Schools, bars and restaurants were ordered to close in Spain on Saturday, while citizens were told to stay at home unless absolutely necessary, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and health officials announced.
The big picture: Spain is following Italy's lead by shuttering non-essential businesses and implementing domestic travel restrictions, as the two nations grapple with the largest outbreaks of the novel coronavirus in Europe.
France and Israel moved on Saturday to close restaurants, cafes, movie theaters and clubs to promote social distancing amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Where it stands: COVID-19 cases in France have jumped within the last 72 hours from 3,672 as dictated by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center to roughly 4,500 cases. Deaths in the country have increased from 79 to 91 in that time frame. There are 193 cases in Israel, which has not recorded any deaths as of Saturday.
The world once looked to the U.S. for leadership and aid in global health crises.
But theTrump administration has rejected global leadership in the fight against the coronavirus and much of the initial domestic response was focused on shoring up the economy.
Three American and two Iraqi service members were injured Saturday morning in a rocket attack on Camp Taji in Iraq, a base north of Baghdad, U.S. military spokesperson Army Col. Myles Caggins tweeted.
Driving the news: The U.S. targeted five Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah (KH) weapon storage facilities in Iraq on Thursday, following Wednesday's lethal attack that killed two U.S. service members, per the Department of Defense.
China is now taking a leadership role in the coronavirus pandemic, after its initial inaction and cover-ups. Dan and Axios' Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian analyze how China's response could reshape its place in the world.
The coronavirus outbreak in Italy has gotten so bad so quickly that some doctors are now forced to practice "catastrophe medicine" — determining which severely ill patients should, and should not, get care based on the resources available.
Between the lines: The U.S. is not at that point — but a week ago, neither was Italy. The rapid deterioration there underlines the importance of taking preventive measures seriously, and the need for political and health leaders to start thinking about hard ethical questions.
