Update (0830ET): As Boris Johnson holds an emergency meeting with senior government leaders in London, across the Channel, European Council President Charles Michel said Monday that Brussels would be hosting a conference call with all EU leaders.
- PRES. OF EUCO MICHEL: FOLLOWING CONSULTATIONS, I WILL HOLD A EUCO MEMBERS CONFERENCE CALL SHORTLY ON COVID-19 TO COORDINATE EU EFFORTS. WE NEED TO COOPERATE IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE HEALTH OF OUR CITIZENS.
Meanwhile, over in India, four new cases of the virus have been confirmed, including a 3-year-old child.
In Spain, which is finally confronting the severity of its outbreak as the number of confirmed cases teeters right at the 1,000-case mark, and the president of neighboring Portugal has gone into quarantine, is preparing to unfurl an "emergency plan" of its own, according to socialist PM Pedro Sanchez.
Update (0650ET): As case counts explode across Europe, it looks like Spain - conveniently, Europe's fourth-largest economy - will be next to cross the 1,000-confirmed-case threshold.
- SPANISH CORONAVIRUS CASES JUMP TO 999: HEALTH MINISTRY
Update (0620ET): As case totals climb above 1,000 in Europe's two largest economies - France and Germany - while one-fifth to one-quarter of the Italian economy (Europe's third-largest) goes offline, the finance ministers of France and Germany have reportedly been commiserating about their shared predicament this morning.
In other news, VP Pence will hold a briefing in the situation room at noon, followed by several other briefings throughout the day, culminating with a public press briefing at 5:30.
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Since we checked in last on Sunday evening, hundreds of new cases have been confirmed in Europe and Asia, but the ambient level of global hysteria has seemingly escalated with the limit-down moves in seemingly every global market that isn't nailed down.
An emblematic sign of the hysteria in the US, Amtrak has suspended its non-stop service between New York and Washington - suspending travel along the so-called "Acela corridor" for power commuters who routinely travel back and forth between NY, Washington, Philly, Boston and all the places in between.
In the US, Dr. Anthony Fauci said yesterday that the US would have 400,000 more test kits available on Monday, and 4 million more by the end of the week. So get ready for an explosion in US cases.
Over the weekend, we saw the first signs of optimism out of South Korea, as the mayor of Daegu, the epicenter of the South Korean outbreak, reported a sharp drop in newly confirmed cases, evidence that the outbreak is slowing (since the South Koreans have been matched only by the Hong Kongers and Singaporeans in efficiency of testing), he said. The slowdown in new SK cases gave Italy the opportunity to snatch the crown, becoming the undisputed new global epidemic leader outside China (though the outbreak in Iran is certainly much more severe, however, the regime has chosen to hide the extent of deaths and confirmed cases).
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