Portal:Current events/2020 March 14
March 14, 2020 (Saturday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Maghreb insurgency
- Canadian national Édith Blais and her Italian partner Luca Tacchetto are found alive in Mali after escaping from their captors. The pair were abducted in Burkina Faso on December 15, 2018. (CBC)
- Camp Taji attacks
- A second rocket attack this week hits the Camp Taji base in Baghdad Governorate, Iraq, wounding three United States troops. (ABC News)
Business and economy
- Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
- Apple Inc. says it will close all of its stores outside China for two weeks in response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to its CEO Tim Cook. (The Guardian)
- Solomon Islands bans all travelers from China, South Korea and Japan. Health minister Dickson Mua also says that the country has suspended flights to Brisbane, Australia, and banned all civil servants from overseas travel in an effort to contain COVID-19. (RNZ)
- American Airlines says it will suspend long haul international flights from March 16 until May 6. (Yahoo! News)
- Walmart says all of its stores will reduce their hours to 6:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. local time until further notice in response to the pandemic. Several other chains have already done so. (CNN)
Health and environment
- COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 vaccine
- A group of researchers in the Netherlands have found antibodies that can be used to combat COVID-19. (NL Times)
- Scientists from Imperial College London say that a vaccine could be tested soon. (The Independent)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
- COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
- Travel during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Jet2.com planes return to the United Kingdom after the airline cancelled flights to Balearic Islands and Canary Islands. (BBC News)
- 2020 Spain coronavirus lockdown
- Spain officially places the entire country in a lockdown for two weeks after declaring a Status Alarm the day before. (Washington Post)
- Javier Solana, former Secretary General of NATO and former High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has been hospitalized since Wednesday after testing positive for COVID-19. (US News)
- Spain's Ministry of Health reports more than 1,500 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in a single day, including over a thousand in the capital Madrid. (Euronews)
- María Begoña Gómez Fernández, spouse of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, tests positive for coronavirus. (El Confidencial) (Reuters)
- Travel during the COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
- A newborn baby tests positive for COVID-19 at North Middlesex University Hospital in Edmonton, London, becoming the youngest known victim of the disease in the United Kingdom. The child's mother has also tested positive for the disease. (The Guardian)
- NHS England reports 10 more deaths from the coronavirus, doubling the number of deaths in the UK to 21. All patients were aged over 70 and had underlying health conditions. (Daily Standard)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, 2020 Italy coronavirus lockdown
- Italy's Ministry of Health reports 250 more deaths from COVID-19, the highest number of deaths in a single 24-hour period in the country to date. The Mayor of Bergamo Giorgio Gori says churches are now being used to store dead bodies as the city's morgues are full. (Sky News)
- Air pollution in Northern Italy drops following the coronavirus lockdown. (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in San Marino
- The Government of the Republic of San Marino orders a nationwide quarantine until April 6. (San Marino RTV)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
- COVID-19 pandemic in Africa
- COVID-19 pandemic in Morocco
- Abdelkader Aamara, Minister of Equipment, Transport and Logistics and Deputy tests positive for COVID-19. (Straits Times)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Namibia
- COVID-19 pandemic in Rwanda
- Rwanda confirms the country's first case of coronavirus, an Indian citizen who arrived in the country on March 8 from Mumbai. (The New Times)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Morocco
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
- COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
- Iran reports 1,365 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 97 more deaths, the highest number of deaths in a single 24-hour period in the country to date, bringing the total to 12,729 confirmed cases and 611 deaths. (Gulf News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia
- Budi Karya Sumadi, the Indonesian Minister of Transportation, tests positive for COVID-19. (Antara News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Syria
- Syria's government closes all schools and cancels public events until April 2, to prevent the spread of the virus. Syrian Minister Imad al-Azab rejects claims the government is covering up cases and says the new measures are "precautionary". (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
- U.S. President Donald Trump confirms he has been tested for COVID-19, after coming into contact with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's Press Secretary last week, who has been diagnosed with the disease. President Trump's results were negative. (USA Today) (CNBC)
- A total of 16 U.S. states have closed all of their schools as of this date. (USA Today)
- COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state)
- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reports his state has confirmed 613 cases of COVID-19, with two deaths today. (WPIX) (WNBC)
- COVID-19 pandemic in California
- Contra Costa County bans gatherings over 100 people, effective March 15. This is more than twice as strict as Governor Gavin Newsom's ban of crowds of 250 or more people earlier in the week. (San Jose Mercury News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan
- COVID-19 pandemic in Georgia (U.S. state)
- After 66 cases of COVID-19 are confirmed in Georgia, Governor Brian Kemp declares a public health emergency. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Colorado
- In an unprecedented move, Colorado Governor Jared Polis orders the closure of all downhill ski areas for a week, citing coronavirus concerns. (The Colorado Sun)
- COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand
- New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern imposes a 14 day mandatory quarantine to everyone arriving in New Zealand, including diplomats, tourists and returning citizens, but excluding those coming in from Pacific Island nations, and bans all cruise ships from entering the nation until at least June 30. (News.com.au)
- COVID-19 vaccine
Politics and elections
- 2020 United States presidential caucuses in the Northern Mariana Islands, 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
- U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders wins the Northern Mariana Islands Democratic caucuses. (CNN)
Sports
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports
- The Bath Half Marathon is expected to go as planned despite the coronavirus. (BBC News)
- 2020 in UFC
- The Ultimate Fighting Championship events will go as planned despite the coronavirus. (SFGate)
- 2020 XFL season
- A player on the Seattle Dragons tests positive for the coronavirus. (Sports Illustrated)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei
- Wuhan Zall F.C. is expected to leave Spain and return to Wuhan, where the coronavirus was originated. (ESPN)
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, 2019–20 NBA season
- Detroit Pistons power forward Christian Wood reportedly tests positive for COVID-19. (WEYI-TV)