Coronavirus updates live: House approves coronavirus aid bill

Japan still preparing for Olympics, prime minister says

Japan continues to prepare to host the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Saturday, despite continued concern about the viability of the Games given the global outbreak.

The Olympic Torch relay — in which the Olympic flame typically starts a tour around the host nation — is still due to start in the Japanese prefecture of Fukushima in less than two weeks. The tour of the torch through Greece has already been cut short.

“We will overcome the spread of the infection and host the Olympics without problem, as planned,” Abe told the news conference in Tokyo.

Residents of apartment buildings in Italy applaud health care workers

A video filmed in Turin, Italy, shows residents of apartment buildings gathering at their windows and balconies in order to applaud the country’s heath care workers who are responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

The city, home to nearly 900,000 people in northwest Italy, has been on lockdown for weeks, as the country battles the ongoing outbreak that has taken the lives of more than 1,200 people there. Approximately 18,000 Italians are infected, officials reported on Friday. 

Newborn baby confirmed as youngest patient in the U.K.

A newborn in a borough near London is believed to be the youngest person in the U.K. to have tested positive for coronavirus.

A spokesperson for North Middlesex University Hospital NHS trust said that two patients at the hospital have tested positive for coronavirus. One has been transferred to a specialist centre and one is being treated in an isolation room.

In an interview with NBC News’ partner broadcaster ITV News, health minister Helen Whately noted on Saturday that children seem to be less at risk compared to older people. The case of the newborn baby was first reported by British tabloid newspaper The Sun. 

The U.K. has almost 800 confirmed cases as of Saturday. 

Troops have no access to coronavirus tests in Afghanistan, Pentagon says

There currently are no coronavirus tests available to troops in Afghanistan, the Pentagon told lawmakers on Capitol Hill Friday — a fact a U.S. military official later confirmed to NBC News.

Coalition troops have no access to tests but if they have symptoms, believe they are at risk or have flu-like symptoms, they are able to report to sick call and receive on-base medical care. 

That care includes screening and a medical diagnosis. If they are suspected of carrying coronavirus, the doctors on the base will send samples to a testing facility at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany or civilian testing facilities in Munich to conduct a COVID-19 test.

Military officials confirmed there are quarantine and isolation procedures in place at all of the military medical facilities in Afghanistan.

North Korea claims it has no coronavirus cases

The government in North Korea claims there are no cases of COVID-19 in North Korea, according to a state news agency. 

The KCNA agency said in an editorial said officials had increased the amount of public knowledge about the disease but added that this didn’t mean people should feel relieved “for having no COVID-19 case in the DPRK,”

North Korea has further intensified quarantine and medical observation of foreigners entering the country according to the agency, and has freed over 70 foreigners without suspected symptoms from quarantine.

The top American general in South Korea said Friday, however, he is fairly certain North Korea has not been spared by the COVID-19 outbreak that began in neighboring China.

Iran reports big jump in cases and deaths

The death toll from coronavirus infections in Iran rose significantly on Saturday to 611 — almost 100 more from a day earlier, according to the Iranian health ministry.

One of the countries most deeply affected by the pandemic, there are 12,729 confirmed cases as of Saturday, up from 11,364 on Friday.

Violinist performs balcony concert in locked down Italy

A violinist performed a balcony concert for neighboring apartments in Bologna, Italy on Friday as the country continues its strict lockdown measures.

The video filmed by Bologna-resident Rudi De Fanti has been viewed more than 600,000 times on Twitter so far.

There has been much musical solidarity in Italy in the past week. Taranto residents sung from their homes, and a viral video that has more than 2 million views shows Italians singing a traditional folk song in harmony from their balconies in Siena.

A video released by the Carabinieri — an Italian policing agency — shows members of the agency in a “loud flashmob” playing music from buildings, with a caption saying “music unites people.”

What does coronavirus mean for the 2020 election?

Two weeks ago, Bernie Sanders was the Democratic presidential front-runner, the U.S. economy was humming and President Donald Trump had reason to be optimistic about his re-election prospects.

Then the first American died from the coronavirus. The campaign as we knew it would soon be over.

Read the full story here 

Washington Monument to close temporarily

The National Park Service temporarily suspended elevator tours in the Washington Monument starting Saturday, citing safety concerns. Visitors can still see the Washington Monument grounds as well as other monuments along the National Mall. A reopening date has not yet been determined.

China sees imported cases exceed new local infections for first time

The number of new coronavirus cases imported into mainland China from overseas surpassed the number of locally transmitted new infections for the first time on Friday, data released by the country’s National Health Commission showed on Saturday.

Of mainland China’s 11 new reported cases on Friday, seven were imported internationally. Only four of those — all in the virus epicenter of Hubei province — were locally transmitted.

The other seven were all detected in travelers coming into China from overseas, specifically Italy, the United States and Saudi Arabia, according to local authorities.

This new data seems to underscore how China — where the outbreak began — appears to now face a greater threat of infections from outside its borders, as it continues to slow the spread of the virus domestically.