Our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic has moved here.
Singapore recorded 49 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday, only eight of which had a travel history to Europe, North America or other parts of Asia.
Some 26 of the remaining new cases are linked to previous patients or community infection clusters, according to a Ministry of Health news release. Fifteen of the new infections are currently unlinked and contact tracing is ongoing.
Overall, there have been 1,049 recorded cases of the novel coronavirus in Singapore since the outbreak began. Like many other Asian countries, Singapore is currently experiencing a second wave of infections after bringing its initial outbreak more or less under control.
As of April 3, 266 confirmed coronavirus patients have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals and community isolation facilities across Singapore.
Of the 779 cases still being treated in hospitals across the city, 23 are in critical condition. Four cases have died from complications due to the coronavirus according to the Ministry of Health.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s two-hour special on the coronavirus pandemic has concluded.
Scroll below for some of the highlights from the meeting.
Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, recently purchased 1.2 million N95 protective masks to donate to the state of Massachusetts and another 300,000 for New York state.
He joined CNN’s coronavirus town hall to explain how it got done.
Kraft explained that his eldest son, who is the chairman of the board of Massachusetts General Hospital, is close with the state’s governor, Charlie Baker. Baker asked if there was a way that the state could get the masks bought in China.
So Kraft offered to use the team’s jet, which was sitting idle.
Kraft said he believes both Baker and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was on CNN at the time, were both doing a great job.
Gov. Cuomo said the call he got from Kraft saying they were getting the extra masks was probably “the only good call I’ve gotten in about 10 days.”
Watch:
Japan reported 235 new cases of the novel coronavirus today, bringing the total number of recorded cases in the country to 3,329.
The East Asian country also reported three new coronavirus-related deaths.
Tokyo had its largest single-day rise yet, with 97 new cases. The number of cases reported in the capital is now 684.
Japan’s national total includes 2,617 cases on land and 712 related to the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was quarantined in Yokohama Bay for two weeks in February.
A total of 74 people have died from Covid-19 in Japan, including 63 on land and 11 related to the Diamond Princess.
Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical lead for the World Health Organization’s Covid-19 response, chimed in on the current debate about when to wear face masks and who should be wearing them.
“What we recommend is that people who are sick wear masks – medical masks, not N95 masks with respirators. Those must be reserved for our frontline workers who are caring for patients,” she said.
“We also need people who are caring for those who are sick to be wearing the masks,” she said.
She said right now, it’s crucial that personal protective equipment in short supply be reserved for medical workers.
The WHO has been one of the strongest holdouts when it comes to recommending the widespread use of masks. US health officials recommended the same, but may be shifting course.
On Monday, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Robert Redfield, told NPR that his organization was reviewing its guidelines and may recommend general mask use to guard against community infection. Trump said the US plans to release new recommendations on face masks in the coming days.
When asked about President Trump’s suggestion that people use facial coverings like scarves, Van Kerkhove said the WHO is investigating.
“We are constantly looking at evidence, all the time, for the use of masks for anything that is related to this and related to health issues. We are talking with scientists around the world, including US CDC scientists,” she said.
Read more about the global debate on face masks here:
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Student Andrew Sutton asks CNN’s town hall if someone in an apartment building gets Covid-19, can the virus spread to other units through the plumbing or vents, like SARS did?
Dr. Leana Wen, the former Baltimore health commissioner, said currently there is no evidence that the coronavirus can spread long distances.
However, she added that the virus could spread through a defective plumbing system. This was a particular concern in Hong Kong. During the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak, this method became a major source of transmission. At the Amoy Gardens housing estate, there were more than 300 infections and 42 deaths after defective plumbing allowed the virus to spread through the building.
Dr. Wen also recommended opening the windows to increase your own ventilation once the weather gets warmer and to wash your hands thoroughly after touching surfaces that are used often, like handrails or buttons in elevators.
Watch:
Peru will allow men and women out on separate days as part of a gender-based quarantine measure designed to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country.
The new measures will begin in Peru today, President Martin Vizcarra announced to the nation on Thursday. So far, Peru has reported 1,414 cases of coronavirus and 55 deaths.
It comes two days after Panama began restricting movement by gender, arguing the measure urges people to return home since their loves ones are not allowed to be outside.
Peru said it would adopt the same system following the positive results the gender-based measure has yielded in other countries and due to its simplicity in visually detecting who should and shouldn’t be out on the streets, Vizcarra explained.
Cheryl from Jacksonville, Florida, asked CNN’s coronavirus town hall if Covid-19 can be contracted by ingesting it from produce at a supermarket.
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said that since the virus is respiratory, you can’t get it from contaminated food.
“It’s more of a question of the packaging. You just have to think about, is there any risk of contamination in other ways. But you are not going to get a GI type thing from eating the virus.
Watch below for a guide on how to sanitize your groceries:
Wayne Whitcomb, an engineer from North Hampton, New Hampshire, asked CNN’s coronavirus town hall participants if cell phones are contributing to the spread of the virus.
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said phones are probably “the most common surface that we touch.”
“Cleaning the phone, and wiping the phone … is a good idea. I’ve been doing that pretty regularly,” he said. Gupta also said that hospital doctors often put their phones in plastic bags to keep them a bit cleaner.
Watch:
At CNN’s coronavirus town hall, viewer Robin in Riverside, California, asked top public health expert Dr. Anthony Fauci: “If we’ve been under stay-at-home orders for two weeks, why is the peak still yet to come?”
Fauci, the country’s top medical expert on the coronavirus pandemic and a member of President Trump’s coronavirus task force, said that it’s in part because there is a delay in seeing the order’s effect, despite knowing that the virus’ incubation period can be up to two weeks
Watch:
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top medical expert on the coronavirus pandemic and a member of President Trump’s coronavirus task force, said that standing 6-feet (1.8 meters) from other people will help prevent the transmission of coronavirus.
Fauci said tonight during CNN’s coronavirus town hall that he would not tell people to change their behavior in terms of outdoor activities.
Watch:
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, joined CNN’s town hall Thursday to discuss the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Fauci said he believes that there should be a federally mandated stay-at-home order, something President Donald Trump has been loathe to do.
Trump said Wednesday that he does not plan to issue such an order because different states have different levels of coronavirus cases.
The President said there should be some sort of flexibility among the states depending on how bad individual states situations might be.
“You have to look – you have to give a little flexibility. If you have a state in the Midwest, or if Alaska for example doesn’t have a problem, it’s awfully tough to say close it down. We have to have a little bit of flexibility,” Trump said.
Watch:
A group of firefighters with the FDNY showed up at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens today to thank and cheer on medical professionals for all their work fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
The firefighters showed up during as shift change, correspondent Erica Hill said tonight during CNN’s coronavirus town hall.
Some context: Elmhurst Hospital in Queens has become an apocalyptic illustration of a nation in crisis, its doctors and nurses struggling to keep up with a surge of infections.
Watch the moment:
Dr. Deborah Birx said she can tell by looking at the US curve of coronavirus cases that not every American is following the guidelines set out by the administration for people to stay home and be vigilant about washing their hands.
Birx, who serves as the task force’s response coordinator, said “I know you’ve seen the slope on the US versus the slope in Italy, and we have to change that slope,” adding, “What it means in the US is not everyone is doing it.”
“So we’re only as strong as every community, every county, every state, every American following the guidelines to a T,” Birx said. “And I can tell by the curve … that not every American is following it.”
President Trump has approved a disaster declaration for Tennessee in response to coronavirus.
This is the 35th such declaration Trump has made in response to the coronavirus pandemic, including 30 states, the US Virgin islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta are hosting a two-hour special tonight on the coronavirus pandemic.
There is no audience tonight due to ongoing concerns around the coronavirus.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta will host a two-hour special tonight focusing on the coronavirus.
The town hall will begin at 8 p.m. ET.
Facing a complete standstill across its entertainment empire due to the coronavirus crisis, the Walt Disney Company notified its employees that it would furlough employees “whose jobs aren’t necessary at this time” starting on April 19.
Disney has been crippled by the coronavirus pandemic. Its theme parks around the world have shuttered, its cruise line is suspended and many of its biggest films of the year have been delayed. Live sporting events, the lifeblood of the Disney-owned ESPN, have also been suspended.
Shares of Disney have plummeted more than 30% year to date.
The impact is hitting Disney’s theme park employees especially hard. All of Disney’s 12 theme parks have been shuttered since March 12, after which the company committed to paying salaries through April 18.
In the statement, the company said there was “no clear indication of when we can restart our businesses,” and that it was “forced to make the difficult decision to take the next step and furlough employees.”
Among those impacted would be the Disney Parks’ storied “Imagineers,” the designers of the parks, rides and hotels.
The furloughed workers would remain employees of the company and keep their health benefits, while also being able to access federal and state aid like unemployment benefits.
![SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE - [JANUARY 26]: Visitors wearing masks walk through the Merlion Park on January 26, 2020 in Singapore. (Photo by Ore Huiying/Getty Images)](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/200312123648-virus-0126-singapore.jpg?q=x_0,y_104,h_1125,w_1999,c_crop/h_144,w_256)