Coronavirus US news - live: Stocks plummet again as top Democrat says epidemic will be Trump's Hurricane Katrina

Market entering correction territory amid coronavirus fears

Monday and Tuesday saw two of the largest points drops in the history of the Dow Jones.

If the market ends the day down more than 361 points, it will have officially entered correction territory, defined as a drop of 10 per cent from recent highs.

The market closed last week at 28,994. At 10.30am on Thursday it stood at 26,131.

GOP leader says 'this is not time for politics' as he attacks Sanders, Democrats on health care

Moments after saying "this is no time for politics" as Congress works on a response to the coronavirus outbreak, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy renewed his attacks against Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who criticised Mike Pence's appointment to lead the administration's response.

McCarthy and other Republicans plan to issue a resolution condemning Mr Sanders for his appraisal of health outcomes and literacy programs in communist Cuba under Fidel Castro, comments he made as he also condemned authoritarianism and human rights abuses.

He also attacked Democrats that he claims are using coronavirus "as a political moment" while he propped up Republican talking points favouring private health care.

Everything you need to know about your holiday travel plans, explained:

Pence: 'We're ready for anything'

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Vice President Mike Pence says "we're ready for anything" following his appointment to handle the administration's response to the coronavirus outbreak.

He said: "I promise ... to continue to bring the full resources of the federal government to bear to protect the American people."

Meanwhile, the White House has reportedly put Pence's office in control of all coronavirus-related messaging and statements as the administration names a third official to manage the response.

Donald Trump says Pence will report to him, though Pence has appointed current AIDS response director Deborah Birx as the coronavirus response coordinator to the White House. Meanwhile, Health Secretary Alex Azar will continue to chair the government's coronavirus task force.

Pence taps Larry Kudlow for virus task force

After falsely claiming just two days ago that the virus outbreak has been "contained", Larry Kudlow has been appointed to the government's coronavirus task force, under the direction of Vice President Mike Pence.

On 25 February, he told CNBC that “we have contained this. I won’t say [it’s] airtight, but it’s pretty close to airtight."

The National Economic Council Director's remarks followed warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just hours earlier. Dr. Nancy Messonnier said that an outbreak in the US is "not so much of a question of if this will happen in this country any more but a question of when this will happen ... We are asking the American public to prepare for the expectation that this might be bad.”

More than 8,000 people are being medically monitored in California as the state confirms 33 coronavirus infections.

Top doc instructed 'not to say anything else' by White House, report says

According to the New York Times, one of the country’s leading experts on viruses and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases says he was instructed to not discuss any coronavirus developments without first getting clearance from the White House.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci's lid comes from a report indicating that Mike Pence's oversight of the administration's coronavirus response includes the coordination of all public statements and messaging after his appointment to the role by Donald Trump.

Tom Steyer says Trump's coronavirus response could be his 'Hurricane Katrina' moment

Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer compared Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus outbreak to George W Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005,  a disaster that led to the deaths of more than 1,800 people, including hundreds in New Orleans, where federal levees failed and sent rising floodwaters into the city.

Steyer said "it's a total executive failure by an incompetent executive."

There have been no reported deaths in the US following the outbreak, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 15 infections while federal and state officials monitor dozens others.

Whistleblower report: US health workers evacuated Americans from China without training or protective gear

A whistleblower claims that officials with the US Department of Health and Hospitals had sent more than a dozen workers to evacuate Americans from China without protective gear of training for infection control, according to the Washington Post.

The whistleblower is a senior health department official, according to the report.

According to the complaint, the whistleblower alleges that the workers were "potentially exposed to coronavirus because appropriate steps were not taken to protect them, and staff were not trained in wearing personal protective equipment, even though they had face-to-face contact with returning passengers."

We're closing down today's US coverage of the coronavirus outbreak.

Stay tuned with The Independent for more.