California tells residents: 'stay home'

California's 40 million residents were in a lockdown on Friday and New York City's mayor renewed his call for the governor to put a shelter in place rule for the city as the number of cases surged due to increased testing.

As he told people to stay at home on Thursday, California Governor Gavin Newsom cited a model that state planners have been using, suggesting that 56 percent of Californians – about 25 million --could be infected over the next eight weeks.

In Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, saying "we have no time to lose'', ordered all "non-life-sustaining" businesses to shut down, or risk enforcement from state police

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a TV interview on Friday morning: "I think every place that's at the front line of this crisis needs to move to shelter in place to protect ourselves. Anything nonessential needs to stop."

But Governor Andrew Cuomo has resisted his request, saying any such plan would need to be adopted regionally, adding he fears the panic such a move might cause.

New York state has the most cases of the coronavirus – almost 5,300 -- and make up more than 40 percent of the nationwide total. The state has only 6 percent of the country's population.

An increase in confirmed cases came as dozens of private laboratories in the state received approval to test for the virus. Until recently, two government-run labs had done most of New York's testing.

There were 205 reported deaths across 25 states and more than 14,200 confirmed cases early Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Worldwide, the death toll has topped 10,000, with more than 246,000 confirmed cases.

The death toll in the US passed 200 on Friday and there were more than 14,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

The mayor also said the city's need for medical supplies, including face masks, gloves and ventilators, was growing more urgent.

"At the beginning of April, we will run out of basic medical supplies because of the intense strain that is being put on our hospitals by this crisis," he said. "We literally will not have the things we need to save people's lives."

In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott declared a health disaster for the first time since 1901 and issued an executive order stopping dine-in service at restaurants and bars. The order also called for closing schools, and a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people statewide.

The virus has closed thousands of businesses across the US, and on Thursday the Labor Department released numbers that previewed what is ahead: 281,000 people nationwide applied for unemployment insurance last week, up from 211,000 the previous week.

The Federal Reserve said Friday it would extend its asset purchase program into short-term municipal bonds.

The central bank had limited its efforts to Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities in an effort to keep liquidty flowing through the system and to stabilize credit markets.

In Washington, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday that Tax Day would be moved to July 15, giving Americans an additional three months to file their income tax returns. He said that the decision was made at the direction of President Trump.

Senate leaders from both parties are to meet on Friday with Trump's team to begin working out their differences on a $1 trillion economic stabilization plan.

Republicans on Thursday introduced a bill that would send checks of as much as $1,200 to taxpayers who earn up to $99,000; large corporate tax cuts, loans for businesses and industries and curbs on a paid leave program enacted this week.

There is broad agreement on the need for a rescue package, which would be the third round of emergency aid Congress has considered this month. But Democrats have criticized the bill as favoring corporations over workers.

In Europe, cases in Europe grew exponentially and officials warned that hospitals could be overwhelmed within days.

The death toll in Italy, which has 64 million people, on Thursday surpassed China's, with a population of 1.4 billion.

Coronavirus has killed more people in Italy than in any other country, after deaths there rose on Thursday by 427 in a day.

The number of deaths now stands at 3,405, which is more than in China where the virus was first reported last year. There have been 3,245 reported deaths in China.

Italy's lockdown will have to be extended beyond the current end-date of April 3, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Thursday as the death toll spiked.