WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump will declare a national emergency over the fast-spreading coronavirus on Friday, opening the door to more federal aid to combat a disease that has infected 138,000 people worldwide and left more than 5,000 dead.
Trump, who some experts criticized for being slow to respond to the crisis, is expected to make the announcement at a news conference at 3 p.m. (1900 GMT), according to a source familiar with the matter.
The rare declaration would allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which controls more than $40 billion in funding set aside by Congress for disaster relief, to provide money to state and local governments and to deploy support teams.
The impact of the coronavirus on everyday life deepened around the world as more schools and businesses closed, the global sporting calendar was left in shreds and people faced greater restrictions on where they could go.
The final economic cost is not yet known, but travel bans have hammered airlines and travel companies while financial markets have been hit by a wave of panic selling.
Despite a limited recovery on Friday, the main U.S. stock indexes faced their biggest weekly declines since the 2008 financial crisis, and they remain around 25 percent below the record highs hit in mid-February.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said that Europe was now the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, after the number of cases in China, where it originated, slowed to a trickle.
The WHO’s top emergency expert Mike Ryan said social distancing was a “tried and tested method” to slow the spread of a virus but “not a panacea” that would stop transmission.
“Blanket travel measures in their own right will do nothing to protect an individual state,” he said.
World leaders, sports stars and actors were among the tens of thousands of people hit by the virus.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would be in isolation for two weeks after his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, tested positive for coronavirus. She said she would “be back on my feet soon”.
Movie star Tom Hanks announced in Australia that he and his wife, actress Rita Wilson, have both tested positive, as have Mikel Arteta, manager of English soccer club Arsenal, and Chelsea forward Callum Hudson-Odoi.
Golf’s jewel in the crown, The Masters, and England’s top-flight soccer league joined the long list of elite sporting events to be canceled or postponed.
Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A and the French Ligue 1 are all on hold and Germany’s Bundesliga followed suit on Friday.
But sport’s biggest showpiece, the Olympics, will still go ahead as planned, according to Tokyo organizers.
Responding to comments by Trump that the event could be delayed for a year, Japanese Olympic minister Seiko Hashimoto told reporters: “The IOC and 2020 organizers are not at all considering cancelling or postponing the Games.”
