Against the Ice is a historical survival film directed by Peter Flinth and written by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Joe Derrick, based on the true story recounted in Two Against the Ice by Ejnar Mikkelsen. It stars Coster-Waldau, Joe Cole, Charles Dance, and Heida Reed, Ill Kippers Productions, RVK Studios. The film was shot in Iceland and Greenland.
On March 6, Trump signed the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act into law, which provided $8.3 billion in emergency funding for federal agencies.
On 9 March, Giovanni Malagò, president of the Italian Olympic Committee, announced that all sports events in Italy would be canceled until at least April 3. The ban does not cover Italian clubs or international games.
On 11 March, the UK called to pledge £150 billion to the IMF catastrophe relief fund. It came to light on 27 March that "more than 80 poor and middle-income countries" had sought a bailout due to the coronavirus.
On 11 March, President Donald Trump announced the suspension of most travel from Europe (excluding the United Kingdom) for 30 days, beginning on 13 March. He also said that health insurance companies agreed to waive all co-payments for coronavirus treatments and extend insurance coverage to cover coronavirus treatments. The Department of Homeland Security clarified that the travel suspension only applied to the Schengen Area; it does not apply to European countries that are not members of the Schengen Agreement, such as the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Croatia, Albania, or Belarus. Furthermore, the travel ban does not apply to US citizens or permanent residents, or their family members or those traveling on certain types of visas.
According to CoinMetrics and Forbes, on 11 March, 281,000 bitcoins were sold by owners who held them for only thirty days. This compared to 4,131 bitcoins that had laid dormant for a year or more indicating that the vast majority of the bitcoin volatility on that day was from recent buyers.
During the week of 11 March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, cryptocurrency exchange Kraken experienced an 83% increase in the amount of account signups over the week of bitcoin's price collapse, a result of buyers looking to capitalize on the low price.
On 13 March, U.S. President Trump declared a national emergency due to the virus outbreak. The action made federal funds available to respond to the crisis. Per media reports on 15 March, many businesses closed or reduced hours throughout the U.S. as a method to try to combat the virus.
On 14 March 2020, Ardern announced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand that the government would be requiring anyone entering the country from midnight 15 March to isolate themselves for 14 days. She said the new rules will mean New Zealand has the "widest ranging and toughest border restrictions of any country in the world". On 19 March, Ardern stated that New Zealand's borders would be closed to all non-citizens and non-permanent residents, after 11:59 pm on 20 March (NZDT). Ardern announced that New Zealand would move to alert level 4, including a nationwide lockdown, at 11:59 pm on 25 March
On March 13, Xerox revealed that they are putting their campaign to acquire HP on hold by postponing additional presentations, interviews with the press, and meetings with HP shareholders. Xerox Vice Chairman and Chief Executive John Visentin cited the COVID-19 pandemic as the main reason and said, "In light of the escalating Covid-19 pandemic, Xerox needs to prioritize health and safety of its employees, customers, partners and affiliates over and above all considerations, including its proposal to acquire HP".
On 14 March, President Trump expanded the travel ban on Europe to include the United Kingdom and Ireland. In addition, a representative of the insurance industry clarified that, contrary to the president's statement, major health insurers had only agreed to waive co-payments for coronavirus testing, and not for coronavirus treatment, which is far more costly.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when most of the world was under stay-at-home orders, usage of services such as YouTube grew greatly. In response to EU officials requesting that such services reduce bandwidth as to make sure medical entities had sufficient bandwidth to share information, YouTube along with Netflix stated they would reduce streaming quality for at least thirty days as to cut bandwidth use of their services by 25% to comply with the EU's request. YouTube later announced that they will continue with this move worldwide, "We continue to work closely with governments and network operators around the globe to do our part to minimize stress on the system during this unprecedented situation".
On 17 March 2020, around 70 church devotees were infected with the virus after attending the River of Grace Community Church and having salt-water sprayed into their mouths, under the belief that this would protect them from the virus.
As of March 18, Wuhan, along with the rest of China has not had any new cases, raising questions of the potential consequences when social distancing requirements start to be lifted. Estimates are that less than 1% in China have had the disease, leaving more than 99% vulnerable to future waves of infection. With SARS in 2003, there was no transmission to others during incubation and the early symptoms. With COVID-19, there is evidence of early transmission. Ben Cowling, professor of epidemiology at Hong Kong University, said, “This coronavirus is more comparable to influenza.” It is not known how and if Covid-19 may resurface, though some fear it could follow a similar path to the 1918-1919 flu pandemic in which the second and third waves were more deadly than the first.
On 19 March, Ardern stated that New Zealand's borders would be closed to all non-citizens and non-permanent residents, after 11:59 pm on 20 March (NZDT). Ardern announced that New Zealand would move to alert level 4, including a nationwide lockdown, at 11:59 pm on 25 March.
On 19 March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United Kingdom, the Queen moved to Windsor Castle and sequestered there as a precaution. Public engagements were cancelled and Windsor Castle followed a strict sanitary protocol nicknamed "HMS Bubble".
On 20 March, the government announced that all leisure establishments (pubs, gyms, etc.) were to close as soon as possible, and promised to pay up to 80% of workers' wages, to a limit of £2,500 per month, to prevent unemployment in the crisis.
In March 2020, New York State Attorney General Letitia James launched an inquiry into Zoom's privacy and security practices; the inquiry was closed on May 7, 2020, with Zoom not admitting wrongdoing, but agreeing to take added security measures.
The South Korean society was initially polarized with President Moon Jae-in's response to the crisis. Many Koreans signed petitions either calling for the impeachment of Moon over what they claimed is the government's mishandling of the outbreak or praising his response. On 23 March, it was reported that South Korea had the lowest one-day case total in four weeks. South Korea's approach to the outbreak includes having 20,000 people tested every day for coronavirus.
On 23 March, the Prime Minister announced tougher social distancing measures, banning gatherings of more than two people and restricting travel and outdoor activity to that deemed strictly necessary. Unlike previous measures, these restrictions were enforceable by police through the issuing of fines and the dispersal of gatherings. Most businesses were ordered to close, with "essential" exceptions including supermarkets, pharmacies, banks, hardware shops, petrol stations, and garages.
On 24 March 2020, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang reported that the spread of domestically transmitted cases has been basically blocked and the outbreak has been controlled in China. The same day travel restrictions were eased in Hubei, apart from Wuhan, two months after the lockdown was imposed.
In March 2020, Nike reported a 5% drop in Chinese sales associated with stores' closure due to the COVID-19 outbreak. It was the first decrease in six years. At the same time, the company's online sales grew by 36% during Q1 of 2020. Also, the sales of personal training apps grew by 80% in China.
On 25 March 2020, Charles tested positive for COVID-19, amidst the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic after showing mild symptoms for days. He and Camilla subsequently self-isolated at their Birkhall residence. Camilla was also tested, but had a negative result.
Kroger provided their essential workers a "hazard pay"—that the company called a "hero pay"—in the form of US$ 2 dollars an hour raise from the end of March 2020, until mid-May, 2020, when the "hero pay" ended.
At the end of March 2020, some workers of the Staten Island warehouse staged a walkout in protest the poor health situation at their workplace amidst the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. One of the organizers, Chris Smalls, was first put on quarantine without anybody else being quarantined, and soon afterwards fired from the company.
On 18 January 2020, Buckingham Palace announced that, following their decision to step back from royal duties, from 31 March 2020 Harry and his wife have agreed not to use their Royal Highness styles, but as a British prince he will not be stripped of his style and titles.