Global Covid-19 deaths surge
We are at war, says Trump as he deploys emergency beds
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump ordered thousands of emergency hospital beds set up at American coronavirus hotspots but a US$1 trillion economic rescue package crashed, as pandemic deaths soared across the globe.
A deadly prison riot in Columbia triggered by concerns over the virus highlighted the deepening sense of panic around the world as unprecedented government containment efforts have failed.
The death toll from the virus has surged to more than 14,400, according to an AFP tally, with Europe the epicentre but the situation worsening from Pacific islands to Africa and the United States.
“We’re at war, in a true sense we’re at war,“Trump said on Sunday as he ordered emergency medical stations with 4,000 beds to be deployed to California and other worst-hit areas.
More than a third of Americans are under various forms of lockdown, including in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, but the number of infections in the United States has continued to climb.
Highlighting the desperation inside the world’s biggest economy, the mayor of New York said his city was just 10 days away from running out of ventilators.
And a US$1 trillion Senate proposal to revive the US economy crashed on Sunday after receiving zero support from Democrats.
Markets in Asia began Monday in the red as they absorbed the failed US stimulus effort and the barrage of other bad news from across the world over the weekend.
“This is the biggest economic shock our nation has faced in generations,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said as he warned the pandemic could lead to a crisis akin to the 1930s Great Depression.
In Europe, Greece imposed a national lockdown and Germany banned gatherings of more than two people.
Police patrolled the deserted streets of Rome, while checks were carried out on Italian beaches after local officials complained people were defying isolation orders by catching some time in the sun.
In his weekly prayer, streamed online to avoid attracting crowds, the Pope urged all Italians to follow isolation measures “for the good of us all”.
Spain’s prime minister said he would ask parliament to extend a 15-day state of emergency, which bars people from leaving home unless absolutely essential, until April 11.
The country recorded close to 400 new fatalities on Sunday, bringing the total to 1,720, suggesting the lockdown was not effective.
Residents of France, where the death toll jumped to 562, remained shut in their homes.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned the country was a couple of weeks behind registering similar numbers to Italy.
As the pandemic overwhelms hospitals, doctors are having to quickly prioritise patients based on their chances of survival, inflicting a huge moral burden.
“We go into medicine to heal people. Not to make choices about who can live,” anesthesiologist Philippe Devos said in
Belgium. – AFP