More travel restrictions follow Trump’s ban on Europe

More countries announced travel restrictions on Thursday after the World Health Organization declared the spread of the novel coronavirus a pandemic and President Donald Trump said as of Friday at midnight, all travel from Europe to the United States -- with the exception of the UK -- will be suspended for the next 30 days.

On Thursday morning, it was announced that Congress is shutting down the US Capitol, House and Senate office buildings to the public until April 1 in reaction to coronavirus. Both chambers will continue to conduct business, but without a public, in-person audience. Congress is scheduled for a week-long recess starting on Friday.

The ban on European visitors to the US battered US airline stocks when they opened on Thursday. United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines were all down.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,732 points, or 7.4 percent, on the opening.

Princess Cruises said Thursday that it will suspend all cruises for the next two months as the global spread of the coronavirus upends the travel industry.

Two of its ships have had cases of coronavirus. One of the first major coronavirus outbreaks was on the Diamond Princess off the coast of Japan. Eight people died and more than 700 were infected. More than 20 people linked to the Grand Princess now docked in California have also tested positive for the virus.

Authorities in India announced a month-long suspension of visas for tourists and said some of its overseas citizens would also be temporarily barred from entering the country, while South Korea said it will screen visitors from France, Germany, Spain, the UK and the Netherlands for symptoms of the pneumonia-like disease known as Covid-19 and keep tabs on their health while they are in the country.

The National Collegiate College Association announced Wednesday that its popular "March Madness'' basketball tournament will be played with almost no spectators, a decision it said was made in the "best interest of public health". The National Basketball Association announced Wednesday night that the current season has been suspended indefinitely after a member of the Utah Jazz team tested positive for the virus. Actor Tom Hanks said on Instagram that he and wife Rita Wilson tested positive for the coronavirus while in Australia.

As of Thursday, the coronavirus had infected more than 126,000 people in 116 countries and regions, killing more than 4,600 of them, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. More than a third of the infections globally have been outside of China. More than 68,000 people have recovered from the virus. In the US,. there are now more than 1,000 confirmed cases of in 39 states. More than 30 people, most of them elderly and with underlying respiratory conditions, have died.

Washington state has the most coronavirus cases in the US, including a cluster of coronavirus fatalities linked to a nursing home that accounts for about two-thirds of all the deaths nationwide. Washington Governo Jay Inslee is prohibiting gatherings of more than 250 people in three hard-hit counties until the end of March. Jeffrey Duchin, health officer for Seattle and King County prohibited all social events — even those with less than 250 people — unless organizers can take steps to minimize risks to attendees.

In New York, which has the second-highest number of cases in the country, Governor Andrew Cuomo said all workers in the state will be given two weeks of paid leave if they are quarantined or isolated because of the virus.

Cuomo also said the City University of New York and the State University of New York, which together enroll more than half a million students, will shift to online learning for the rest of the semester.

He said he doesn't plan to bar large public events. "Look, you don't want to shut down society, right, because that's massively disruptive to the economy, to life, etcetera," Cuomo said. "But your main concern here is the public health crisis."

In his Wednesday evening address from the White House that was televised nationally, Trump initially described his restrictions on travel from Europe as a total ban, saying that "these prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo but various other things as we get approval. Anything coming from Europe to the United States is what we are discussing". Trump and administration officials later tweeted that the restrictions apply only to people, not goods and trade, and won't include a ban on US citizens or legal permanent residents.

Trump spoke sternly about what he called a "foreign virus" that "started in China and is now spreading throughout the world". "The virus will not have a chance against us," he said. "No nation is more prepared or more resilient than the United States."

Trump also said he plans to take emergency action soon to provide financial relief to workers who are quarantined or caring for others due to coronavirus., and he would be asking Congress to take legislative action to extend the relief.

He said he is instructing the Small Business Administration to provide capital and loans to businesses affected by coronavirus, effective immediately. He added he's asking Congress to increase funding for this program by an additional $50 billion to help those businesses hardest hit by economic uncertainty over the virus.

Trump said he would instruct the Treasury Department to "defer tax payments" without interest or penalties for "certain individuals and businesses negatively impacted." He didn't define which businesses or individuals. He said the moves would add $200 billion in liquidity to the economy. Tax day is April 15. 

He called on Congress to provide Americans with "immediate payroll tax relief," and implored lawmakers to "consider this very strongly" despite bipartisan pushback that idea received Wednesday.