Spanish outbreak spreads fast
● Global death toll now more than 23,000 as health services across the world struggle to cope and US politicians bicker
Worldwide coronavirus infections have surged past half a million people as Spain’s death toll climbed to more than 4,000.
The grim figures came as US deaths from the pandemic topped 1,000 in another milestone for a global outbreak that is taking lives and wreaking havoc on economies and established routines of life.
Worldwide the death toll climbed past 23,000, according to a running count from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in the US.
Healthcare systems in Europe and New York buckled under the weight of caring for seriously ill victims of Covid-19.
Spain has become the country in Europe where the outbreak is spreading the fastest. Spain’s health ministry reported 8,578 new infections and 655 deaths yesterday, bringing the total cases to 56,188 and more than 4,000 fatalities – second only to Italy’s death toll of 7,503.
Faced with the exponential spread of the pandemic, the US Senate has passed a $2.2 trillion (£1.83tn) economic rescue package steering aid to businesses, workers and healthcare systems.
Millions of Americans hoped the measure would give them a lifeline as they lost jobs, income and childcare due to the social-distancing rules needed to slow the spread of the virus.
At least 1.5 billion people are now under severe travel restrictions. But the head of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, criticised world leaders for wasting time in the fight against the virus that has already killed more than 23,000 people, left millions out of work and ravaged the world economy.
He said: “The time to act was actually more than a month ago or two months ago. We squandered the first window of opportunity… this is a second opportunity, which we should not squander and do everything to suppress and control this virus.”
In the United States, where virus deaths passed 1,050 and some 70,000 people were infected, a fierce political battle raged between those demanding urgent action for a months-long siege against the pandemic, such as New York governor Andrew Cuomo, and US president Donald Trump.
Mr Trump has expressed hope churches could return to normal by Easter, only 17 days away, and grumbled that “our country wasn’t built to be shut down”–apparentlyconcerned that the outbreak’s devastating effects on financial markets and employment will harm his re-election chances.
He yesterday said federal officials were developing guidelines to rate counties by risk of virus spread, as he aimed to begin to ease nationwide guidelines meant to stem the coronavirus outbreak.
Democrats say Mr Trump is prioritising the economy over the health and safety of Americans.
Joe Biden, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, said: “I’d like to say, let’s get back to work next Friday. That’d be wonderful. But it can’t be arbitrary.”
New York has emerged as a global virus hotspot and the governor says infections are doubling nearly every few days.
The city’s convention centre is being turned into a temporary hospital and the state has hit 280 deaths, according to the count by Johns Hopkins University.
In Italy, doctors and nurses have been begging the government to provide more masks, gloves and goggles and urged the public to understand how
“The time to act was actually more than a month ago or two months ago. We squandered the first window of opportunity”
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS