Health News Roundup: Coronavirus spreads fear, isolation, death to elderly; WHO message to youth on coronavirus and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Coronavirus spreads fear, isolation, death to elderly worldwide

Grace Dowell, a 63-year-old grandmother, has stopped grocery shopping and canceled all her doctor's appointments. No one is allowed into her rural Maryland home. Every piece of mail is disinfected. Dowell decided last week that strict isolation was the only way to protect herself, her husband and her mother from COVID-19, the virus that has killed more than 10,000 people across the globe and is proving especially deadly for the elderly.

WHO message to youth on coronavirus: 'You are not invincible'

Coronavirus can sicken or kill young people as well and they must also avoid mingling and spreading it to older and more vulnerable people, the World Health Organization said on Friday. With more than 210,000 cases reported worldwide and a death toll of 9,000, each day brings a "new and tragic milestone", WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

CDC reports 15,268 coronavirus cases, 201 deaths

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday reported 15,268 cases of coronavirus, an increase of 4,777 cases from its previous count, and said the death toll had risen by 51 to 201. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness, COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. ET on March 19, compared with its tally a day earlier. (https://bit.ly/2IVY1JT)

Coronavirus deaths in Italy overtake China as economic damage mounts

The world's richest nations poured unprecedented aid into the global economy on Thursday as coronavirus cases ballooned in the new epicenter Europe, with the number of deaths in Italy outstripping those in mainland China, where the virus originated. With over 242,000 infections and nearly 10,000 deaths, the epidemic has stunned the world and drawn comparisons with painful periods such as World War Two, the 2008 financial crisis and the 1918 Spanish flu.

What you need to know about coronavirus right now

Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus today:

California issues "stay at home" order China's new imported coronavirus cases at record; no domestic transfers for second day

China's imported coronavirus cases have risen to a record 228, data showed on Friday, as infected travelers spread to ever more provinces, adding pressure on authorities to toughen entry rules and health protocols. For a second day in a row, China found no domestically transmitted cases of the virus that emerged in its central province of Hubei late last year, according to new daily figures registered on Thursday. Who gets the ventilator?

British doctors contemplate harrowing coronavirus care choices

The coronavirus pandemic is forcing senior doctors in Britain's National Health Service to contemplate the unthinkable: how to ration access to critical care beds and ventilators should resource fall short. The country's public health system, the NHS, is ill-equipped to cope with an outbreak that is unprecedented in modern times. Hospitals are now striving to at least quadruple the number of intensive care beds to meet an expected surge in serious virus cases, senior physicians told Reuters, but expressed dismay that preparations had not begun weeks earlier.

Staff working with immigrant detainees in the U.S. test positive for coronavirus

At least two staff members working at U.S. facilities for immigrant detainees - one at an adult jail and one at shelter housing children - have tested positive for the coronavirus, raising alarms about the illness potentially spreading in crowded detention centers. A member of the medical administrative staff at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey tested positive for COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus, and is currently receiving treatment, ICE spokeswoman Danielle Bennett said in a statement.

Novartis to donate malaria drug in fight against coronavirus

Novartis will donate enough doses of malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat several million patients in the fight against the coronavirus if it wins approval, the Swiss company said on Friday. There are no vaccines or treatments approved for the disease, but there is currently a 1,500-person trial, led by the University of Minnesota, to see whether hydroxychloroquine can prevent or reduce the severity of COVID-19. Two other trials are studying blood pressure drug losartan as a possible treatment.

Spain to treat thousands of coronavirus patients in conference hall as toll tops 1,000

Spanish authorities said on Friday they would turn a Madrid conference center into a giant makeshift military hospital for thousands of coronavirus patients, as Europe's second-worst outbreak claimed another 235 lives. Spain's worst single-day death toll yet brought the country's total fatalities above 1,000.