Trump ‘thinking about’ closing U.S.-Mexico border to stop coronavirus spread

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump on Saturday said he is "thinking about" possibly closing the U.S. border with Mexico to guard against the coronavirus spreading.

Trump made the comment as he provided an update on the virus after the first reported U.S. death Saturday, of a woman he described as being in her late 50s and having a high medical risk.

Mexican federal health officials on Saturday said that they had confirmed a fourth case in their country. In South America, there are just two cases - one in Ecuador and the other in Brazil.

The U.S. did announce Saturday that it is banning travel to Iran in response to the virus outbreak and elevating travel warnings to regions of Italy and South Korea.

South Korea has the biggest outbreak outside of China, with 2,931 cases of the virus reported. Europe's largest outbreak is in Italy, and more than a dozen European countries now have confirmed cases, with many of them traced back to Italy; one of the four Mexican cases is also tied to Italy.

“We want to lower the amount of travel to and from the most impacted areas,” said Alex Azar, the secretary of health and human Services. “This is a basic containment strategy.”