US cruise ship in limbo as anti-virus controls spread

BEIJING (AP) — Officials in California were deciding Saturday where to dock a cruise ship with 21 coronavirus cases aboard and four U.S. universities canceled in-person classes as Western countries imitate China by imposing travel controls and shutting down public events to contain the outbreak.

The Grand Princess cruise ship was waiting off San Francisco with 3,500 people aboard. Authorities want it to go to a non-commercial port for everyone aboard to be tested amid evidence the ship was the breeding ground for a deadly cluster of 10 cases during an earlier voyage.

“Those that will need to be quarantined will be quarantined. Those who will require medical help will receive it,” said Vice President Mike Pence.

President Donald Trump, speaking at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said he would have preferred not to let the passengers disembark onto American soil but would defer to the recommendations of medical experts.

In Egypt, a cruise ship on the Nile with more than 150 passengers and crew was under quarantine in the southern city of Luxor after 12 people tested positive for the virus. The passengers include American, French and Indian travelers.

A Taiwanese-American passenger tested positive after returning to Taiwan in February, Egyptian health authorities said. A health official said the 12 people who tested positive were isolated inside the ship while the rest await results.

The incident raised Egypt’s total number of cases to 15.

Also Saturday, the port of Penang in Malaysia turned away the cruise ship Costa Fortuna with 2,000 passengers and crew because there were 64 people aboard from Italy, the center of Europe’s epidemic. It was the second port to reject the ship after Phuket in Thailand on Friday.

The Costa Fortuna was making its way to Singapore, according to Phee Boon Poh, an executive councilor of Penang state.

The global death toll has risen past 3,400, with more than 100,000 cases reported.

South Korea, the hardest-hit country outside China, reported 448 new cases for a total of 7,041.

China, where the disease first emerged in December, reported 99 new cases on Saturday, its first daily increase of less than 100 since Jan. 20. The government reported 28 deaths in the 24 hours through midnight Friday.

China has 22,177 patients in treatment and has released 55,404.

The epidemic appears to be easing in China but countries elsewhere are reporting increasing numbers of cases.

The World Health Organization has warned against “false hopes” that the disease will fade when warmer summer weather arrives in northern countries.

The Netherlands reported its first virus death Friday. Serbia and Slovakia in Europe, Peru and Colombia in Latin America and Togo and Cameroon in Africa announced their first infections.

Authorities in Florida reported the first two U.S. deaths away from the West Coast. They said the two patients were in their 70s and one had underlying health problems.

The University of Washington and two other universities said campuses in Seattle would hold classes online instead of in-person. Stanford University, south of San Francisco, announced similar plans.

Also in Seattle, Starbucks announced an employee of one of its cafes was diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. The company said the store would reopen after a “deep clean.”

On Saturday, South Korean officials said a Korean Air flight attendant who was in Los Angeles on Feb. 18-21 has tested positive for the coronavirus.

The 36-year-old woman began suffering fever and muscle pain on Feb. 27, said Mayor Baek Kun-ki of Yongin, a city near Seoul, on Facebook. Officials at Korean Air didn’t respond to repeated phone calls.

The woman in Yongin was the second Korean Air flight attendant to test positive for the virus. The earlier case was a flight attendant who worked on a flight from Israel to South Korea on Feb. 15-16.

The 100,000 figure of global infections dwarfs other major outbreaks such as SARS, MERS and Ebola. The virus is still much less widespread than annual flu epidemics, which cause up to 5 million severe cases around the world and 290,000 to 650,000 deaths annually, according to the World Health Organization.

Governments have imposed restrictions on visitors from China, South Korea, Italy and Iran.

In Switzlerand, which reported 210 new cases Friday, the military was being readied to provide support services at hospitals. Serbia said it might deploy the army.

The top U.N. climate change official said her agency won’t hold meetings in person until the end of April.

French Health Minister Olivier Veran said children would be banned from visiting patients in hospitals and other health facilities. He said patients would be allowed one adult visitor at a time.

Spanish officials announced a monthlong closure of 200 centers in and around Madrid where the elderly go for daytime care and activities.

The global economy faces mounting damage due to anti-virus controls that shut down much of China’s economy and are disrupting travel and trade worldwide.

Airlines, hotels, cinemas and other businesses have lost billions of dollars in potential revenue.

China, the world’s biggest trader, reported Saturday its exports tumbled 17.2% from a year earlier in January and February. Imports sank 4%.

China extended its Lunar New Year holiday to keep factories and offices empty. That sent shockwaves through Asian economies that supply components and raw materials to manufacturers who produce the world’s smartphones, toys and other consumer goods.

Chinese manufacturers are reopening but aren’t expected to return to normal production until at least April.

A total of 78 million migrant workers have returned to work, or about 60% of those who went to their hometowns for the Lunar New Year, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security announced Saturday.

Chinese authorities have eased some travel controls but most people in Wuhan, a central city of 11 million people where the first cases were reported, still are barred from leaving their homes.

A deputy premier, Sun Chunlan, who visited a Wuhan apartment complex this week was met with complaints that its management neglected sanitation and food delivery. Residents said the complex was hurriedly cleaned just before Sun’s visit.

“It’s all fake!” a resident can be heard shouting on videos circulated on social media. A commentary in the main Communist Party newspaper, People’s Daily, criticized the apartment managers for trying to deceive officials.

In Iran, the number of infections rose beyond 4,700, with 124 deaths. Iran set up checkpoints to limit travel and had firefighters spray disinfectant on an 18-kilometer (11-mile) stretch of Tehran’s most famous avenue.

Off the California coast, passengers on the Grand Princess waited in their cabins for word on its fate.

The ship was bound from Hawaii to San Francisco when it was ordered Wednesday to keep its distance from shore so 46 people with possible coronavirus symptoms could be tested.

On Thursday, a military helicopter crew lowered test kits onto the 951-foot (290-meter) ship by rope and later flew them for analysis at a state lab. The tests were ordered following the death of a passenger who was on a previous voyage in February.

Authorities say at least 10 other people on the same journey also were infected. Some passengers on that trip stayed aboard, which increased crew members’ potential exposure to the virus.

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Associated Press writers Tong-hyung Kim in Seoul, South Korea; Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Samy Magdy in Cairo and researcher Henry Hou in Beijing contributed to this report.

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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The only woman remaining in the 2020 race for the White House is calling on her party's top two competitors to help pressure the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to allow her to participate in an upcoming presidential debate in Phoenix.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, is now one of only three Democratic candidates still running for president. On Super Tuesday, March 3, she walked away with two delegates from American Samoa, which would have helped her qualify in the previous debate, held Feb. 25 in Charleston, S.C.
However, the DNC released a new requirement for the March 15 Phoenix debate. Participants for that contest must have at least 20 percent of the pledged delegates, which means only the two leaders -- former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. -- qualify.
On Friday night, Gabbard took to social media and appealed to Biden and Sanders to let her join them on the debate stage once again.
"@JoeBiden @Bernie Sanders I’m sure you would agree that our Democratic nominee should be a person who will stand up for what is right. So I ask that you have the courage to do that now in the face of the DNC's effort to keep me from participating in the debates," Gabbard tweeted.
She then called out the DNC for changing the debate requirements to allow Mike Bloomberg onto the debate stage.
"To keep me off the stage, the DNC again arbitrarily changed the debate qualifications. Previously they changed the qualifications in the OPPOSITE direction so Bloomberg could debate. I ask that you stand w/ me against the DNC’s transparent effort to exclude me from the debates. #LetTulsiDebate," she said.
The hashtag #LetTulsiDebate trended on Twitter throughout Friday evening.
Gabbard has not appeared on at a Democratic debate since November. She was also snubbed by CNN's town hall series despite the liberal network inviting former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, whose polling was lower than hers.

Trump announces Mark Meadows to replace Mick Mulvaney as White House chief of staff

President Trump made a surprise announcement on Friday night that Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., would become his new White House chief of staff, replacing acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.
"I am pleased to announce that Congressman Mark Meadows will become White House Chief of Staff. I have long known and worked with Mark, and the relationship is a very good one," Trump tweeted.
Meadows has become one of Trump's most loyal defenders on Capitol Hill, particularly during the monthslong impeachment battle that ultimately ended with an acquittal in February.
Mulvaney became the acting White House chief of staff in January 2019, replacing Gen. John Kelly. Mulvaney was also serving as the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director.
Trump also announced that Mulvaney would become the U.S. special envoy for Northern Ireland.
"I want to thank Acting Chief Mick Mulvaney for having served the Administration so well. He will become the United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. Thank you!" Trump said in a second tweet.
In a statement, Meadows said it was an "honor" to selected by President Trump.
"This President and his administration have a long list of incredible victories they've delivered to the country during this first term, with the best yet to come -- and I look forward to helping build on that success and staying in the fight for the forgotten men and women of America," he said.
Meadows said Mulvaney did a "great job," and he also thanked his constituents in western North Carolina.
"In particular, I want to recognize my friend Mick Mulvaney. Mick is smart, principled, and as tough a fighter you'll find in Washington, D.C. He did a great job leading the President's team through a tremendous period of accomplishment over the last year-plus," the lawmaker said.
"Lastly, I want to thank the people of western North Carolina," he added. "Serving you in Congress has been the honor of my life. It may be in a different role, but I'll continue working every day to deliver results for you -- and main street Americans all over the country -- in the months and years to come."
Meadows, 60, had announced in December that he planned to leave Congress at the end of his current term. He has represented North Carolina's 11th Congressional District since 2013. He also chaired the House Freedom Caucus from 2017 until earlier this year, when he was succeeded by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.
It was unclear if Mulvaney will remain as head of the OMB or if the department's deputy director, Russell Vought, will assume the role.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.

Romney Cartoons

Cruise passengers off California await virus test results

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Coronavirus test results were expected Friday for some passengers and crew aboard a cruise ship held off the California coast.

The Grand Princess lay at anchor near San Francisco on Thursday after a traveler from a previous voyage died of the disease and at least four others became infected. While the more than 3,500 aboard the 951-foot (290-meter) vessel were ordered to stay at sea as officials scrambled to keep the virus at bay, only 45 were identified for testing, Princess Cruises said in a statement.

“The ship will not come on shore until we appropriately assess the passengers,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said.

A Sacramento-area man who sailed on the ship in February later succumbed to the coronavirus. Two other passengers from that voyage have been hospitalized with the virus in Northern California, and two Canadians who recently sailed aboard the ship tested positive after returning home, officials said.

Northern California officials also are awaiting test results from a man who died Thursday after being on a cruise where others have tested positive.

Meanwhile, the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus climbed to 12 on Thursday, with all but one victim in Washington state, while the number of infections swelled to over 200, scattered across 18 states. Colorado and Nevada reported their first cases. 

Nine of the dead were from the same suburban Seattle nursing home, now under federal investigation. Families of nursing home residents voiced anger, having received conflicting information about the condition of their loved ones. One woman was told her mother had died, then got a call from a staffer who said her mother was doing well, only to find out she had, in fact, died, said Kevin Connolly, whose father-in-law is also a facility resident.

“This is the level of incompetence we’re dealing with,” Connolly said at an emotional news conference in front of the Life Care Center in Kirkland.

The federal investigation of the nursing home will determine whether it followed guidelines for preventing infections. Last April, the state fined it $67,000 over infection-control deficiencies after two flu outbreaks.

The coronavirus has infected more than 98,000 people worldwide and killed over 3,300, the vast majority of them in China.

U.S. health officials said they expect a far lower death rate than the World Health Organization’s international estimate of 3.4% — a high rate that doesn’t account for mild cases that go uncounted.

U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir cited a model that included mild cases to say the U.S. could expect a death rate somewhere between 0.1% — akin to the seasonal flu’s — and 1%. The risk is highest for older people and anyone with conditions such as heart or lung disease, diabetes or suppressed immune systems.

Some major businesses in the Seattle area, where researchers say the virus may have circulated undetected for weeks, have shut down some operations or urged employees to work from home. That includes Microsoft and Amazon, the two tech giants that together employ more than 100,000 people in the region. The 22,000-student Northshore district announced it will close for up to two weeks as a precaution.

With many commuters off the road, traffic on the Seattle area’s notoriously congested freeways were much lighter Thursday.

King County is buying a motel for $4 million to house patients and hopes to have the first of them in place within days at the 84-room EconoLodge in Kent, about 20 miles (32 km) from Seattle. The rooms’ doors open to the outside rather than to a central hallway, reducing the likelihood of contact between patients.

The plan was met with resistance from local leaders, including Kent Police Chief Rafael Padilla, who called it “ill-advised and dangerous” and warned: “At any point a patient can simply walk into our community and spread the virus.”

Around the country, New York’s mayor implored the federal government to send more test kits to his state, which saw its caseload double overnight to 22, all of them in or near the city. Gap Inc. said it has closed its New York office and is asking employees to work from home “until further notice” after learning that one of its employees was confirmed to have the new virus.

In Rhode Island, about 200 people were quarantined because of their connections to a school trip to Italy that has so far resulted in three cases. Amid four cases in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said the risks remain low for most people planning trips to the state for spring break or baseball’s spring training.

On Wall Street, fears about the outbreak led to a sharp selloff, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 970 points, or 3.6%. The drop extended two weeks of wild swings in the market, with stocks fluctuating 2% or more for the fourth day in a row.

The ship off California was returning to San Francisco after visiting Hawaii. Some of the passengers remained on board after sailing on its previous voyage, to the Mexican ports of Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas.

Princess Cruise Lines said that no cases of the virus had been confirmed among those still on the ship. But dozens of passengers have had flu-like symptoms over the past two weeks or so, said Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management.

“Once we have results from the tests,” she said, authorities “will determine the best location for the ship to berth.”

A military helicopter lowered by rope and later retrieved the test kits Thursday, bound for a lab in Richmond, California, authorities said.

Michele Smith, a Grand Princess passenger, posted video of the helicopter to Facebook. Another video shows a crew member wearing gloves and a mask and spraying and wiping a handrail.

“We have crews constantly cleaning our ship,” Smith is heard saying.

In a post, Smith said she and her husband are not quarantined and were told only the people who had been on the Mexico voyage or those showing flu-like symptoms had to isolate.

“Spirits are as high as can be under these circumstances. We are blessed to be healthy, comfortable and well-fed,” she wrote.

But a late-night statement Thursday from the cruise line said all guests were asked to stay in their rooms while results were awaited, following CDC guidelines.

A passenger from the Mexico voyage, Judy Cadiz of Lodi, California, said she and her husband became ill afterward but did not given it much thought until learning a fellow traveler had died of the virus. Now, they cannot get a straight answer about how to get tested, she said.

With Mark Cadiz, 65, running a fever, the couple worries not only about themselves, but about the possibility that — if they contracted the infection — they could have passed it on to others.

“They’re telling us to stay home, but nobody told me until yesterday to stay home. We were in Sacramento, we were in Martinez, we were in Oakland. We took a train home from the cruise,” Judy Cadiz said Thursday. “I really hope that we’re negative so nobody got infected.”

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Geller reported from New York. Associated Press writers Janie Har and Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; Gene Johnson, Martha Bellisle and Carla K. Johnson in Seattle; Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Washington; and AP researcher Monika Mathur in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

Trump to sign $8.3B coronavirus funding bill Friday, Pence says

President Trump on Friday will sign newly approved legislation allocating more than $8 billion in emergency funding to combat the spread of coronavirus.
The disclosure came Thursday from Vice President Mike Pence during his visit to Washington state, which has seen at least 70 cases of the virus and at least 11 deaths – more fatalities than anywhere else in the nation.
Pence has been overseeing U.S. efforts to contain the outbreak, after President Trump appointed him to head a special task force that includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.
The vice president said the efforts by health officials and lawmakers represented the “very best of D.C. coming together, putting the health and wellbeing of the American people first and making nearly $8 billion available not only to federal agencies but to state and local efforts as we confront coronavirus.”
Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed its coronavirus funding bill 96-1, with only Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., voting against it.
On Wednesday, the U.S. House passed its version 415-2, with only Reps. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and Ken Buck, R-Colo., voting against the measure.
More than $3 billion is being dedicated to research and development on vaccines, medicines for treatment and diagnostic tests, including $300 million for the government to purchase such drugs from manufacturers at “fair and reasonable” prices to distribute them to those who need it — which is the standard applied in earlier crises like the 2009 H1N1 flu outbreak.
In addition, more than $2 billion will help federal, state and local governments prepare for and respond to the coronavirus threat, including $300 million for the CDC's rapid response fund. Another $1.3 billion would be used to help fight the virus overseas.
Other funds will be allocated toward medical supplies and other preparedness.
During his stop in Washington state, where he participated in a round-table discussion with Gov. Jay Inslee, members of Washington’s congressional delegation, and local officials responding to the outbreak there, Pence sought to reassure the state that the federal government was aware of the seriousness of the problem there.
“As the state of Washington, and the Seattle area in particular, deals with the coronavirus, we're going to continue to make sure that you have the full support of every agency in the federal government,” Pence said after touring the state’s emergency response center at Camp Murray. “We know you’re the front line.”
Most of the deaths occurring in Washington have been of residents of the Life Care Center, a nursing home in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland. Researchers say the virus may have been circulating undetected there for weeks, The Associated Press reported.
Washington’snumber of confirmed cases jumped to 70 from 39 on Thursday, including the first reported death in eastern Washington, Q13 FOX of Seattle reported.
The elderly are considered especially vulnerable to the virus, in part because the body’s immune system tends to weaken during the aging process. The most recent Washington death was a woman in her 90s, Q13 FOX reported.
President Trump praised Pence’s efforts during the president’s appearance on a special town hall broadcast on Fox News.
“Mike Pence is working 20 hours a day or more on this,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
During the town hall, Trump defended his administration's response to the coronavirus outbreak, saying his decision to limit travel from China had averted a broader domestic crisis.
“I think people are viewing us as doing a very good job,” Trump told an audience member who asked about the outbreak response. “This started in China. How it started, is a question. ... It's gonna all work out. Everyone has to be calm.”
Fox News’ Andrew O’Reilly and Gregg Re and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

McConnell calls Schumer's response to Supreme Court not 'much of an apology'

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the remarks by Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., not "much of an apology," early Friday morning after the minority leader backtracked from comments directed towards two conservative Supreme Court justices on Thursday.
During an exclusive interview with Shannon Bream at "Fox News @ Night," McConnell said that leaders of Congress owe it to the American people to act like adults and not engage in "shenanigans," adding that Schumer's apology wasn't enough and didn't satisfy him and his colleagues.
"He named the justices by name. He used words that generally are associated with inciting violence," McConnell told Bream. "Now, if that was an apology, [it] wasn't much of an apology."
Schumer attempted to walk back his threat earlier, claiming his words didn't come out the right way because of his state of mind at the time.
“I’m from Brooklyn. We speak in strong language. I shouldn’t have used the words I did, but in no way was I making a threat,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “I feel so deeply the anger of women all across America about Senate Republicans and the courts working hand in glove to take down Roe v. Wade."
Schumer had called out Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, saying they would "pay the price" if they voted to restrict abortion rights.
"I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price!" Schumer warned. "You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions."
His comments come as Trump has criticized liberal justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor in the past.
McConnell said past presidents have often criticized justices, adding that he remembers Barack Obama, "shaking his finger" at them during his presidency.
"But that's quite different from joining a mob scene over in front of the Supreme Court building, mentioning Supreme Court justices by name and using language that is typically used to bring about some kind of violent reaction,"  McConnell said.

Romney could block Republican subpoena try aimed at the Bidens

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who faced the scorn of President Trump and fellow Republicans over his vote last month to convict at the Senate impeachment trial, questioned the motivation behind a Republican effort to issue a subpoena related to Hunter Biden and his dealing with Ukraine.
"I would prefer that investigations are done by an independent, non-political body," Romney told the Washington Post. "There’s no question the appearance is not good." 
Republicans are gearing up for a vote next week in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that would approve a subpoena aimed at gathering information related to a former Ukrainian diplomat with ties to the consulting firm Blue Star Strategies, Reuters reported. The allegation is that the company used Hunter Biden for access to the State Department. His father was vice president at the time.
The Bidens have denied any wrongdoing.
Unlike Trump’s impeachment trial, Romney’s vote in the committee is pivotal. The Post pointed out that Republicans maintain an 8-to-6 majority and—assuming that all Democrats vote together—would result in a 7-7 tie.
"There’s no question but that the appearance of looking into Burisma and Hunter Biden appears political. And I think people are tired of these kinds of political investigations," Romney told reporters, according to Reuters.
The committee has been pursuing its investigation into the Bidens since at least November.  The vote is expected next Wednesday.
"Joe Biden has never adequately answered these questions," Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told "The Story with Martha McCallum" this week.
"I’ve said repeatedly, if there’s wrongdoing the American people need to understand that. If there is no wrongdoing, or if it's not significant, the American people need to understand that," the chairman of the committee said.
Trump told Fox News that Joe Biden was "damaged" by the impeachment process that implicated his son Hunter in apparent overseas corruption while Biden was vice president. "They aimed at Trump and they took Biden down," the president said.
Fox News' Tyler Olson and Gregg Re contributed to this report

Chuck Schumer Cartoons

Global shares rise after surge in US on stimulus measures

TOKYO (AP) — Shares in Europe and Asia advanced Thursday, tracking an overnight surge on Wall Street as governments and central banks take more aggressive measures to fight the virus outbreak and its effects on the economy.

Benchmarks rose in almost every market, though U.S. futures pointed to a weak open.

France’s CAC 40 added 0.5% in early trading to 5,490.52, while Germany’s DAX was up nearly 0.6% to 12,194.33. Britain’s FTSE 100 inched up 0.2% to 6,830.92.

U.S. shares were set to drift lower with Dow futures dipping 0.9% to 26,731. S&P 500 futures were down 0.9% at 3,085.70.

The gains on Wall Street more than recouped big losses from a day earlier as wild, virus-fueled swings around the world’s markets extend into a third week. Health care stocks led gains after former Vice President Joe Biden solidified his contender status for the Democratic presidential nomination. Investors see him as more business-friendly than Senator Bernie Sanders.

The rally’s momentum accelerated around midday after House and Senate leadership reached a deal on a bipartisan $8.3 billion bill to battle the coronavirus outbreak. The measure’s funds would go toward research into a vaccine, improved tests and drugs to treat infected people.

The upward momentum carried into Asian trading, where Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 1.1% to finish at 21,329.12. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 1.1% to 6,395.70. South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.3% to 2,085.26. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 2.1% to 26,762.43, while the Shanghai Composite jumped 2.0% to 3,071.68. India’s Sensex climbed 0.5% to 38,593.25.

Shares were also higher in Taiwan and Southeast Asia.

Shares in Chinese blue chips rose Thursday in Hong Kong, suggesting “investors’ confidence was restored by the surge in U.S. markets. We don’t have the panic selling evident last week when the market fell sharply,” said Francis Lun, a stock analyst in Hong Kong.

“Despite the specter of coronavirus lurking over the world’s economy, all appears well with the world, judging by Wall Street’s overnight performance,” Jeffrey Halley of Oanda said in a commentary. “China’s rate of new infections has plunged, even as coronavirus makes its presence felt in the far-flung corners of the globe.”

Investors expect other central banks will follow up on the Federal Reserve’s surprise move Tuesday of slashing interest rates by half a percentage point in hopes of protecting the economy from the economic fallout of the new coronavirus.

Even though many investors say they know lower interest rates will not halt the spread of the virus, they want to see central banks and other authorities do what they can to lessen the damage.

The Bank of England has a meeting on March 26 on interest rates. The European Central Bank and others have already cut rates below zero, meanwhile, which limits their monetary policy firepower. But economists say they could make other moves, such as freeing up banks to lend more.

ENERGY: Benchmark crude oil rose 19 cents to $46.97 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell 40 cents to settle at $46.78 a barrel. Brent crude oil, the international standard, gained 25 cents to $51.38 a barrel.

CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 107.27 Japanese yen from 107.55 yen on Wednesday. The euro fell to $1.1127 from $1.1131.