Shomporko Desk:-Trump said he may quarantine New York, New Jersey and Connecticut: President Trump said Saturday he was considering imposing a two-week quarantine on New York as well as portions of New Jersey and Connecticut as part of further efforts to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Trump said he was considering placing a two-week enforced quarantine on New York, which he called a “hot spot,” at some point later on Saturday. The quarantine might also apply to parts of New Jersey and Connecticut.
“This would be an enforceable quarantine,” Trump said from the White House. “I’d rather not do it, but we may need it.”
The number of coronavirus cases reached over 52,000 in New York, the U.S. epicentre of the outbreak, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Saturday.
By Saturday afternoon, the sum of total known coronavirus U.S. cases had soared to 115,842, eclipsing the toll the disease has taken on China and Italy.
UK coronavirus death toll under 20,000 would be ‘good result’ – health chief says: The United Kingdom will do well if it manages to keep the coronavirus death toll below 20,000, a senior health official said on Saturday after the deadliest day so far of the outbreak saw the number of fatalities rise to more than 1,000.
Stephen Powis, the medical director of National Health Service England, warned the public against complacency and said everyone had to play their part in hindering the spread of the virus.
The number of confirmed cases stood at 17,089 on Saturday morning. The death toll rose by 260 in a day to 1,019, the seventh-highest toll in the world behind Italy, Spain, China, Iran, France and the United States.
When asked if Britain was on the same trajectory as Italy, where the death toll has passed 9,000, Powis said that if the public adhered to the nationwide lockdown the total toll could be kept below 20,000.
China’s COVID-19 disinformation push, aided by the Canadian group, raises concerns about the next pandemic: It’s safe to say China’s foreign ministry does not often pay much attention to obscure Canadian research organizations run by conspiracy theorists.
But earlier this month the ministry’s spokesman tweeted in English not once but three times about two surprising articles from the Montreal-based Centre for Research on Globalisation.
“This is so astonishing that it changed many things I used to believe in,” Lijian Zhao wrote to 500,000 followers on a social-media platform his fellow Chinese are banned from using. “Please retweet to let more people know about it.”
The “astonishing” piece suggested that COVID-19 did not originate in Wuhan, China, as Chinese and other scientists have reported, but was brought to Wuhan by American soldiers last November.
Help us: After deaths on the coronavirus-hit ship, guests clamour to leave:
Four passengers have died on a cruise ship off the Pacific coast of Panama and more than 130 others aboard are suffering from influenza-like symptoms, at least two of whom have the coronavirus, the vessel’s operator said on Friday.
Holland America Line said in a statement that the MS Zaandam, previously on a South American cruise, was trying to transit the Panama Canal and make its way to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. But Panama’s government has denied it access to the canal for sanitary reasons, leaving passengers and crew wondering when they will get home.
Canadian man dies from COVID-19 in Brazil hospital after being taken off cruise ship: A 79-year-old Canadian man who tested positive for COVID-19 while on a cruise ship in South America has died in a Brazil hospital, health authorities said. He was on the cruise ship Silver Shadow sailing off the coast of Brazil when two passengers showed signs of influenza-like illness. They were medically evacuated on March 12.
The man was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Real Hospital Português de Beneficência in Recife for treatment. He died Thursday morning “due to complications caused by the new coronavirus,” said
Dr. Cristiano Hecksher, medical director of the hospital, in a statement. The Canadian was one of two COVID-19 patients who died that day, the other was a 69-year-old local man. “Both had comorbidities,” Hecksher said, meaning they both had other medical conditions along with COVID-19.
