<![CDATA[US coronavirus death toll hits nine as Washington state reports three more fatal cases]>
The number of people with the novel coronavirus in the United States climbed on Tuesday with Washington state reporting three more deaths, as authorities worked on preventing its spread and the central bank acted on Tuesday to protect the economy from the impact of the global outbreak.
The Washington State Department of Health said the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases there now stands at 27, including nine deaths, up from 18 cases and six deaths on Monday. All of the fatalities in the United States from the illness associated with the virus were in the Pacific northwest state.
In New York, a man in his 50s who lives in a New York suburb and works at a Manhattan law firm tested positive for the virus, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the state to two, local officials said.
He has severe pneumonia and is hospitalised, officials said. The patient had not travelled to countries hardest hit in the coronavirus outbreak, which began in China in December and is now present in nearly 80 countries and territories, killing more than 3,000 people.
US President Donald Trump told reporters his administration may cut off travel from the United States to areas with high rates of coronavirus, but said officials were not weighing any restrictions on domestic travel.
According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) figures as of Monday, 108 people were infected " 60 in 12 US states, including presumed cases reported by public health laboratories.
The number of cases among repatriated citizens from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak emerged, and from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan was 48, the CDC said.
The latest New York patient was in serious condition, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said, adding that the confirmation was made by the city's public health laboratory on its first day of testing.
Previously, all testing was conducted by the CDC, a process that created a delay of several days before the result was known.
US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn told Congress that testing kits should be available by the end of the week that would give labs the capacity to perform about 1 million coronavirus tests.
Public health officials across the country are focused on prevention efforts and federal regulators approved an emergency order to make more face masks available to health workers.
Officials said healthy people did not need masks and that frequent handwashing was a better preventive measure, saving the masks for health care workers and sick patients.
The US House of Representatives is aiming for Wednesday to debate a multibillion-dollar bill providing emergency funds.
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his administration was working with Congress to pass an emergency spending measure to fight the virus, adding that he expects lawmakers to authorise about US$8.5 billion.
Amid concerns about disruptions to supply chains, airlines and other business impacts of the coronavirus, the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates in an emergency move designed to shield the world's largest economy. The Fed said it was cutting rates by a half percentage point to a target range of 1.00 per cent to 1.25 per cent.
Stocks on Wall Street initially rose more than 2 per cent on the Fed's surprise statement. But the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 later fell by that much in afternoon trading.
International travel to the United States will fall 6 per cent over the next three months, the US Travel Association forecast.
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank said they will adopt a "virtual format" for their Spring Meetings instead of convening in person in the US capital.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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