Brazil Says It Might Have First COVID-19 Case In South America: Live Updates

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

Summary:

• • WHO warns the rest of the world “is not ready for the virus to spread…”
  • CDC warns Americans “should prepare for possible community spread” of virus.
  • San Francisco Mayor declares state of emergency

• Later, CDC says pandemic not a question of it, but when
• Brazil may have South America’s first coronavirus case
• Germany confirms 2nd case on Tuesday, brings total to 17
• Italy cases spike to 322; deaths hit 10
• Japan’s Shiseido tesll 8k employees to work from home
• Kudlow tries to jawbone markets higher
• HHS Sec. Azar warns US lacks stockpiles of masks
• Italy Hotel in Lockdown After First Coronavirus Case in Liguria
• Algeria confirms 1st case
• First case in Switzerland
• Kuwait halts all flights to Singapore and Japan
• Iran confirms 95 cases, 15 deaths
• First case in Austria
• Spain reports 7 cases in under 24 hours, including in Madrid, Canary Islands, Barcelona
• Iran Deputy Health Minister infected with Covid-19

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Update (1900ET): We’ve got some (potentially) big news. Brazil’s Health Ministry said a man has tested positive for the coronavirus on in initial test. If it’s confirmed in a second test, it will be the first case in South America.

The virus has already spread from Asia to Europe, North America, Australia and Africa.

On that note, El Salvador on Tuesday announced it would prevent entry of people from Italy and South Korea.

In Spain, a 7th cases has been confirmed in under 24 hours. Just over a day ago, Spain had zero confirmed cases.

Though it’s unconfirmed, there’s a rumor floating around twitter that an Iranian official who met with the Ayatollah a few days ago has tested positive for the virus.

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Update (1750ET): Following reports just a few hours ago claiming Germany had reported its first case of the virus, Europe’s largest economy has just reported its second case, according to domestic media reports.

The first patient was reportedly a 25-year-old German who recently traveled to Milan. Patient No. 2 was confirmed near Germany’s border with the Netherlands. The man is in critical condition.

This brings Germany’s total cases to 18.

Germany’s neighbors Austria and Switzerland confirmed their first cases on Tuesday as the virus spread through Central Europe.

Over in Japan, Shiseido told 8,000 employees, roughly 30% of the personal-care company’s workforce, to telecommute in keeping with the Japanese government’s push for private employers to keep their workers out of offices and public places. Japanese companies started this more than a week ago, and have since expanded the number of employees affected.

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Update (1700ET): SFChronicle reports that Mayor London Breed declared a state of emergency for San Francisco Tuesday, which will ramp up the city’s efforts to prepare for and confront potential cases.

There have been no confirmed coronavirus cases in San Francisco to date, but “the global picture is changing rapidly, and we need to step-up preparedness,” Breed said in a statement.

Three people have been treated at San Francisco hospitals for coronavirus, two of which have been discharged, but to date no cases have originated inside the city.

“We see the virus spreading in new parts of the world every day, and we are taking the necessary steps to protect San Franciscans from harm.”

This decision follows Santa Clara County, which declared a state of emergency a few weeks ago for similar reasons.

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Update (1545ET): In keeping with the spate of ominous comments from American government officials, there have been reports about FDA Director Stephen Hahn warning about a shortage of medical supplies like facemasks as the CDC warns that outbreaks in the US are inevitable.

He made a similar comment yesterday…

Read the rest here: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/south-korean-crisis-response-coordinator-commits-suicide-cases-near-1000-live-updates