Coronavirus US news: 'Dow erases all its gains since Trump took office' as it’s revealed outbreak could kill 2 million

Hello and welcome to The Independent's rolling coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and the Donald Trump administration's attempts to contain it in the US.

Trump mulls sending illegal immigrants back to Mexico over virus

The Donald Trump administration is reportedly considering a plan to turn back all people who cross the border illegally from Mexico, using powers they say the president has during pandemics like the coronavirus outbreak to mount what would be one of its most aggressive attempts to curtail illegal immigration yet.

The plan is under consideration and no final decisions have been made, according to officials cited by the AP.  They said the president has authority to take such action in a pandemic and that Mexico's efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus, along with Venezuela's, have been the weakest in North and South America. The officials said its authority relies on a law that gives the president authority to deny entry to people or to reject cargo if the surgeon general determines there is "serious danger" of bringing a communicable disease to the United States. 

The administration had declared in November 2018 that anyone who crossed the border illegally from Mexico would be denied asylum, a measure has been blocked in court. Last month, a 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals panel in San Francisco upheld a lower court decision to keep that asylum ban on hold while a lawsuit proceeds. 

The ban now being considered, which was first reported by The New York Times, would turn back to Mexico all people who cross the border illegally, not just those seeking asylum. 

Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Heather Swift said the president was focused on protecting Americans from the coronavirus and that "all options are on the table." 

Immigrant advocacy groups condemned the possible move. 

"Decisions relating to the pandemic should be guided by public health officials, not by the Trump administration's long-standing agenda to close the border to refugees seeking asylum," said Eleanor Acer, Human Rights First's director of refugee protection. "The administration is using the pandemic as a pretext to advance its long-term goal of curtailing asylum rights for people fleeing persecution." 

A third official familiar with the administration's decision-making and unauthorised to speak publicly said there was some alarm within the government and health care community about the health of people at the Southern border, and there could be consequences without further restrictions. The official noted that some migrants are coming over the border from countries with confirmed cases of the virus. 

But the proposal is also in line with Trump's overall policies on migrants, especially poor people arriving at the border, and his desire to clamp down on immigration. It would be the effort to deter asylum and illegal immigration on the Mexican border. About 60,000 asylum-seekers have been returned to Mexico to wait for hearings in US immigration court since January 2019 under its "Remain in Mexico" policy, which the Supreme Court ruled last week could stay in effect during a legal challenge. The officials didn't detail the mechanics of how this new effort would work. 

Many migrants who are forced to wait in Mexico live in squalor in makeshift camps as they wait out their court cases to stay in the US, often facing violence and poverty. On Tuesday, some 30 asylum-seekers, many with children, wore masks to court in El Paso, Texas. 

One US official told the AP that people who cross the border illegally would still be processed by the Border Patrol, which has limited ability to so without taking people to a station. Mexico can refuse to take back non-Mexicans, but the Trump administration hopes the measure will increase pressure on Mexican authorities to address the public health threat. 

Since November, the administration has denied asylum to hundreds of people from El Salvador and Honduras and flown them to Guatemala with a chance to seek protection there. 

There were more than 851,000 arrests for crossing the border during the 2019 fiscal year, which ended on 30 Sepember. The new policy would not apply to asylum-seekers who present themselves at land ports of entry, the official said. 

Gino Spocchia has more on this.

US federal rescue package could top $1trn

With the virus now hitting all 50 states - and the US on 6,135 cases and 110 dead - the president appears to have finally got the message on the severity of the crisis and is proposing an economic rescue package of $1trn (£831bn) as well as asking Congress to speed up emergency checks to Americans, enlisting the military for mobile hospitals and imploring ordinary citizens to stay at home.

  As part of a rescue initiative not seen since the Great Recession, Trump wants cheques sent to the public within two weeks and is urging Congress to pass the eye-popping stimulus package in a matter of days. As analysts warn the country is surely entering another severe downturn, the government is grappling with an enormous political undertaking with echoes of the 2008 financial crisis.

At the Capitol on Tuesday, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell vowed the Senate would not adjourn until the work was done. "Obviously, we need to act," McConnell said. "We're not leaving town until we have constructed and passed another bill." 

But first, McConnell said, the Senate will vote on a House-passed package of sick pay, emergency food and free testing, putting it back on track for Trump's signature - despite Republican objections. "Gag, and vote for it anyway," he advised colleagues. It was a signal of what the GOP leader called the "herculean" task ahead. 

McConnell though has again attracted anger over his refusal to put aside his personal political interests to get results, with Ohio senator Sherrod Brown on especially explosive form.

Senators gathered at an otherwise shut-down Capitol as Americans across the country were implored to heed advice and avoid crowds. Young adults, in particular, are being urged to quit going out because even seemingly healthy people can be spreading the virus that causes the Covid-19 illness. 

Bigger than the $700bn (£582bn) 2008 bank bailout or the nearly $800bn (£665bn) 2009 recovery act, the White House proposal aims to provide a massive tax cut for wage-earners, $50bn (£42bn) for the airline industry and $250bn (£208bn) for small businesses.

The amount that would be sent out in cheques to Americans is not yet disclosed. The White House said it liked GOP senator Mitt Romney's idea for $1,000 (£832) cheques, though not necessarily at that sum and not for wealthier people. 

"This is a very unique situation," said teasury secretary Steve Mnuchin, exiting a private briefing of Senate Republicans. "We've put a proposal on that table that would attract a trillion dollars into the economy." 

One Republican leader, senator John Thune of South Dakota, told reporters afterward it "could be" up to $1trn.

Senate Democrats produced their own $750bn proposal, which includes $400bn (£333bn) to shore up hospitals and other emergency operations in response to the global pandemic and $350bn (£291bn) to bolster the safety net with unemployment cheques and other aid to Americans. 

"The aid has to be workers first," said Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, not what happened in 2008, when the big banks took precedence. Schumer also said it's time to call out the National Guard to provide security as communities reel from the crisis. 

The slow-moving Congress is being asked to approve the far-reaching economic rescue as it tries to rise to the occasion of these fast times. A roster of America's big and small industries - airlines, hotels, retailers and even casinos - lined up for hoped-for aid. 

Schumer compared the government response needed to a wartime mobilisation.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who marshaled the earlier package through a bipartisan vote last week, fielded a call from Mnuchin on Tuesday morning and another from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell in the afternoon, encouraged by the Fed chairman's perspective that Congress could think big with interest rates at nearly zero. 

In the call with Mnuchin, she and Peter DeFazio, chairman of the House Transportation committee, "emphasised that protecting workers' paycheques and benefits was their top priority, and that immediate action was needed," said Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill on Twitter. 

The debate is sure to revive the sharp divisions over the costly bank bailout and economic recovery of the Obama and Bush eras.

Pentagon makes hospital ships and labs available to treat civilians, report says

The Pentagon is opening military labs, deploying massive hospital ships and donating medical gear to the federal coronavirus fight that Donald Trump called "a war" on Tuesday.

Defence Secretary Mark Esper said the military will give civilian agencies as many as five million respirator masks and other items to protect emergency personnel, according to The Wall Street Journal. He also said the Defence Department will provide up to 2,000 ventilators, the newspaper reported.

In addition, the Pentagon will open up to 16 military laboratories for civilian testing, and could call up more National Guard and Reserve members to help with the response.

Here's John T Bennett's report.

Joe Biden secures primary wins in Arizona, Illinois and Florida

Democratic front-runner Biden has all but secured his party’s nomination to take on Trump in November after winning the latest round of primary votes, leaving Bernie Sanders for dust.

This is what Diamond Joe had to say to Sanders supporters in a livestream from Delaware.

Here's Andrew Buncombe's report.

Trump confirmed as Republican 2020 nominee

The president in turn secured the GOP nomination last night, an outcome that was never really in doubt in the aftermath of his acquittal in the impeachment trial.

Lucy Gray has this one.

President cuts down on contentious tweets to share expert advice

Aside from continuing to push that racist "Chinese virus" line, Trump's Twitter game has notably softened this week along with his tone in press briefings.

Here's his latest round of hollow reassurances this morning:

For the most part, we've just been getting retweets of credible advice from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health and the occasional rallying cry like this:

Long may it continue.

That hasn't entirely stopped him remaining on brand in person, however. "I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic," he claimed yesterday to a room full of incredulous reporters, who remembered him calling a "hoax" a matter of weeks ago.

"I've been talking about this for many years, long before I decided to run for president, I've been talking about this," he continued, entirely without burning shame.

The change of tone is welcome overall, it must be said, as the coronavirus crisis continues to escalate in the US and across the world with each passing day.

Here's Chris Riotta with our latest update.

Trump resumes attacks on  'disgraceful and false' media while again repeating 'Chinese Virus' slur

Well, it appears I spoke too soon...

As many as 2.2m American lives could be lost to coronavirus unless social distancing adhered to, says new report

An alarming new disease modelling report from Imperial College London has underlined the importance of implementing social distancing measures in America.

Citizens continuing to go about their ordinary lives without taking evasive action could lead to as many as 2.2m deaths, whereas abiding by self-isolation could cut that number by 90 per cent to 220,000.

Here's more on the report, which is chilling indeed.

Asian stocks backslide after Wall Street rebounds on Trump economic pledge

Major Asian stock markets fell back after early gains on Wednesday after Wall Street jumped on Trump's promise of aid to get the US economy through the coronavirus outbreak. 

Benchmarks in Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong all advanced and then fell. Australia's main index fell 6.4 per cent and smaller Asian markets also were mostly lower. 

As I mentioned earlier, the White House proposal could approach $1trn in spending to ward off the pressure of business closures to contain the virus. The Federal Reserve announced more measures to keep financial markets operating. 

On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 index rose by an unusually wide daily margin of 6 per cent, regaining just under half of the previous day's history-making loss. Professional investors expect more big daily swings in both directions until the spreading virus is brought under control. 

There are "green shoots of risk appetite emerging, and some further concerning aspects," said Chris Weston of Pepperstone Group in a report. "I am not going to call a bottom in the risk story by any means." 

The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.2 per cent to 2,772.91 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo shed 1.1 per cent to 16,826.99. Hong Kong's Hang Seng skidded 1.5 per cent to 22,918.46.

Those three markets account for the bulk of the region's stock value. 

The Kospi in Seoul slumped 2.2 per cent to 1,634.97. Australia's S&P-ASX 200 fell to 4,953.20. Market benchmarks in New Zealand and Singapore rose 1 per cent while Manila fell 7.9 per cent. Bangkok surged 2.8 per cent.

On Tuesday, European stocks swung from gains to losses and back to gains. 

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose to 2,529.10. It still is down 25.3 per cent from last month's record. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 5.2 per cent to 21,237.38. A day earlier, the Dow lost nearly 3,000 after Trump said a recession may be on the way. 

The virus has spread so quickly that its effects haven't shown up in much US economic data yet. 

On Tuesday, a report showed retail sales weakened in February, when economists expected a gain. A separate report a day earlier showed manufacturing in the state of New York contracting. 

"The global recession is here and now," S&P Global economists wrote in a report on Tuesday.