People wearing face masks and gloves shop at the Palladium Shopping Center, in northern Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2020. Iran's supreme leader put the Islamic Republic's armed forces on alert Tuesday to assist health officials in combating the outbreak of the new coronavirus, the deadliest outside of China. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
March 3, 2020
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March 3, 2020 6:14 p.m.
Virus crisis ebbs in China, spreads fear across the West
PARIS (AP) — The coronavirus epidemic shifted increasingly westward toward the Middle East, Europe and the United States on Tuesday, with governments taking emergency steps to ease shortages of masks and other supplies for front-line doctors and nurses.