US approves 1 trillion dollar special relief package for corona
The Republican-led United States senate overwhelmingly approved a bill backed by US President Donald Trump that guarantees free coronavirus testing for Americans and provides assistance for families and workers affected by the outbreak.
The Senate approval on Wednesday(March 18) sends the bill to the White House for Trump's signature.
At the same time, Congress began work with Trump administration officials to develop a larger measure that would inject up to one trillion dollars into the US economy, officials said.
"This is a very unique situation in this economy. We have put a proposal on the table that would inject a trillion dollars into the economy," Mnuchin said after meeting with Republican senators on Tuesday.
As many as one in five American workers have already lost their jobs or had their hours reduced as businesses across the country shut down or cut staff in response to the health emergency, according to a new Marist poll.
"Across the United States, we are coming to realise that this is an exceptional health crisis the likes of which we have never seen," said Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the US surged to 7,324 on Wednesday, an increase of 2,120 over the previous day, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. Those numbers are expected to rise sharply as testing for the virus becomes more widely available.
Titled the Families First Corona Virus Response Act, the bill approved by the Senate on Wednesday was drafted last week in negotiations between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Trump Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
The bill provides open-ended authority for federal spending in excess of three billion dollars for expanded food assistance and unemployment benefits.
Most workers who do not currently have paid sick leave from their employers would get 14-days of paid leave under the bill if they have to be out because of the outbreak. Small businesses under 50 employees can be exempted from the requirement.
Companies with more than 500 employees are not mentioned in the bill, but would be subject to Department of Labor policies. Nearly one in 10 employees at big companies do not have paid sick leave, according to DOL statistics.
The bill provides for 12 weeks of paid family leave - up to two-thirds of an individual's pay - for workers with children whose schools closed. The benefit would be capped at $200 a day.
Gig workers and the self-employed individuals would get similar benefits via a federal tax credit.
The bill also includes waivers for US public school systems to allow school lunch funds to be redirected to provide meals for children during the outbreak.
The virus was first detected on December 31 in Hubei Province, China. At present, the number of virus infected and dead in the country is going down. Already health workers from different provinces of China have officially begun to leave. So far in the country, Corona has killed a total of 3,226 people. 82 thousand 7 people were infected.
The corona horror though ended in China, but it has gone to be terrifying in Europe particularly in Italy. International news media al-Jazeera cited the country's civil defense agency as the number of corona infected in Italy rose to 31506. So far 2 thousand 903 have died of the virus.
Currently the country is in lockdown. All educational, business establishments, traffic movement and everything have been shut down. Food service establishments and pharmacies are open. Fines are being imposed for violating lockdown. Earlier, the government had banned public gatherings to prevent the coroner's spread. All types of sports events, including football matches, have been suspended.