Amazon won’t dock warehouse workers’ pay, Iran cases surpass 7,100

This is CNBC’s live blog covering all the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak. All times below are in Eastern time. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks. 

• Global cases: More than 111,300, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
• Global deaths: At least 3,892, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
• US cases: At least 566, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
• US deaths: At least 22, according to Johns Hopkins University.

All schools in the northern Spanish city of Vitoria-Gasteiz will be closed for two weeks in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus, regional authorities said on Monday. “All education activities are suspended in the city of Vitoria for two weeks…from kindergarten to universities,” a spokesman for the education department of the Basque Country told Reuters. With nearly 150 confirmed cases the Basque Country, of which Vitoria is the regional capital, is among the worst-hit areas in Spain, which has registered 999 cases and more than 20 deaths from the outbreak. —Reuters

CNBC’s Jim Cramer said financial turmoil from the coronavirus shows that monetary policy is no longer an appropriate solution. “This is just the need for fiscal policy,” Cramer said on “Squawk on the Street.” “Monetary policy is over.” Last week, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a half percentage point in response to the growing economic threat from COVID-19. Cramer has been critical of that decision, arguing the government should actually be stepping up to provide financial help to small and medium-sized businesses who may see significant challenges from the disease’s spread. Those businesses should have an opportunity to access zero-interest loans, for example, Cramer said Monday. —Stankiewicz

U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar said President Donald Trump’s administration is working aggressively on the coronavirus disease spreading worldwide after he was asked on a media conference call to respond to the stock market plunging on coronavirus fears. “It’s been a very aggressive, whole of government approach at the state, local and federal level,” Azar told reporters. “We’re taking COVID-19 incredibly seriously,” he also said, using the official name for the virus. —Reuters

Seattle-based Amazon and Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said they were each contributing $1 million to the Seattle Foundation fund. The money will be used toward “resources to organizations in the Puget Sound region working with communities who are disproportionally impacted by coronavirus and the economic consequences of the outbreak,” the company said. The fund currently has over $2.5 million, according to a statement from the nonprofit foundation. Amazon has been battling the coronavirus on several fronts. It recently said it’s removing thosuands of high-priced items to prevent price gouging on its site. It asked employees in Seattle and Bellevue, Washington to work from home if they can through the rest of the month. And last week, an Aamzon employee tested positive for coronavirus. At least 22 people have died from coronavirus in the US, including 19 in Washington where confirmed cases hit 136 people. “Funds will be released on a rolling basis as fundraising continues throughout the outbreak and recovery phases of the crisis, making it possible to move resources quickly and adapt to evolving needs in subsequent funding phases,” the company said. —Haselton

U.S. stocks cratered at the market open as investors braced for the economic fallout from the spreading coronavirus, while a shocking all-out oil price war added to the anxiety. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tanked more than 1,900 points, while the S&P 500 plunged more than 7%. The massive sell-off triggered a key market circuit breaker in morning trading. Trading was halted for 15 minutes until reopening at 9:49 a.m. ET. Investors continued to seek safer assets amid additional fears that the coronavirus will disrupt global supply chains and tip the economy into a recession. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped below 0.5% for the first time ever, while the 30-year rate breached 1%. —Li

The IMF’s chief economist urged policymakers to implement “substantial” fiscal and monetary policies to help consumers and businesses cope with the economic harm of the coronavirus outbreak. In a blog post published Monday, IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath said the human costs of the coronavirus epidemic have risen “at an alarming rate.” She said governments should consider measures like cash transfers, wage subsidies or tax relief, while central banks should be prepared to provide liquidity to banks and companies, as the epidemic disrupts supply chains and consumer demand around the world. —Schulze

The number of people infected with the new coronavirus in the Netherlands increased to 321 on Monday, up from 264 a day earlier, Dutch health authorities said. The authorities reported no new deaths because of the coronavirus, after the first three patients in the Netherlands died in recent days. —Reuters

The U.S. will need a “massive financial package” to curb the spread of COVID-19, former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Monday. The virus has spread past the point of containment, Gottlieb said, and hard-hit regions should be moving toward easing efforts such as school and business closures. He said a bailout now to encourage those steps would cost less than one after the outbreak spreads beyond control. “We’re going to end up with a massive fiscal package, a bailout on the back end of this,” he said on “Squawk Box.” “We are better off using that money up front to help buy some of the actions that we need to mitigate this epidemic rather than spending that money on the back end after we’ve had a very large epidemic.” —Feuer

The Regal Princess cruise ship finally pulled into a Florida port and passengers began disembarking after two crew members tested negative for coronavirus. The Regal Princess was originally to have docked Sunday morning in Port Everglades but spent most of the day sailing up and down the coast. The Coast Guard delivered testing kits to the Regal Princess, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a “no-sail order” for the ship. The crew members in question had transferred more than two weeks ago from the Grand Princess cruise ship in California where nearly two dozen on board have tested positive for the virus, including 19 crew members, according to Princess Cruises. A Port of Everglades spokeswoman, Ellen Kennedy, said Sunday that the CDC had cleared the ship to enter port. She told The Associated Press by email that the ship would be docking at a cruise terminal in the port about 10 p.m. ET Sunday. A Princess Cruises statement issued early Monday said the CDC issued the clearance after the test results came back negative. After the ship docked, passengers stood on their balconies as they waited to disembark, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported from scene. The first passengers were let off about an hour after the ship pulled into port. —Associated Press

Amazon is relaxing its attendance policy for warehouse workers and other employees due to the continued spread of coronavirus. The company informed employees Sunday that it will not count any unpaid time off should they need to take it during the month of March. Amazon told CNBC it made the change to ensure there are no repercussions for needing to stay home due to illness. The change of policy applies to employees whose job requires them to “work from an office, store, fulfillment center, delivery station or sort center,” according to a document obtained by CNBC. Amazon also told employees it will not assign attendance points if they’re unable to come to work. The company uses a point system to track employee infractions in a given period of time. —Palmer

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., are self-quarantining after interacting with a COVID-19 patient at the Conservative Political Action Conference in late February. Gosar said he, along with three of his senior staff, are officially under self-quarantine after sustained contact at CPAC with a person who has since been hospitalized. He said they are all asymptomatic. Cruz said his interaction with an infected individual consisted of “a brief conversation and a handshake.” Cruz said that while he does not meet the CDC criteria for a self-quarantine, he is opting to do it anyway. —Hirsch

The German government’s goal is to avoid any business falling into insolvency as a result of the coronavirus, spokesman Steffen Seibert said. “The government will do everything to support businesses and workers in this great economic challenge,” Seibert told a regular news conference. “Our goal is that, ideally, no business in Germany will fall into insolvency due to the coronavirus outbreak, and ideally no job will be lost,” he added. An Economy Ministry spokeswoman said some firms had already sought liquidity support from the government, and that businesses from the tourism and trade fair sectors, in particular, were informing themselves about aid options. —Reuters

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics torch-lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia this week will be staged without spectators as organizers seek to protect the event from the coronavirus, Greece’s Olympic Committee said. The Olympic torch will be lighted in Olympia at a scaled-down ceremony on Thursday before a seven-day relay that will culminate with a handover ceremony in Greece a week later. —Reuters

Iran has had 237 coronavirus deaths and 7,161 infections, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said on state TV. The figures included 595 new infections and 43 new deaths within the previous 24 hours. Iran has had one of the highest death rates from the illness outside of China, where the virus originated. —Reuters

A maintenance worker at Disneyland Paris has tested positive for the coronavirus, Reuters reported Monday, citing a spokesperson for the resort. The technician has not been in contact with visitors, according to management, but his colleagues have been asked to stay in quarantine. The resort, which receives around 15 million visitors a year on average, remains open to visitors Monday.

Nigeria’s health minister has confirmed the second case of coronavirus in the country. “The new case is an Ogun State contact of the index case, one of 40 persons in isolation being closely monitored. He is clinically stable,” Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said via Twitter on Monday.

South Korea has reported 96 new cases of the coronavirus on Monday, bringing the total number of infections to 7,478. It comes shortly after the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 69 new cases earlier in the day. It marks the slowest daily increase of infections in 11 days. Outside mainland China, South Korea has recorded the highest number of coronavirus cases. —Meredith

Read CNBC’s coverage from CNBC’s Asia-Pacific and Europe teams overnight here: Staff worker at Disneyland Paris tests positive for the virus.

Reuters, Associated Press, and CNBC’s Annie Palmer, Lauren Hirsch, Sam Meredith, Joanna Tan, Weizhen Tan, Dawn Kopecki, Elizabeth Schulze, Todd Haselton and Kevin Stankiewicz contributed to this report.