US eyes new outbreaks as infections worldwide top 590,000
New Orleans rushed to build a makeshift hospital in its convention center Friday as troubling new outbreaks bubbled in america, deaths surged in Italy and Spain and the world warily trudged through the pandemic that has sickened greater than a half-million people.
Punctuating the actual fact that no person is immune to the brand new coronavirus, it pierced even the best echelons of global power, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson becoming the first leader of a significant country to check positive.
As the death toll continued to climb in France, health staff there received a huge show of gratitude - from the Eiffel Tower. "Merci," French for 'Thank you," and "Stay in the home" in English were emblazoned in lights Friday night on Paris' world-famous landmark.
While New York remained the worst hit city in the U.S., Americans braced for worsening conditions elsewhere, with worrisome infection numbers being reported in New Orleans, Chicago and Detroit.
"We are not through this. We're not even halfway through this," said Joseph Kanter of the Louisiana Department of Health, which includes recorded a lot more than 2,700 cases, more than five times what it had yesterday. AMERICA became the first country to surpass 100,000 infections on Friday, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
New Orleans' sprawling Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, along the Mississippi River, had been converted into a massive hospital as officials prepared for thousands more patients than they could accommodate. The preparations immediately conjured images of another disaster, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when the convention center became a squalid shelter of final resort in a city which has braved a string of storm hits, not forgetting great fires and a yellow fever epidemic in centuries past.
As the new health crisis loomed, monetary catastrophe had already found its way to the city, where many already reside in poverty and the tourism industry has screeched to a halt.
"I've never been unemployed. But now, suddenly: Wop!" said John Moore, the musician best known as Deacon John, who does not have any gigs to execute with much of the location turn off. "It ain't just me. It's everybody."
In NY, where there are more than 44,000 cases statewide, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 passed 6,000 on Friday, double what it turned out three days earlier.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo needed 4,000 more non permanent beds across NEW YORK, where in fact the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center was already changed into a hospital.
"This is likely to be weeks and weeks and weeks," Cuomo told members of the National Guard working at the Javits Center. "That is going to be a long day, and it's going to be considered a hard day, and it's really going to be an ugly day, and it's going to be considered a sad day."
President Donald Trump, after earlier rejecting Cuomo's pleas for tens of thousands more ventilators, and the governor's calls to use the Korean War-era Defense Production Act, invoked regulations Friday, ordering General Motors to commence manufacturing the breathing machines.
Trump signed a $2.2 trillion stimulus package, after the House approved the sweeping measure by voice vote. Lawmakers in both parties prearranged behind regulations to send checks to millions of Americans, boost unemployment benefits, help businesses and toss a life preserver to an overwhelmed health care system.
A lot more than 590,000 people have contracted the virus all over the world and roughly 26,000 have died. While the U.S. now leads the world in infections, five countries exceed its a lot more than 1,500 deaths: Italy, Spain, China, Iran and France.
Dr. John Brooks of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Americans remained "in the acceleration phase" of the pandemic and that corners of the united states were at risk.
"There is no geographic the main United States that is spared from this," he said.
In a telephone call Friday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping told Trump that China "stands prepared to provide support within its capacity," the state Xinhua News Agency reported.
Trump, who has repeatedly referred to the outbreak as a "Chinese virus," struck a different tone Friday, tweeting following the call that "China has experienced much & has developed a strong knowledge of the Virus. We will work closely together. Much respect!"
In Europe, Italy recorded its single biggest 24-hour rise in deaths, with 969 more victims, to bring its final number of fatalities to 9,134. The united states now has a lot more than 86,000 cases, surpassing China to record the grim distinction of the second-most infections on earth, behind the U.S.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella called it "a sad page inside our history."
Italian epidemiologists warn that the country's number of cases is likely higher than reported - perhaps by five times - although two weeks right into a nationwide lockdown the daily increase appears to be slowing, at least in northern Italy.
''It is something devastating,'' said the Rev. Mario Carminati, whose church in the tiny Lombardy town of Seriate has been used to carry coffins of the dead before they are taken by military convoy for cremation.
Spain, with the world's fourth-biggest number of instances, reported another 7,800 infections for a total of more than 64,000. The country said health staff accounted for about 15 percent of its cases.
Deaths in Spain climbed past 4,900 - the world's second-highest total after Italy.
In Britain, Johnson's office said the prime minister was tested after showing mild symptoms for the coronavirus. He was self-isolating and continuing to lead Britain's response to the pandemic.
"Be in without doubt that I can continue, thanks to the wizardry of modern tools, to communicate with all my top team, to lead the national fightback against coronavirus," Johnson said in a video message, adding that he had a temperature and persistent cough.
Weeks ago, Johnson had pledged he'd "continue shaking hands with everybody."
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who has been at the forefront of the country's virus response, also was confirmed to be infected. Prince Charles previously said he tested positive.
Around the world, the pandemic threatened persons moving into places with little methods to respond.
India launched an enormous program to feed hungry day laborers after a lockdown of the country's 1.3 billion people put them unemployed. Iran's military hurriedly finished a 2,000-bed field hospital to accommodate the worst outbreak in the Mideast. In Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, South Africa and elsewhere, the count of the infected passed 1,000 persons and worries persisted that it would only get worse.
For many people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that get rid of in 2-3 weeks. But also for others, especially older adults and persons with existing health issues, the virus could cause more extreme illness, including pneumonia and death.
Johns Hopkins reported more than 130,000 persons have recovered, about half in China.
Stocks skidded in Europe and on Wall Street, where major indexes closed down about 3%, giving up a number of the gains the marketplace had piled up over the prior three days.
The head of the International Monetary Fund said it was clear that the global economy has entered a recession that could be as bad or worse than the 2009 downturn.
