the kingdom to 62, SPA added.

23:55 GMT Thursday - Major Mexican university to suspend classes until further notice

Mexico's Tecnologico de Monterrey university said on Thursday it would suspend all academic events and classes at its campuses from next week until further notice to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The university, one of the most important in Mexico, said in a statement the suspension would take effect from March 17. It would review the measures after the week of the "Semana Santa" Easter holidays, which ends on April 12, the university added.

Separately, Mexico's National Autonomous University (UNAM), said it would be tightening preventative measures against the spread of coronavirus, but was not suspending classes yet.

22:00 GMT Thursday - Portugal orders schools, nightclubs shut due to coronavirus

On Thursday, Portugal's government ordered the shutdown of all schools nationwide starting on Monday to contain the coronavirus epidemic until further evaluation on April 9, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said in a televised address.

He also said cruise ship passengers would not be allowed to disembark, except for those residing in Portugal. Nightclubs in the country will be shut, and there will be capacity restrictions on entry to shopping malls and restaurants.

21:55 GMT Thursday - Belgian government says schools, restaurants, clubs to close due to coronavirus

Belgium's government ordered schools, cafes, restaurants and some shops to close due to the coronavirus, following decisions by France and other European countries to limit all but essential activities.

The measures take effect from Friday at midnight central European time and run until April 3, although schools are set to be shut for five weeks, including during the Easter holidays, Belgium's caretaker Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes told a news conference.

"There is no lockdown," Wilmes told reporters, stressing that supermarkets and pharmacies would remain open and other shops would only be required to close on weekends. "We want to avoid the Italian situation and avoid lockdowns."

I'm Ted Regencia in Kuala Lumpur.

You can read all the updates from yesterday (March 12) here.

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2020-03-13 06:53:06Z
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Sophie Trudeau, wife of Canadian Prime Minister, tests positive for coronavirus - CNN

Grégoire Trudeau has mild symptoms and is feeling well, and will remain in isolation for 14 days, the Prime Minister's office said in a statement late Thursday.

She came down with mild flu-like symptoms Wednesday following a speaking engagement in the UK. Health officials are reaching out to those who've been in contact with her, the office said.

"The Prime Minister is in good health with no symptoms. As a precautionary measure and following the advice of doctors, he will be in isolation for a planned period of 14 days," the office said.

It added that on the advice of his doctors, he'll not be tested since he has no symptoms. He'll continue with his duties, and plans to address Canadians on Friday.

"For the same reason, doctors say there is no risk to those who have been in contact with him recently," his office said.

Grégoire Trudeau thanked those who've reached out to her and said she's doing well.

"Although I'm experiencing uncomfortable symptoms of the virus, I will be back on my feet soon," she said. "Being in quarantine at home is nothing compared to other Canadian families who might be going through this and for those facing more serious health concerns."

Canada has 147 confirmed cases of coronavirus, including one death. The virus has caused dozens of government officials around the world -- from administrators to heads of state -- to take precautionary measures after finding out they've been in contact with infected people.

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2020-03-13 07:07:28Z
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Trump discusses COVID-19 with Ireland PM - ABC News

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1. Trump discusses COVID-19 with Ireland PM  ABC News
2. Ireland announces sweeping measures to combat coronavirus, schools to close for 2 weeks  Fox News
3. Trump meets with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar amid coronavirus spread - watch live stream today  CBS News
4. Coronavirus: Republic of Ireland to close schools and colleges  BBC News
5. Ireland closing schools, colleges to try and stunt coronavirus spread | TheHill  The Hill
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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2020-03-12 16:50:12Z
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How Delhi’s Police Turned Against Muslims - The New York Times

NEW DELHI — Kaushar Ali, a house painter, was trying to get home when he ran into a battle.

Hindu and Muslim mobs were hurling rocks at each other, blocking a street he needed to cross to get to his children. Mr. Ali, who is Muslim, said that he turned to some police officers for help. That was his mistake.

The officers threw him onto the ground, he said, and cracked him on the head. They started beating him and several other Muslims. As the men lay bleeding, begging for mercy — one of them died two days later from internal injuries — the officers laughed, jabbed them with their sticks and made them sing the national anthem. That abuse, on Feb. 24, was captured on video.

“The police were toying with us,” Mr. Ali said. He recalled them saying, “Even if we kill you, nothing will happen to us.”

So far, they have been right.

India has suffered its worst sectarian bloodshed in years, in what many here see as the inevitable result of Hindu extremism that has flourished under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His party has embraced a militant brand of Hindu nationalism and its leaders have openly vilified Indian Muslims. In recent months Mr. Modi has presided over a raft of policies widely seen as anti-Muslim, such as erasing the statehood of what had been India’s only Muslim-majority state, Jammu and Kashmir.

Now, more evidence is emerging that the Delhi police, who are under the direct command of Mr. Modi’s government and have very few Muslim officers, concertedly moved against Muslims and at times actively helped the Hindu mobs that rampaged in New Delhi in late February, burning down Muslim homes and targeting Muslim families.

• Several videos showed police officers beating and throwing rocks at Muslim protesters and waving on Hindu mobs to join them.

• A police commander said that as the violence erupted — at that point mostly by Hindu mobs — officers in the affected areas were ordered to deposit their guns at the station houses. Several officers during the violence were later overheard by New York Times journalists yelling to one another that they had only sticks and that they needed guns to confront the growing mobs. Some researchers accuse the police force of deliberately putting too few officers on the streets, with inadequate firepower, as the violence morphed from clashes between rival protesters into targeted killings of Muslims.

• Two thirds of the more than 50 people who were killed and have been identified were Muslim. Human rights activists are calling it an organized massacre.

• Though India’s population is 14 percent Muslim and New Delhi’s is 13 percent, the total Muslim representation on the Delhi police force is less than 2 percent.

India’s policing culture has long been brutal, biased, anti-minority and almost colonial in character, a holdover from the days of British rule when the police had no illusions of serving the public but were used to suppress a restive population.

But what seems to be different now, observers contend, is how profoundly India’s law enforcement machinery has been politicized by the Bharatiya Janata Party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist governing bloc.

Police officials, especially in states controlled by Mr. Modi’s party, have been highly selective in their targets, like a Muslim school principal in Karnataka who was jailed for more than two weeks on sedition charges after her students performed a play about a new immigration law that police officials said was critical of Mr. Modi.

Some judges have also seemed to be caught up — or pushed out — by a Hindu-nationalist wave.

A Delhi judge who expressed disbelief that the police had yet to investigate members of Mr. Modi’s party who have been widely accused of instigating the recent violence in Delhi was taken off the case and transferred to another state. And at the same time that the Supreme Court has made a string of rulings in the government’s favor, one of the judges, Arun Mishra, publicly praised Mr. Modi as a “visionary genius.”

All of this is emboldening Hindu extremists on the street.

The religiously mixed and extremely crowded neighborhoods in northeastern Delhi that were on fire in late February have cooled. But some Hindu politicians continue to lead so-called peace marches, trotting out casualties of the violence with their heads wrapped in white medical tape, trying to upend the narrative and make Hindus seem like the victims, which is stoking more anti-Muslim hatred.

Some Muslims are leaving their neighborhoods, having lost all faith in the police. More than 1,000 have piled into a camp for internally displaced people that is rising on Delhi’s outskirts.

Muslim leaders see the violence as a state-sanctioned campaign to teach them a lesson. After years of staying quiet as Hindu lynch mobs killed Muslims with impunity and Mr. Modi’s government chipped away at their political power, India’s Muslim population awoke in December and poured into the streets, along with many other Indians, to protest the new immigration law, which favors migrants belonging to every major religion in South Asia — except for Muslims.

Mr. Modi’s government, Muslim leaders say, is now trying to drive the whole community back into silence.

“There’s a method to this madness,” said Umar Khalid, a Muslim activist. “The government wants to bring the entire Muslim community to their knees, to beg for their lives and beg for their livelihoods.”

“You can read it in their books," he said, referring to foundational texts by Hindu nationalists. “They believe India’s Muslims should live in perpetual fear.”

Mr. Modi has said little since the bloodshed erupted, except for a few anodyne tweets urging peace. Delhi police officials deny an anti-Muslim bias and said they “acted swiftly to control law and order,” which both Muslims and Hindus in those neighborhoods have said was not true. The police responded “without favoring any person on religious lines or otherwise,” according to a written reply to questions, provided by M.S. Randhawa, a police spokesman.

Police officials said that Mr. Ali and the other Muslim men were hurt by protesters and rescued by the police — though videos clearly show them being hit by police officers. Police officials also pointed out that one officer was killed and more than 80 injured; videos show a huge crowd of Muslim protesters attacking outnumbered officers.

The violence in New Delhi fits a pattern, experts say, of chaos being allowed to rage for a few days — with minorities being killed — before the government brings it under control.

In 1984, under the Congress party, which often bills itself as representing the interests of minorities, the police in New Delhi stood back for several days as mobs massacred 3,000 Sikhs.

In 1993, again under a Congress government, riots swept Mumbai and hundreds of Muslims were killed.

In 2002 in Gujarat, when Mr. Modi was the state’s chief minister, Hindu mobs massacred hundreds of Muslims. Mr. Modi was accused of complicity, though he was cleared by a court.

Several retired Indian police commanders said that the rule in quelling communal violence was to deploy maximum force and make many arrests, neither of which happened in Delhi.

Ajai Raj Sharma, a former commissioner, called the performance “unexplainable.” “It can’t be forgiven,” he said.

When the violence started on Feb. 23 — as Hindu men gathered to forcibly eject a peaceful Muslim protest near their neighborhood — much of it became two-sided. By day’s end, both Muslims and Hindus had been attacked, and dozens had been shot, apparently with small-bore homemade guns.

But by Feb. 25 the direction had changed. Hindu mobs fanned out and targeted Muslim families. Violence crackled in the air.

Police officers watched as mobs of Hindus, their foreheads marked by saffron stripes, prowled the streets with baseball bats and rusty bars, looking for Muslims to kill. The sky was filled with smoke. Muslim homes, shops and mosques were burned down.

When a reporter for The New York Times tried to speak to residents standing near police officers that day, a mob of men with darting eyes surrounded him and ripped the notebook out of his hands. When the reporter asked police officers for help, one said: “I can’t. These young men are very volatile.”

The home ministry, which controls Delhi’s police force and is led by Amit Shah, one of the most combative Hindu nationalists in the B.J.P., has come under heavy criticism for the policing failures. Delhi police officials denied being instructed by the central government to go easy on the troublemakers. The home ministry did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

On Thursday, during a debate in parliament, Mr. Shah vowed to bring the culprits to justice, “regardless of their caste, religion or political affiliations.’’ He has defended the police and called the violence a conspiracy, saying investigators found links to the Islamic State. Many observers question how much, if at all, the Islamic State had anything to do with what unfolded.

And then there’s the composition of the police. The Delhi force, numbering around 80,000, has fewer than 2,000 Muslim officers and just a handful of Muslim commanders, according to an analysis done in 2017 by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. Delhi police officials did not deny this, and Muslim leaders said that police behavior was biased across India.

“Indian police are extremely colonial and caste-ist,” said Shahid Siddiqui, a former member of Parliament. Police behavior, he said, is always “more violent and aggressive toward the weak.”

India’s population is about 80 percent Hindu, and gangs of Hindus threatened Muslims in several Delhi neighborhoods to leave before the Hindu holiday Holi that was celebrated this week.

One Muslim woman, who goes by the name Baby, opened her door a few days ago to find 50 men outside with a notebook in their hands, listing the addresses of Muslims. She packed up. She may be leaving soon.

“O, Allah, why didn’t you make me a Hindu?” she said, her voice quavering. “Is it my fault that I was born a Muslim?”

Shalini Venugopal contributed reporting.

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2020-03-12 16:48:02Z
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Trump meets with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar amid coronavirus spread - watch live stream today - CBS News

President Trump told reporters "the markets are gonna be just fine" as he welcomed Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar to the White House Thursday to celebrate ties between the U.S. and Ireland. Stocks plunged 7% after the opening bell Thursday morning, halting trading for 15 minutes as fears and fallout over coronavirus.

The visit comes in the wake of Mr. Trump's Wednesday night announcement to impose travel restrictions on Europe due to the global spread of the deadly coronavirus. The new travel restrictions Mr. Trump announced Wednesday night don't apply to Ireland, or to the United Kingdom.

In the Oval Office Thursday, Mr. Trump addressed criticism that he decided to restrict travel from Europe without consulting European leaders. Mr. Trump explained it takes a long time to make individual calls to world leaders, and claimed Europe doesn't alert the U.S. when it raises taxes on the U.S. Mr. Trump insisted his announcement was "clear," even though his own White House had to clarify the announcement. 

Coronavirus: The Race To Respond ›

More in Coronavirus: The Race To Respond

"We had to make a decision, and we didn't want to take time," Mr. Trump told reporters Thursday. 

Mr. Trump said his team hasn't discussed travel restrictions within the United States, but he didn't rule it out, as the National Guard moves into a New York suburb to establish the country's first containment zone. The president insisted that he has more authority than most people know, and hinted that he's been reading up on the Stafford Act, the federal law outlining the means of deploying federal natural disaster assistance to state and local governments. 

"We need a little separation until such time as this goes away. It's gonna go away, it's gonna go away," Mr. Trump told reporters Thursday. "I was watching Scott, I was watching Scott this morning, and he was saying within two months," Mr. Trump said, seemingly  But in the meantime, we want to lose as few people as possible, so important."

The president's meeting with the Irish prime minister is one of the few events that is charging ahead as the U.S. grapples with the spread of the coronavirus. There are more than 1,300 confirmed cases of the illness in the country, according to Johns Hopkins University.

As of Thursday there were 43 confirmed cases in Ireland. 

Varadkar is set to attend the annual "Friends of Ireland" luncheon hosted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Capitol Hill on Thursday. While Mr. Trump went to the luncheon in the first three years of his presidency, he is skipping this year's event, citing the impeachment inquiry launched by House Democrats last year. Mr. Trump told reporters Thursday he's too busy. 

"Since the speaker has chosen to tear this nation apart with her actions and her rhetoric, the president will not participate in moments where she so often chooses to drive discord and disunity," White House spokesman Judd Deere said earlier this week.

Officials in Washington, D.C., and around the nation have begun to cancel large events due to the coronavirus, which has spread to more than 100 countries. At the White House, public tours have been halted and in the U.S. Capitol, congressional leaders are nearing a pause on tours. 

Mr. Trump also canceled upcoming events in Nevada, Colorado and Wisconsin "out of an abundance of caution from the coronavirus outbreak," White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said late Wednesday.

The White House and Congress are weighing a legislative package to provide economic relief to businesses and people impacted by the virus. Mr. Trump said he wants paid sick leave to be a part of that. 

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2020-03-12 16:16:00Z
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2 American, 1 British service members killed in rocket attack on Iraqi base - NBC News

Two American and one British service members were killed, and more than 10 other military personnel or contractors were injured in a rocket attack on a military base in Iraq, U.S. officials have said.

Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said Thursday that while they were still investigating the attack, the U.S. believed Iran-backed militia groups were most likely behind the assault on the base.

"The Iranian proxy group Kataeb Hezbollah is the only group known to have previously conducted an indirect fire attack of this scale against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq," said McKenzie, referring to a group that the U.S. blamed for a rocket attack that killed an American contractor in late December which set off a dangerous escalation between Iran and the United States earlier this year.

The U.K. ministry of defense confirmed in a statement overnight that a service member from the Royal Army Medical Corps had died in the assault on the base on Wednesday.

The Iraqi base, Camp Taji, which is just north of Baghdad, hosts personnel for training and advising missions from the U.S.-led coalition tasked with fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

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Jan. 8, 202002:08

Coalition forces said in a statement on Thursday that about a dozen coalition personnel were injured when a barrage of 18 107mm Katyusha rockets hit the base. Iraqi security forces found a rocket-rigged truck a few miles from Camp Taji, the forces added.

Two U.S. officials, who spoke to NBC News on the condition of anonymity on Wednesday, said the more than 10 injured military personnel or contractors were from three different nationalities and included Americans. It was not initially clear how many of those injured were members of the military.

A State Department spokesperson said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab Wednesday.

“We must find those responsible. I welcome the Iraqi President’s call for an immediate investigation to hold perpetrators to account — but we must see action," Raab said in a statement on Thursday.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack and it remained unclear Thursday morning if the U.S. or its allies would respond to the assault.

The rocket attack in late December on a military base in Kirkuk that killed a U.S. contractor prompted American military strikes on weapon depots that Washington said were linked to the Iranian-backed militia group, Kataeb Hezbollah, whom it blamed for the initial rocket attack.

Those strikes in turn prompted protests at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and were later followed on Jan. 3 by a U.S. airstrike that killed a top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a leader of the Iran-backed militias in Iraq, of which Kataeb Hezbollah is a member.

Iran then retaliated on Jan. 8 by firing more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi air bases housing U.S. forces.

Mosheh Gains, Courtney Kube and Abigail Williams reported from Washington, and Saphora Smith from London.

Mosheh Gains

Mosheh Gains is a Pentagon producer for NBC News.

Courtney Kube

Courtney Kube is a correspondent covering national security and the military for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

Saphora Smith

Saphora Smith is a London-based reporter for NBC News Digital. 

Abigail Williams

Abigail Williams is a producer in the NBC News Washington bureau.

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2020-03-12 15:27:58Z
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