The Latest: 1st state in US postpones presidential primaries

The Latest on the world's coronavirus pandemic:

Louisiana's governor planned to postpone the state's presidential primaries due to fears of the coronavirus, an aide said Friday, which would make it the first state to do so.

Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards planned to sign an executive order delaying the April 4 primary until June 20, said his spokeswoman Christina Stephens.

“We are experiencing community spread of coronavirus in Louisiana, and the governor is taking decisive action to slow its progress,” Stephens said on Twitter.

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French Health Minister Olivier Veran has said in the daily address Friday that there are now 3661 confirmed cases in France — a figure that represents a rise of more than 800 since Thursday.

Veran said there have been 18 new deaths reported, bringing the French death toll to 79. All non-urgent actions in hospital are being postponed.

A count of 154 infected people are in a serious condition.

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Mexico's stock exchange said Friday that its president tested positive for coronavirus, but has yet to display any symptoms.

In a statement, the Mexican Stock Exchange said that Jaime Ruiz Sacristán had tested positive on Thursday. It said he would work from home for two weeks on the recommendation of his doctor.

It did not explain why Ruiz was tested if he had not displayed any symptoms.

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The Walt Disney Co. says its shutting down many of its live-action productions, including “The Little Mermaid,” due to the coronavirus.

Hollywood on Friday continued to halt shoots of most films and television series to help control the spread of the virus. For Disney, that also includes “The Last Duel” with Matt Damon, Adam Driver and Ben Affleck; Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”; a “Home Alone” remake; and Guillermo Del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley.” It’s also putting on a hold a pair of films in pre-production: “Peter Pan and Wendy” and a “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” reboot.

“While there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 on our productions, after considering the current environment and the best interests of our cast and crew, we have made the decision to pause production on some of our live-action films for a short time,” said a spokesman for Disney.

The Walt Disney Co. on Thursday said it would shutter its theme parks, including Disney World and Disneyland, and it delayed the releases of several upcoming films, including “Mulan.”

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University of Texas President Greg Fenves said his wife has tested positive for coronavirus and he is encouraging anyone who has been in close contact with him or his family self-quarantine for 14 days.

Fenves said he has been tested as is awaiting results. Another family member who works on the 50,000-student campus is presumed to be positive as well, he said.

Fenves and his wife Carmel traveled to New York City last week for several events with alumni and students. She started exhibiting mild flu-like symptoms after their returns. Her positive test for COVID-19 was returned this morning.

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Seven new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Bulgaria on Friday, bringing the total number of cases to 30 with one fatality, the country’s health minister said.

Following the announcement of a one-month state of emergency in the Balkan country of 7 million, the government said that it was ordering a shutdown of kindergartens, schools, restaurants, entertainment establishments and shops. Only food stores and pharmacies would remain open.

Parliament approved a law amendment setting the penalties for infected people who do not observe quarantine procedures to up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 25,000 euro.

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Authorities in the Madrid region have ordered the closure of all establishments except those selling food and other essential items, such as pharmacies.

The measure Friday came as the number of COVID-19 cases in the Spanish capital region surpassed 2,000 and deaths reached 64.

That means the Madrid region accounts for about half of the country’s cases and deaths, which national health officials said stood at 4,209 cases and 120 dead.

From midnight local time Saturday and through March 26, government offices, cinemas and gyms, among other premises, are to shut. Restaurants and bars providing home delivery will be allowed to continue operating.

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Gibraltar’s government has announced that due to the coronavirus pandemic it is postponing a planned March 19 referendum on whether to allow abortion.

The government of the tiny speck of British territory on Spain's southern tip says it is taking the step so as not to expose vulnerable elderly voters to the new coronavirus. It had previously advised elderly people to remain at home.

A government statement says the vote will be held at a date to be decided by parliament. In mostly Catholic Gibraltar, abortion currently is a crime, with "child destruction" punishable by life in prison.

Gibraltar’s population is around 34,000. It has so far recorded one case of the virus.

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Pakistan government has postponed the upcoming March 23 national day military parade amid increasing cases of coronavirus, information minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said.

Pakistan showcases its military hardware at the parade. Thousands of people witness the parade at a open public place in the capital Islamabad.

So far, 28 people have been tested positive across the country. The latest seven cases were detected at the Taftan border near Iran where about 4000 people returning from Iran have been quarantined.

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French President Emmanuel Macron announced in a tweet on Friday that an extraordinary summit of G7 leaders would be held Monday by videoconference to coordinate efforts on a vaccine and treatment of the COVID-19 virus, and "work on an economic and financial response."

Macron had announced during an address to the nation on coronavirus Thursday night that he would be discussing the summit Friday with President Donald Trump as the United States currently holds the G7 presidency.

"It's not division that will allow us to respond today to a world crisis," Macron said during his solemn address to France in which he announced the closing of all schools and other measures.

His reference to divisions apparently referred to Trump's announcement of sharp restrictions on travel to the United States from 26 European countries — without advance consultations.

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The U.N. children’s agency says handwashing with soap is critical in the fight against the new coronavirus but billions of people around the world don’t have ready access to a place to wash their hands.

UNICEF said in a statement that according to the latest data only three out of five people worldwide — 60% — have basic handwashing facilities.

According to the latest estimates, UNICEF said 40% of the world’s population, or three billion people, don’t have a facility with water and soap at home, and in the world’s poorest countries the figure rises to 75%.

UNICEF Director of Programs Sanjay Wijesekera said the agency is continuing its efforts to make basic hygiene and sanitation available to people in every country.

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Italian civil protection authorities say the number of coronavirus infections has soared by more than 2,500 in the last 24 hours while virus-related deaths make largest single-day jump of 250.

That brings the total number of infected in Italy to 17,660 since the outbreak began on Feb. 21, and the number of related deaths to 1,266.

Italy is the epicenter of the virus outbreak in Europe.

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Nearly 400 doctors in Oregon have signed a letter to Gov. Kate Brown asking her to take more dramatic steps to protect Oregonians from the coronavirus and prepare the state's health care system for an influx of patients.

The letter says “we see ourselves making decisions in the next two weeks on who will live and who will died because we don’t have resources sufficient to care for them.”

The doctors are asking Brown to create a statewide call center, a statewide helpline for medical workers and a medical ethics team, whose members would create guidelines on how to use medical resources if there are not enough supplies to treat everyone equally.

Brown did not immediately respond to the letter but all Oregon schools will be closed for two weeks starting Monday.

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Science policy leaders from around the globe are calling on publishers to immediately make available all research and data on the new coronavirus.

The leaders come from a dozen countries, including the United States, Italy, Japan and South Korea. They are asking in a letter addressed to members of the scholarly publishing community to make coronavirus research available in the PubMed Central repository and the World Health Organization’s COVID data base.

Kelvin Droegemeier, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, helped lead the effort. The science advisers said a prompt response from the scientific and publishing committee will accelerate global efforts to contain the virus “and thus save lives."

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The Los Angeles Unified School District and San Diego school districts will close starting March 16 because of the coronavirus threat.

The decision was announced by superintendents of both districts, which together serve 750,000 students.

They are the latest in a growing number of districts across the U.S.

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West Virginia, Idaho and Montana are the last states without a confirmed case of the coronavirus after Alabama announced one.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice still shuttered schools statewide on Friday in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. has 1,701 cases and 41 deaths.

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Greece has announced new sweeping closures in an effort to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, amid a significant jump in confirmed cases.

Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias said the extra measures were being taken because people were not adhering to advice for social distancing.

Greece’s confirmed cases jumped Friday from 117 to 190. The Health Ministry’s head of infectious diseases, Sotiris Tsiodras, said the source of infection was unclear for 11 of the people involved. Five positive cases are in serious condition and one person has died.

Tsiodras said closures would now extend to all shopping malls, cafes, bars and restaurants, except those that provide only take-away food. Greece has already shut down schools and universities, gyms, cultural centers and cinemas.

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The mayor of Miami has tested positive for the new coronavirus after meeting with a Brazilian senior official who was also in close proximity to President Donald Trump.

Mayor Francis Suarez said Friday he was not feeling any symptoms and advised anyone who shook hands with him or was close to him to self-isolate for 14 days.

Florida politicians such as U.S. Sen. Rick Scott had expressed concerns about coming into contact with the Brazilian president’s press secretary Fábio Wajngarten, who tested positive after joining Bolsonaro in a visit to Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate last weekend.

Florida has reported about 43 cases of the new coronavirus.

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The head of the World Health Organization says Europe, not China, is now the epicenter of the world's coronavirus pandemic.

Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva that "more cases are now being reported every day than were reported in China at the height of its epidemic.”

He noted that “5,000 people have lost their lives, a tragic milestone.”

He says Europe now has "more reported virus cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined, apart from China."

Over 135,000 people have been infected worldwide, the most in China, where over 3,000 patients have died and over 62,000 have already recovered.

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The number of people in the U.K. testing positive for the new coronavirus jumped 35% over the past day as criticism over the government’s approach to the outbreak escalated.

The British government said 798 people had tested positive for the COVID-19 disease by Friday, up from 590 the day before. Ten people have now died. In total, 32,771 people have been tested.

The Conservative government’s strategy to contain the outbreak has come under criticism for not yet ordering the mass closure of schools, banning large events or introducing “social distancing” measures” that have been adopted elsewhere in Europe.

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Venezuela has confirmed its first two cases of the new coronavirus, raising concerns about the crisis-stricken nation’s ability to curb the spread of the illness and care for patients.

Vice President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday confirmed the illness in a man and woman who recently traveled from the United States, Italy and Spain.

Venezuela has been paralyzed by a political crisis that’s led to an economic and social collapse, leaving its hospitals and health care system in a shamble.

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The Trump administration on Friday named a testing “czar” at the Department of Health and Human Services after numerous complaints about the shortage of coronavirus tests in the U.S.

Separately, the FDA posted on Twitter that labs having problems getting supplies for collecting patient samples for testing should call the agency’s toll-free information hotline.

The testing czar is Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health. He will be responsible for coordinating between CDC and FDA, as well as private labs and state and local governments.

The United States has tested far few people per capita than other countries like South Korea and Italy.

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Canada's House of Commons voted Friday to shut down for at least five weeks to help ensure lawmakers do not contribute to the spread of for new coronavirus.

The moves comes after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's wife tested positive. The prime minister himself has been in self-imposed quarantine.

Trudeau says his government will recommend that Canadians avoid travel outside the country except for essential purposes.

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Spain's leader says he is declaring a state of emergency for two weeks, a measure that will let him “mobilize all resources," including the military, to contain sharp rise in coronavirus cases.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez made the televised announcement Friday as health authorities confirmed Spain has more than 4,200 infections, with nearly half of those in Madrid.

Earlier, Spain ordered its first mandatory lockdown, confining over 60,000 people to four towns as infections soared.

Sánchez says cases could skyrocket to more than 10,000 next week.

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The English Premier League has been suspended after three clubs put their entire playing squads in self-isolation because of coronavirus.

The league had expected to continue with a full schedule this weekend with fans, but later decided to suspend all matches until April 3 “at the earliest.”

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Italy has welcomed a team of Chinese medical experts and 31 tons of ventilators, protective masks and other medical equipment as its fight against coronavirus turns a nation that usually donates aid into one that receives it.

Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and the head of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent, Francesco Rocca, were on hand Friday to welcome the Chinese delegation at Red Cross headquarters in Rome.

Italy is the epicenter of the outbreak in Europe, registering more than 15,000 infections and 1,000 dead. Italy has imposed a nationwide lockdown, with stores and restaurants closed and restrictions on individual movement.

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The Trump administration is awarding $1.3 million in federal money to two companies trying to develop rapid COVID-19 tests that could detect whether a person tests positive for the new coronavirus within an hour.

The Trump administration has been criticized for its lack of testing for the virus, compared to other nations around the world.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping has told the U.N. that his nation wants to conduct joint research on drugs and vaccines and offer “as much assistance as it can" to countries where the novel coronavirus is spreading.

State media reported Friday that Xi told U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres by phone that economic and daily life are gradually returning to normal in China thanks to “arduous endeavors" at prevention and control.

China, where the virus was first discovered, recorded just eight new infections on Friday.

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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.