Gov. Greg Abbott issues directives to expand Texas hospital capacity

Gov. Greg Abbott took multiple measures Sunday designed to expand hospital staffing and capacity, but declined to issue a statewide shelter-in-place order — even as calls for such an action increased as the new coronavirus continued to spread across the state.

In an effort to free up hospital beds in anticipation of an influx of patients sick with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, Abbott ordered health care professionals to postpone "all surgeries that are not medically necessary" and suspended regulations to allow hospitals to treat more than one patient in a room.

As of noon Sunday, there were at least 355 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Texas and six reported deaths. At least 8,756 people have been tested.

This developing story will be updated soon.