Gov. Cuomo: China sending 1,000 ventilators to New York
By JENNIFER PELTZ, AMY FORLITI and DAVID RISING, Associated Press
36 mins ago
The number of people infected in the U.S. has exceeded a quarter-million, with the death toll climbing past 7,000; more than 3,500 of those deaths are in New York state. Cuomo said the ventilators from China were expected to arrive Saturday.
“This is a big deal and it's going to make a significant difference for us,” Cuomo said, adding that the state of Oregon is also sending 140 ventilators to New York. Cuomo is also looking for ventilators closer to home, and has issued an order that forces even private hospitals in the state to redistribute ventilators to the hospitals most in need.
“I want this all to be over,” Cuomo said. “It’s only gone on for 30 days since our first case. It feels like an entire lifetime.”
As the number of people infected has grown to more than 1.1 million worldwide, health care systems are straining under the surge of patients. In China, air raid sirens sounded across the country and flags flew at half staff in tribute Saturday to victims of the coronavirus pandemic, including the health care “martyrs” who have died fighting to save others.
With the highest number of infections in Europe and their hospitals overwhelmed, Spain and Italy struggled to protect medical staff on the front lines of the outbreak, while 17 medics in Egypt's main cancer hospital tested positive for the virus.
Italy and Spain, with combined deaths of more than 25,000 and nearly a quarter-million infections, have reported a high percentage of infections among health care workers.
Carlo Palermo, head of Italy’s hospital doctors’ union, fought tears as he told reporters in Rome of the physical risks and psychological trauma the outbreak is causing, noting reports that two nurses had committed suicide.
“It’s a indescribable condition of stress. Unbearable,” he said. “I can understand those who look death in the eye every day, who are on the front lines, who work with someone who maybe is infected, then a few days later you see him in the ICU or die."
U.S. President Donald Trump announced late Friday he would prevent the export of N95 protective masks and surgical gloves to ensure they are available in the U.S. — prompting neighboring Canada's prime minister to respond that cross-border aid goes well beyond supplies.
“I think of the thousands of nurses who cross the bridge in Windsor to work in the Detroit medical system every day,” Justin Trudeau said. “These are things Americans rely on.”
The number of people infected in the U.S. has now exceeded a quarter-million, with the death toll climbing past 7,000. New York state alone accounts for more than 2,900 dead, an increase of over 560 in just one day. Most of the dead are in New York City, where hospitals are swamped with patients.
World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned African leaders of an “imminent surge” in coronavirus cases on the continent, urging them to open humanitarian corridors to allow the delivery of badly needed medical supplies.
More than half of Africa’s 54 countries have closed air, land and sea borders to prevent the virus’ spread but that has delayed aid shipments. Virus cases in Africa are now over 7,700, and the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned some nations will have more than 10,000 cases by the end of April.
News to stay informed. Advice to stay safe.
Click here for complete coronavirus coverage from Microsoft News
Eleven Russian military planes carrying disinfection experts landed in Serbia on Saturday, which Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin said shows "that we are not alone.”
The transport followed last month’s deployment of a similar Russian coronavirus task force to Italy and the delivery of medical supplies to the United States.
Russia has reported a relatively few 4,700 cases and 43 deaths, and its southern neighbor Georgia said Saturday it has registered its first death from the virus, among 156 confirmed cases of infection.
In China, where the coronavirus was first detected in December, authorities have cautiously lifted restrictions amid dropping numbers of infections. On Saturday it reported just one new confirmed case in the epicenter of Wuhan and 18 others among people arriving from abroad. There were four new deaths for an official total of 3,326.
In the nationwide tribute to the victims, the government singled out the more than 3,000 health care workers who contracted COVID-19 and the 14 reported to have died from the disease. Among them was doctor Li Wenliang, who was threatened with punishment by police after publicizing news of the outbreak but has since been listed among the national “martyrs.”
As the outbreak spreads in Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, the news that 17 health care worker tested positive for the virus at the National Cancer Institute raised fears of what the virus might do to the country's hospital system.
Maggie Mousa, an anesthesiologist at the institute, tweeted that one of her close friends was infected. She accused top officials of negligence for not imposing restrictions after the first case was detected more than a week ago.
“They refused to take any measures to protect her and isolate the institute,” she said.
Previous SlideNext Slide
Full screen
1/50 SLIDES © Thomas Peter/Reuters
The world is battling the COVID-19 outbreak that the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic.
(Pictured) People wearing face masks stand to pay tribute as China holds national mourning for those who died of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on the Qingming tomb-sweeping festival in Beijing, China on April 4.2/50 SLIDES© Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images Benches are seen marked for safe distancing measure on April 4, in Singapore.3/50 SLIDES© Michael Probst/AP Photo Priest Christian Rauch stands in front of photos of parishioners in the Catholic St. Andreas church in Lampertheim, Germany, on April 4.4/50 SLIDES© National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/NIH/Handout/Reuters Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (red) infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (yellow), also known as novel coronavirus, isolated from a patient sample. Image captured at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland, on April 4.Slideshow continues on the next slide5/50 SLIDES© Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP/Getty Images People in need sit, maintaining social distancing as they queue to receive free dry food rations at a temple during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on April 4.6/50 SLIDES© Mikhail Japaridze/TASS/Getty Images An aerial view of the construction site of a new infectious diseases hospital for COVID-19 coronavirus patients in Moscow, Russia, on April 4.7/50 SLIDES© Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo An elderly man covers himself with a scarf as a municipal worker fumigates a residential area during a lockdown in Prayagraj, India, on April 4.8/50 SLIDES© Sezgin Pancar/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Clowns entertain children who stay home due to the coronavirus pandemic in Mersin, Turkey, on April 4.9/50 SLIDES© Felix Kästle/Picture Alliance/Getty Images Clara Scholtes from Munich plays the violin on the Swiss-German border, on April 4, in Konstanz, Germany. The border fence has been reinforced to maintain a safe distance. Slideshow continues on the next slide10/50 SLIDES© Sebastian/Reuters People wait for a bus before a repatriation flight bound for France organized by the French embassy for citizens stranded in Peru, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Lima, Peru on April 3.11/50 SLIDES© Brian Snyder/Reuters A paramedic removes his personal protective equipment after taking a patient to the ambulance amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Boston, Massachusetts on April 3.12/50 SLIDES© Yelena Afonina/TASS/Getty Images A road police vehicle in a street on April 3 in Grozny, Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has expanded the non-working period till April 30 to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. 13/50 SLIDES© Massimo Pinca/Reuters A Carabinieri operates a drone near the banks of Po river and Valentino park, for checking the compliance of the measures imposed by the government as the coronavirus outbreak continues to grow in Turin, Italy on April 3.14/50 SLIDES© Francisco Macias/Agencia Press South/Getty Images Family members of the deceased wait outside Jardines de Esperanza Cemetery of Guayaquil on April 3 in Guayaquil, Ecuador. According to Johns Hopkins University, Ecuador has 3,163 confirmed cases and at least 120 deaths, 63 of them in Guayaquil. However, municipal authorities said they have recovered at least 400 bodies in recent days. While the majority of deaths are believed to be COVID-19 related, it has not confirmed due to limited virus testing available. Slideshow continues on the next slide15/50 SLIDES© Mike Segar/Reuters The USNS hospital ship Comfort is seen docked at Pier 90 on Manhattan's West Side during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City, New York on April 3.16/50 SLIDES© AFP/Getty Images
Worshipers circumambulate the sacred Kaaba in Mecca's Grand Mosque, on April 3.
17/50 SLIDES© David Ryder/Reuters A woman removes a makeshift mask made from shower curtains on the Fremont Troll, a landmark public sculpture in the Fremont neighborhood, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Seattle, Washington, on April 3.18/50 SLIDES© Billy Mutai/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images A member of the Mngaro Mtaani group led by Samuel Omolo Tores donates soap bars to a family as a preventive measure against the spread of Coronavirus at Baba Dogo slum in Nairobi, Kenya.19/50 SLIDES© Mike Segar/Reuters A homeless man sleeps in a closed Chase bank branch on a nearly deserted Wall Street in the financial district in lower Manhattan during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City on April 3.20/50 SLIDES© Duilio Piaggesi/Shutterstock The fire brigade, together with the health workers, bring a Covid - 19 patient from the fourth floor of a building in Milan, Italy on April 3.21/50 SLIDES© Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Bride and groom get married amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in Ramallah, West Bank on April 3.22/50 SLIDES© Jon Nazca/Reuters A rat and pigeons are seen in the empty shopping La Bola street, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Ronda, Spain, on April 3.23/50 SLIDES© Alexey Nasyrov/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images A view shows deserted University street amid coronavirus disease outbreak in Kazan, Russia on April 3.24/50 SLIDES© Brian Snyder/Reuters
Emily Burke stands across the street from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and cheers during a "Clap Because You Care" for essential workers amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 3.
25/50 SLIDES© MADAREE TOHLALA/AFP via Getty Images
Customers wearing face masks as a preventive measure against the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak practice social distancing as they sit apart while waiting to enter a bank on April 3 in Thailand's southern province of Narathiwat.
26/50 SLIDES© Jens Büttner/Picture Alliance/Getty Images Pastor Klaus Kuske hangs envelopes with the quarantine prayer for Palm Sunday on a clothesline April 3 in front of the portal of St. Paul's Church, in Schwerin, Germany. 27/50 SLIDES© Kena Betancur/Getty Images The U.S. Naval Ship Comfort hospital ship is docked April 3 in Manhattan. According to reports, the military hospital ship's 1,000 beds, expected to help overcrowded hospitals dealing with the city's COVID-19 outbreak, remain mostly unused. 28/50 SLIDES© Maria José López/Europa Press/Getty Images A woman decorates her balcony with hangings and palms April 3 despite the suspension of Easter celebrations in Sevilla, Spain.29/50 SLIDES© Federico Gambarini/Picture Alliance/Getty Images Two people run April 3 on the empty banks of the Rhine, in Düsseldorf, Germany.30/50 SLIDES© Carl Recine/Reuers Engineers outside Cobra Biologics arrive April 3 with a bioreactor in the hope of developing a vaccine against COVID-19 in Keele, England.31/50 SLIDES© Claus Bech/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters Scandinavians who were stranded in Lima after Peru banned all flights to and from Europe for 30 days because of COVID-19 arrive April 3 at Copenhagen Airport in Denmark.32/50 SLIDES© Thomas Peter/Reuters Visitors wearing protective masks April 3 look at a monkey at the Beijing Zoo, during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Beijing, China.33/50 SLIDES© Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images
Social distancing markers are seen at a food outlet as authorities implement a social distancing measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 on April 2 in Singapore. The Ministry of Health reported 49 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the country's total to 1,049.
34/50 SLIDES© Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo Members of Taxi Drivers Association disinfect their colleagues' taxis April 3 as part of efforts to curb the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak in Uijeongbu, South Korea. 35/50 SLIDES© Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images Father Vagner Moraes celebrates a Mass on April 2 at an empty Holy Spirit Church in Osasco, Brazil. According to the Ministry of health, Brazil had 7,910 confirmed cases with coronavirus (COVID-19) and at least 299 recorded deaths.36/50 SLIDES© Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images Pre-triage tents for suspected COVID-19 patients are set up April 2 at Santa Maria Hospital in Lisbon, Portugal. 37/50 SLIDES© Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe adjusts his face mask as he speaks during an ordinary session at the upper house of parliament on April 2 in Tokyo. Abe announced on March 24 an agreement with the International Olympic Committee to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for one year amid the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.38/50 SLIDES© Phil Walter/Getty Images
A house fence has been chalked up with messages relating to the COVID-19 lockdown on April 3, in Auckland, New Zealand. New Zealand was placed in complete lockdown and a state of national emergency was declared to stop the spread of COVID-19 across the country.
39/50 SLIDES© Michael Dodge/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Local residents stop from their morning walk to take a photograph of the Mordialloc harbour at sunrise in Melbourne, Australia,on April 3.40/50 SLIDES© Lucy Nicholson/Reuters Beaches on the Pacific Ocean lie empty after Los Angeles issued a stay-at-home order and closed beaches and state parks, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Manhattan Beach, California, on April 2.41/50 SLIDES© Manu Fernandez/AP Photo A general view a temporary field hospital set at IFEMA convention and exhibition in Madrid, Spain, on April 2.42/50 SLIDES© Lynne Sladky/AP Photo A person on a stretcher is removed from Carnival's Holland America cruise ship Zaandam at Port Everglades during the new coronavirus pandemic, on April 2, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Those passengers that are fit for travel in accordance with guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control will be permitted to disembark.43/50 SLIDES© Juan Karita/AP Photo City workers fumigate a street to help contain the spread of the new coronavirus in La Paz, Bolivia, on April 2.44/50 SLIDES© Nick Oxford/Reuters A sign showing appreciation from the community is seen outside of REACT EMS in Shawnee, Oklahoma, amid a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, on April 2.45/50 SLIDES© Kevin Coombs/Reuters NHS workers applaud on the streets outside Chelsea and Westminster Hospital during the Clap for our Carers campaign in support of the NHS as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in London, England on April 2.46/50 SLIDES© Elise Amendola/AP Photo Palettes of N95 respirator masks are off-loaded from the New England Patriots football team's customized Boeing 767 jet on the tarmac, on April 2 in Boston, after returning from China. The Kraft family deployed the Patriots team plane to China to fetch more than one million masks for use by front-line health care workers to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.47/50 SLIDES© Brook Mitchell/Getty Images
An aerial view of Bronte Beach with the words "Stay Home" written into the sand by local lifeguards on April 2 in Sydney, Australia.
48/50 SLIDES© Robin Utrecht/Shutterstock Empty and closed gates are seen at the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands on April 2.49/50 SLIDES© Phil Noble/Reuters
Jason Baird is seen dressed as Spiderman during his daily exercise to cheer up local children in Stockport, England on April 1.
50/50 SLIDES© Benoit Tessier/Reuters Medical staff, wearing protective suits and face masks, work at the intensive care unit for coronavirus patients at Ambroise Pare clinic in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris, as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in France, on April 1.50/50 SLIDES
Slideshow by photo services
Spain’s Health Ministry reported 18,324 infected health workers as of Saturday, representing 15% of the total number of infections in the country. To help boost its ranks of health workers, Spain’s government said that it had hired 356 foreign health workers living in Spain. It has also hired medical and nursing students to help.
After seeing commercial shipping lines break down, the government has started flying in medical supplies from China on military cargo planes. Meanwhile, local industry is shifting to producing masks, protective suits, and breathing machines.
As the country completes its third week in a state of emergency, there were signs the number of new infections were slowing, but they were still high with 7,026 new cases reported overnight Saturday and 809 deaths.
In Italy, more than 11,000 medical personnel have been infected — just under 10% of the official total — and some 73 doctors have died, according to the National Institutes of Health and the association of doctors.
Significantly, not all the doctors were working in hospitals. Many were general practitioners or dentists, who were believed to have been exposed via respiratory droplets.
Palermo, the doctors’ union head, said a key reason for the high rate among general practitioners was that flu was raging at the same time in the early part of the year.
“The epidemic was superimposed on top of the normal course of influenza, which didn’t allow us to discriminate between the two,” he said. “A patient with a fever or cough or unspecific symptoms would go to his doctor ... and that’s where the contagion happened.”
Worldwide, confirmed infections rose past 1.1 million and deaths exceeded 60,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Experts say both greatly under-count the true number of victims because of lack of testing, mild cases that were missed and governments that are underplaying the crisis.
At the same time, more than 233,000 people have recovered from the virus, which causes mild to moderate symptoms in most patients, who recover within a few weeks.
___
Forliti reported from St. Paul, Minnesota. Rising reported from Berlin. Associated Press writers around the world contributed to this report.
By JENNIFER PELTZ, AMY FORLITI and DAVID RISING, Associated Press
36 mins ago
The number of people infected in the U.S. has exceeded a quarter-million, with the death toll climbing past 7,000; more than 3,500 of those deaths are in New York state. Cuomo said the ventilators from China were expected to arrive Saturday.
“This is a big deal and it's going to make a significant difference for us,” Cuomo said, adding that the state of Oregon is also sending 140 ventilators to New York. Cuomo is also looking for ventilators closer to home, and has issued an order that forces even private hospitals in the state to redistribute ventilators to the hospitals most in need.
“I want this all to be over,” Cuomo said. “It’s only gone on for 30 days since our first case. It feels like an entire lifetime.”
As the number of people infected has grown to more than 1.1 million worldwide, health care systems are straining under the surge of patients. In China, air raid sirens sounded across the country and flags flew at half staff in tribute Saturday to victims of the coronavirus pandemic, including the health care “martyrs” who have died fighting to save others.
With the highest number of infections in Europe and their hospitals overwhelmed, Spain and Italy struggled to protect medical staff on the front lines of the outbreak, while 17 medics in Egypt's main cancer hospital tested positive for the virus.
Italy and Spain, with combined deaths of more than 25,000 and nearly a quarter-million infections, have reported a high percentage of infections among health care workers.
Carlo Palermo, head of Italy’s hospital doctors’ union, fought tears as he told reporters in Rome of the physical risks and psychological trauma the outbreak is causing, noting reports that two nurses had committed suicide.
“It’s a indescribable condition of stress. Unbearable,” he said. “I can understand those who look death in the eye every day, who are on the front lines, who work with someone who maybe is infected, then a few days later you see him in the ICU or die."
U.S. President Donald Trump announced late Friday he would prevent the export of N95 protective masks and surgical gloves to ensure they are available in the U.S. — prompting neighboring Canada's prime minister to respond that cross-border aid goes well beyond supplies.
“I think of the thousands of nurses who cross the bridge in Windsor to work in the Detroit medical system every day,” Justin Trudeau said. “These are things Americans rely on.”
The number of people infected in the U.S. has now exceeded a quarter-million, with the death toll climbing past 7,000. New York state alone accounts for more than 2,900 dead, an increase of over 560 in just one day. Most of the dead are in New York City, where hospitals are swamped with patients.
World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned African leaders of an “imminent surge” in coronavirus cases on the continent, urging them to open humanitarian corridors to allow the delivery of badly needed medical supplies.
More than half of Africa’s 54 countries have closed air, land and sea borders to prevent the virus’ spread but that has delayed aid shipments. Virus cases in Africa are now over 7,700, and the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned some nations will have more than 10,000 cases by the end of April.
News to stay informed. Advice to stay safe.
Click here for complete coronavirus coverage from Microsoft News
Eleven Russian military planes carrying disinfection experts landed in Serbia on Saturday, which Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin said shows "that we are not alone.”
The transport followed last month’s deployment of a similar Russian coronavirus task force to Italy and the delivery of medical supplies to the United States.
Russia has reported a relatively few 4,700 cases and 43 deaths, and its southern neighbor Georgia said Saturday it has registered its first death from the virus, among 156 confirmed cases of infection.
In China, where the coronavirus was first detected in December, authorities have cautiously lifted restrictions amid dropping numbers of infections. On Saturday it reported just one new confirmed case in the epicenter of Wuhan and 18 others among people arriving from abroad. There were four new deaths for an official total of 3,326.
In the nationwide tribute to the victims, the government singled out the more than 3,000 health care workers who contracted COVID-19 and the 14 reported to have died from the disease. Among them was doctor Li Wenliang, who was threatened with punishment by police after publicizing news of the outbreak but has since been listed among the national “martyrs.”
As the outbreak spreads in Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, the news that 17 health care worker tested positive for the virus at the National Cancer Institute raised fears of what the virus might do to the country's hospital system.
Maggie Mousa, an anesthesiologist at the institute, tweeted that one of her close friends was infected. She accused top officials of negligence for not imposing restrictions after the first case was detected more than a week ago.
“They refused to take any measures to protect her and isolate the institute,” she said.
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Previous SlideNext Slide
Full screen
1/50 SLIDES © Thomas Peter/Reuters
The world is battling the COVID-19 outbreak that the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic.
(Pictured) People wearing face masks stand to pay tribute as China holds national mourning for those who died of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on the Qingming tomb-sweeping festival in Beijing, China on April 4.2/50 SLIDES© Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images Benches are seen marked for safe distancing measure on April 4, in Singapore.3/50 SLIDES© Michael Probst/AP Photo Priest Christian Rauch stands in front of photos of parishioners in the Catholic St. Andreas church in Lampertheim, Germany, on April 4.4/50 SLIDES© National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/NIH/Handout/Reuters Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (red) infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (yellow), also known as novel coronavirus, isolated from a patient sample. Image captured at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland, on April 4.Slideshow continues on the next slide5/50 SLIDES© Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP/Getty Images People in need sit, maintaining social distancing as they queue to receive free dry food rations at a temple during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on April 4.6/50 SLIDES© Mikhail Japaridze/TASS/Getty Images An aerial view of the construction site of a new infectious diseases hospital for COVID-19 coronavirus patients in Moscow, Russia, on April 4.7/50 SLIDES© Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo An elderly man covers himself with a scarf as a municipal worker fumigates a residential area during a lockdown in Prayagraj, India, on April 4.8/50 SLIDES© Sezgin Pancar/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Clowns entertain children who stay home due to the coronavirus pandemic in Mersin, Turkey, on April 4.9/50 SLIDES© Felix Kästle/Picture Alliance/Getty Images Clara Scholtes from Munich plays the violin on the Swiss-German border, on April 4, in Konstanz, Germany. The border fence has been reinforced to maintain a safe distance. Slideshow continues on the next slide10/50 SLIDES© Sebastian/Reuters People wait for a bus before a repatriation flight bound for France organized by the French embassy for citizens stranded in Peru, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Lima, Peru on April 3.11/50 SLIDES© Brian Snyder/Reuters A paramedic removes his personal protective equipment after taking a patient to the ambulance amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Boston, Massachusetts on April 3.12/50 SLIDES© Yelena Afonina/TASS/Getty Images A road police vehicle in a street on April 3 in Grozny, Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has expanded the non-working period till April 30 to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. 13/50 SLIDES© Massimo Pinca/Reuters A Carabinieri operates a drone near the banks of Po river and Valentino park, for checking the compliance of the measures imposed by the government as the coronavirus outbreak continues to grow in Turin, Italy on April 3.14/50 SLIDES© Francisco Macias/Agencia Press South/Getty Images Family members of the deceased wait outside Jardines de Esperanza Cemetery of Guayaquil on April 3 in Guayaquil, Ecuador. According to Johns Hopkins University, Ecuador has 3,163 confirmed cases and at least 120 deaths, 63 of them in Guayaquil. However, municipal authorities said they have recovered at least 400 bodies in recent days. While the majority of deaths are believed to be COVID-19 related, it has not confirmed due to limited virus testing available. Slideshow continues on the next slide15/50 SLIDES© Mike Segar/Reuters The USNS hospital ship Comfort is seen docked at Pier 90 on Manhattan's West Side during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City, New York on April 3.16/50 SLIDES© AFP/Getty Images
Worshipers circumambulate the sacred Kaaba in Mecca's Grand Mosque, on April 3.
17/50 SLIDES© David Ryder/Reuters A woman removes a makeshift mask made from shower curtains on the Fremont Troll, a landmark public sculpture in the Fremont neighborhood, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Seattle, Washington, on April 3.18/50 SLIDES© Billy Mutai/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images A member of the Mngaro Mtaani group led by Samuel Omolo Tores donates soap bars to a family as a preventive measure against the spread of Coronavirus at Baba Dogo slum in Nairobi, Kenya.19/50 SLIDES© Mike Segar/Reuters A homeless man sleeps in a closed Chase bank branch on a nearly deserted Wall Street in the financial district in lower Manhattan during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City on April 3.20/50 SLIDES© Duilio Piaggesi/Shutterstock The fire brigade, together with the health workers, bring a Covid - 19 patient from the fourth floor of a building in Milan, Italy on April 3.21/50 SLIDES© Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Bride and groom get married amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in Ramallah, West Bank on April 3.22/50 SLIDES© Jon Nazca/Reuters A rat and pigeons are seen in the empty shopping La Bola street, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Ronda, Spain, on April 3.23/50 SLIDES© Alexey Nasyrov/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images A view shows deserted University street amid coronavirus disease outbreak in Kazan, Russia on April 3.24/50 SLIDES© Brian Snyder/Reuters
Emily Burke stands across the street from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and cheers during a "Clap Because You Care" for essential workers amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 3.
25/50 SLIDES© MADAREE TOHLALA/AFP via Getty Images
Customers wearing face masks as a preventive measure against the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak practice social distancing as they sit apart while waiting to enter a bank on April 3 in Thailand's southern province of Narathiwat.
26/50 SLIDES© Jens Büttner/Picture Alliance/Getty Images Pastor Klaus Kuske hangs envelopes with the quarantine prayer for Palm Sunday on a clothesline April 3 in front of the portal of St. Paul's Church, in Schwerin, Germany. 27/50 SLIDES© Kena Betancur/Getty Images The U.S. Naval Ship Comfort hospital ship is docked April 3 in Manhattan. According to reports, the military hospital ship's 1,000 beds, expected to help overcrowded hospitals dealing with the city's COVID-19 outbreak, remain mostly unused. 28/50 SLIDES© Maria José López/Europa Press/Getty Images A woman decorates her balcony with hangings and palms April 3 despite the suspension of Easter celebrations in Sevilla, Spain.29/50 SLIDES© Federico Gambarini/Picture Alliance/Getty Images Two people run April 3 on the empty banks of the Rhine, in Düsseldorf, Germany.30/50 SLIDES© Carl Recine/Reuers Engineers outside Cobra Biologics arrive April 3 with a bioreactor in the hope of developing a vaccine against COVID-19 in Keele, England.31/50 SLIDES© Claus Bech/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters Scandinavians who were stranded in Lima after Peru banned all flights to and from Europe for 30 days because of COVID-19 arrive April 3 at Copenhagen Airport in Denmark.32/50 SLIDES© Thomas Peter/Reuters Visitors wearing protective masks April 3 look at a monkey at the Beijing Zoo, during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Beijing, China.33/50 SLIDES© Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images
Social distancing markers are seen at a food outlet as authorities implement a social distancing measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 on April 2 in Singapore. The Ministry of Health reported 49 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the country's total to 1,049.
34/50 SLIDES© Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo Members of Taxi Drivers Association disinfect their colleagues' taxis April 3 as part of efforts to curb the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak in Uijeongbu, South Korea. 35/50 SLIDES© Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images Father Vagner Moraes celebrates a Mass on April 2 at an empty Holy Spirit Church in Osasco, Brazil. According to the Ministry of health, Brazil had 7,910 confirmed cases with coronavirus (COVID-19) and at least 299 recorded deaths.36/50 SLIDES© Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images Pre-triage tents for suspected COVID-19 patients are set up April 2 at Santa Maria Hospital in Lisbon, Portugal. 37/50 SLIDES© Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe adjusts his face mask as he speaks during an ordinary session at the upper house of parliament on April 2 in Tokyo. Abe announced on March 24 an agreement with the International Olympic Committee to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for one year amid the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.38/50 SLIDES© Phil Walter/Getty Images
A house fence has been chalked up with messages relating to the COVID-19 lockdown on April 3, in Auckland, New Zealand. New Zealand was placed in complete lockdown and a state of national emergency was declared to stop the spread of COVID-19 across the country.
39/50 SLIDES© Michael Dodge/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Local residents stop from their morning walk to take a photograph of the Mordialloc harbour at sunrise in Melbourne, Australia,on April 3.40/50 SLIDES© Lucy Nicholson/Reuters Beaches on the Pacific Ocean lie empty after Los Angeles issued a stay-at-home order and closed beaches and state parks, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Manhattan Beach, California, on April 2.41/50 SLIDES© Manu Fernandez/AP Photo A general view a temporary field hospital set at IFEMA convention and exhibition in Madrid, Spain, on April 2.42/50 SLIDES© Lynne Sladky/AP Photo A person on a stretcher is removed from Carnival's Holland America cruise ship Zaandam at Port Everglades during the new coronavirus pandemic, on April 2, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Those passengers that are fit for travel in accordance with guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control will be permitted to disembark.43/50 SLIDES© Juan Karita/AP Photo City workers fumigate a street to help contain the spread of the new coronavirus in La Paz, Bolivia, on April 2.44/50 SLIDES© Nick Oxford/Reuters A sign showing appreciation from the community is seen outside of REACT EMS in Shawnee, Oklahoma, amid a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, on April 2.45/50 SLIDES© Kevin Coombs/Reuters NHS workers applaud on the streets outside Chelsea and Westminster Hospital during the Clap for our Carers campaign in support of the NHS as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in London, England on April 2.46/50 SLIDES© Elise Amendola/AP Photo Palettes of N95 respirator masks are off-loaded from the New England Patriots football team's customized Boeing 767 jet on the tarmac, on April 2 in Boston, after returning from China. The Kraft family deployed the Patriots team plane to China to fetch more than one million masks for use by front-line health care workers to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.47/50 SLIDES© Brook Mitchell/Getty Images
An aerial view of Bronte Beach with the words "Stay Home" written into the sand by local lifeguards on April 2 in Sydney, Australia.
48/50 SLIDES© Robin Utrecht/Shutterstock Empty and closed gates are seen at the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands on April 2.49/50 SLIDES© Phil Noble/Reuters
Jason Baird is seen dressed as Spiderman during his daily exercise to cheer up local children in Stockport, England on April 1.
50/50 SLIDES© Benoit Tessier/Reuters Medical staff, wearing protective suits and face masks, work at the intensive care unit for coronavirus patients at Ambroise Pare clinic in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris, as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in France, on April 1.50/50 SLIDES
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Spain’s Health Ministry reported 18,324 infected health workers as of Saturday, representing 15% of the total number of infections in the country. To help boost its ranks of health workers, Spain’s government said that it had hired 356 foreign health workers living in Spain. It has also hired medical and nursing students to help.
After seeing commercial shipping lines break down, the government has started flying in medical supplies from China on military cargo planes. Meanwhile, local industry is shifting to producing masks, protective suits, and breathing machines.
As the country completes its third week in a state of emergency, there were signs the number of new infections were slowing, but they were still high with 7,026 new cases reported overnight Saturday and 809 deaths.
In Italy, more than 11,000 medical personnel have been infected — just under 10% of the official total — and some 73 doctors have died, according to the National Institutes of Health and the association of doctors.
Significantly, not all the doctors were working in hospitals. Many were general practitioners or dentists, who were believed to have been exposed via respiratory droplets.
Palermo, the doctors’ union head, said a key reason for the high rate among general practitioners was that flu was raging at the same time in the early part of the year.
“The epidemic was superimposed on top of the normal course of influenza, which didn’t allow us to discriminate between the two,” he said. “A patient with a fever or cough or unspecific symptoms would go to his doctor ... and that’s where the contagion happened.”
Worldwide, confirmed infections rose past 1.1 million and deaths exceeded 60,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Experts say both greatly under-count the true number of victims because of lack of testing, mild cases that were missed and governments that are underplaying the crisis.
At the same time, more than 233,000 people have recovered from the virus, which causes mild to moderate symptoms in most patients, who recover within a few weeks.
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Forliti reported from St. Paul, Minnesota. Rising reported from Berlin. Associated Press writers around the world contributed to this report.
