BERLIN
(AP) — The number of confirmed coronavirus infections worldwide topped
600,000 on Saturday as new cases stacked up quickly in Europe and the
United States and officials dug in for a long fight against the
pandemic.
The
latest landmark came only two days after the world passed half a million
infections, according to a tally by John Hopkins University, showing
that much work remains to be done to slow the spread of the virus. It
showed more than 607,000 cases and a total of over 28,000 deaths.
While
the U.S. now leads the world in reported infections — with more than
104,000 cases — five countries exceed its roughly 1,700 deaths: Italy,
Spain, China, Iran and France.
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“We
cannot completely prevent infections at this stage, but we can and must
in the immediate future achieve fewer new infections per day, a slower
spread,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is in quarantine at home
after her doctor tested positive for the virus, told her compatriots in
an audio message. “That will decide whether our health system can stand
up to the virus.”
The
virus already has put health systems in Italy, Spain and France under
extreme strain. Lockdowns of varying severity have been introduced
across Europe, nearly emptying streets in normally bustling cities,
including Paris where drone photos showed the city’s landmarks eerily
deserted.
Merkel’s
chief of staff, Helge Braun, said that Germany — where authorities
closed nonessential shops and banned gatherings of more than two in
public — won’t relax its restrictions before April 20.
Spain,
where stay-at-home restrictions have been in place for nearly two
weeks, reported 832 more deaths on Saturday, its highest daily total
yet, bringing its total to 5,690. Another 8,000 confirmed infections
pushed that count above 72,000.
Doctors,
nurses and ambulance drivers in its worst-hit regions are falling ill
at an alarming rate and working nonstop. More than 9,000 health workers
in the country have been infected.
“We
are completely overwhelmed,” said ambulance medic Pablo Rojo at
Barcelona’s Dos de Maig hospital. “Seven or eight (patients transported
today) and all with COVID-19. ... And the average age is decreasing.
They’re not 80 years old anymore, they are now 30 and 40 years old.”
“Sometimes
you become a bit paranoid, you don’t know any more when you pick up the
phone if you have cleaned your hands, if you’ve sanitized them or not.
You touch your face with your hands,” Rojo said.
Spain
has struggled to get coronavirus tests and protective gear for health
workers. The government has started flights to transport the supplies
directly from China to reduce waiting times.
As
the epicenter has shifted westward, the situation has calmed in China,
where some restrictions on people’s lives have now been lifted. Six
subway lines restored limited service in Wuhan, where the virus first
emerged in December, after the city had its official coronavirus risk
evaluation downgraded from high to medium on Friday. Five districts of
the city of 11 million people had other restrictions on travel loosened
after their risk factor was downgraded to low.
For
most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as
fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. But for others,
especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the
virus can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and lead to
death.
More than 130,000 people have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins’ tally.
In one way or another, the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak have been felt by the powerful and the poor alike.
On
Friday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson became the first leader of
a major country to test positive for the virus. He said he would
continue to work from self-quarantine.
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Countries
are still scrambling bring home some citizens stranded abroad by border
closures and a near-shutdown of flights. On Saturday, 174 foreign
tourists and four Nepali nationals on the foothills of Mount Everest
were flown out days after being stranded on the only airstrip serving
the world’s highest mountain.
In
neighboring India, authorities sent a fleet of buses to the outskirts
of the capital to meet an exodus of migrant workers desperately trying
to reach their home villages during the world’s largest lockdown.
Thousands
of people had fled their New Delhi homes after Prime Minister Narendra
Modi announced a 21-day lockdown that began on Wednesday and effectively
put millions of Indians who live off daily earnings out of work.
In
parts of Africa, virus prevention measures have taken a violent turn as
countries impose lockdowns and curfews or seal off major cities, with
police in Kenya firing tear gas and officers elsewhere captured in
mobile phone footage whacking people with batons.
In
the United States, New York remained the worst-hit city, but Americans
braced for worsening conditions elsewhere, with worrisome infection
numbers being reported in New Orleans, Chicago and Detroit.
New
Orleans’ sprawling Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, along the
Mississippi River, was being converted into a massive hospital as
officials prepared for thousands more patients than they could
accommodate.
In
New York, 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 had been three days earlier.
Gov.
Andrew Cuomo called for 4,000 more temporary beds across New York City,
where the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center has already been converted
into a hospital.
The
struggle to defeat the virus will take “weeks and weeks and weeks,”
Cuomo told members of the National Guard working at the Javits Center.
President
Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act on Friday, ordering
General Motors to begin manufacturing ventilators.
Trump
signed a $2.2 trillion stimulus package, after the House approved the
sweeping measure by voice vote. Lawmakers in both parties lined up
behind the law to send checks to millions of Americans, boost
unemployment benefits, help businesses and toss a life preserver to an
overwhelmed health care system.
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 all corners of the country were at risk.
“There is no geographic part of the United States that is spared from this,” he said.
___
Sedensky reported from Philadelphia. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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