Hope of progress against virus in New York
NEW YORK: Leading the United States in Covid19 infections and deaths, New York state is showing tentative signs of curbing the spread of the disease, its governor said yesterday, even as fatalities in New York City jumped while the health crisis deepened in hardhit New Orleans and elsewhere.
The rate of hospitalisations in New York had slowed in recent days, Governor Andrew Cuomo said, with numbers he called ‘‘almost too good to be true.’’
He also hailed the enlistment of 40,000 retired nurses, physicians and other medical professionals signing up for a ‘‘surge health care force’’, but warned much remained to be done.
In an ominous sign he and other governors were preparing for the worst, the states of New York, North Carolina and Hawaii requested the Federal Emergency Management Agency send special mortuary teams that could be deployed for mass casualties, Fema said yesterday.
New Orleans, where large crowds celebrated Mardi Gras a month ago, was on track to become the next US epicentre, as Louisiana’s Gulf Coast metropolis recorded the world’s highest growth rate in Covid19 cases.
Cuomo announced new steps aimed at containing the virus. New York City — home to over 8 million people — closed some of its largely empty streets to vehicle traffic to allow more room for pedestrians to walk with greater ‘‘social distancing’’.
Nationwide, nearly 69,000 people have been diagnosed with Covid19 and the US death toll is more than 1000. — Reuters