INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
An audience watches a screening of a new film at SXSW
One of
America's most famous music festivals, South by Southwest, has been cancelled due to coronavirus fears.Organisers of the annual event in
Austin, Texas, said they had no choice but to call it off for the first time in its 34-year history.The move was ordered by Austin Mayor
Steve Adler, who declared "a local disaster".The US coronavirus death toll stands at 14, but over 200 people have been confirmed sickened
nationwide.All but one of the deaths have occurred in Washington state.Despite the Austin mayor's declaration of a local disaster - a
largely administrative step - none of the six coronavirus cases recorded so far in Texas are in the state capital.The World Health
Organization says nearly 100,000 people worldwide have contracted the coronavirus
More than 3,000 people have died - the majority in China
In a statement on Friday, SXSW said it was "devastated" by the news, but respected the decision.Event organisers said: "'The show must go
on' is in our DNA, and this is the first time in 34 years that the March event will not take place
"We are now working through the ramifications of this unprecedented situation."Some of the event's biggest exhibitors - including Apple,
Amazon, Twitter and Facebook - had already pulled out.The 10-day event attracts leading figures from the spheres of technology, music and
media to mingle in the Texas capital
festival, according to a study commissioned by event organisers
The event's organisers had been under pressure to call it off
A petition to that effect on change.org received 55,000 signatures
Several other large tech conferences have been cancelled in recent weeks including Google's Cloud Next conference, Mobile World Congress
and the Game Developers conference
What's happening with the quarantined cruise ship?Meanwhile, US Vice-President Mike Pence, who is co-ordinating the nation's response to
the outbreak, confirmed that 21 people had tested positive for the coronavirus on a cruise ship that had been quarantined off the California
coast.He said 46 people aboard the Grand Princess had been swabbed - 19 crew and two passengers were found to be infected
There are 3,500 people on the vessel, including more than 2,400 passengers, who have been confined to their cabins.According to the New York
Times, those aboard the vessel only learned the results of the tests while watching cable news.The Grand Princess' captain reportedly
apologised to them over the loudspeaker, saying he had received no prior notice of the news briefing.Authorities halted the cruise liner
after learning that three previous passengers had been stricken with coronavirus.One was a 71-year-old man who died this week in a hospital
near Sacramento, California.Another is gravely ill with Covid-19 in the San Francisco area
A woman from the Canadian province of Alberta has also tested positive
Meanwhile, two health screeners at Los Angeles international airport have tested positive for the coronavirus, Reuters news agency reports,
and have been told to self-isolate until 17 March.How is the US government responding?At the White House briefing, officials said the CDC
had shipped out 900,000 coronavirus tests and that another 200,000 would be sent out on Saturday.A further one million tests were expected
to be sent out early next week, said officials.Media playback is unsupported on your deviceMedia captionCruise ship passenger: 'I received
death threats for having coronavirus'On Thursday, Mr Pence had acknowledged the US was short of coronavirus tests, amid fears the infection
could be spreading undetected in communities nationwide.On Friday, President Donald Trump signed an $8.3bn emergency bill designed to combat
He urged calm, saying: "It'll go away." Earlier, the White House briefly cancelled the president's visit to the Centers for Disease
Control, after someone at the globally renowned public health institute in Atlanta, Georgia, was suspected of being infected with the
But the trip was later restored to Mr Trump's schedule after the person tested negative.Also on Friday, Mr Trump - a self-confessed
germaphobe - was seen shaking hands with people as he visited a community hit by a tornado in Tennessee.On Thursday, he told Fox News that
he would continue shaking hands with voters, despite public advisories from health officials against such physical contact."I'll be shaking
hands with people," he said, "and they want to say hello and hug you and kiss you
I don't care."What are the latest global updates?The coronavirus death toll in Italy rises to nearly 200The Vatican, Serbia, Slovakia, Peru
and Togo have reported their first cases of the virusA man in his 80s became the second person in the UK to die after testing positive for
the coronavirusScotland Women's Six Nations match with France at Glasgow's Scotstoun Stadium has been postponed after a home player
contracted coronavirus.France became the latest country to announce school closures, which will affect the worst-hit areas in the
countryCanada confirmed its first "community" case of a person who had not recently left the country and had no known contact with someone
infected A cruise ship was forced to turn away from Malta after doctors threatened industrial action if it docked amid coronavirus
concernsYou might be interested in watching:Media playback is unsupported on your deviceMedia captionVietnam put out this song to teach
people how to protect themselves from coronavirus
