World death toll tops 20,000; Prince Charles tests positive

NEW YORK

The worldwide death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic climbed past

20,000 on Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of dead in the U.S. topped 900, with more than 60,000 infections.

New York state alone accounted for more than 30,000 cases and close to 300 deaths, most of them in New York City.

In other developments around the globe:

Prince Charles, the 71-year-old heir to the British throne, tested positive for the virus but was showing only mild symptoms and was isolating himself at a royal estate in Scotland, his office said.

Spain’s death toll rose past 3,400, eclipsing China’s, after a one-day spike of 700 fatalities. It is now second only to Italy, with over 7,500 deaths. “We are collapsing. We need more workers,” said Lidia Perera, a nurse at Madrid’s 1,000-bed Hospital de la Paz.

China’s Hubei province, where the outbreak first emerged late last year, started lifting its lockdown.

Russian President Vladimir Putin postponed a nationwide vote on proposed constitutional amendments that could enable him to extend his hold on power. The decision came as Russia reported its first deaths from the virus, two elderly patients who had underlying conditions.

The French Riviera city of Cannes opened the site of its world-famous film festival to the homeless.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said more than 400,000 people responded within a day to the government’s call for volunteers to help the country’s most vulnerable people. They will deliver medicine, drive people home from doctor’s appointments, and make phone calls to check on patients.

The Pentagon halted for 60 days the movement of U.S. troops and Defense

Department civilians overseas, a measure expected to affect about 90,000 troops scheduled to deploy or return from abroad. A Marine became the first person stationed at the Pentagon to test positive for the virus.

Around the U.S., other states braced for a version of New York’s nightmare.

Louisiana is seeing a ballooning number of cases and now has the thirdhighest rate per capita in the U.S., according to the governor. Sixty-five have died, and the virus has been confirmed in threequarters of the state’s 64 parishes.

Small towns and rural areas are beginning to sound the alarm as well.

In Georgia, a state that has seen cases grow to more than 1,200, an Albany hospital’s three intensive care units were already full, and doctors were working to discharge people as quickly as possible to make way for new patients.

“We’re quickly approaching the point of maximum capacity. We need a relief valve,” said Steven Kitchen, chief medical officer at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.

Colorado Gov. Jared

Polis issued a statewide stay-at-home order from Thursday through April 11.