Trump: There will be a lot of death
Print Edition
US President Donald Trump warned Americans to brace for a “very horrendous” number of novel coronavirus deaths in the coming days.
Global deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic have soared past 60,000, with Europe continuing to bear the brunt of the virus.
Global daily new COVID-19 cases surpassed 100,000 for the first time on Saturday, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.
There are now more than 1.2 million confirmed cases across the globe.
Trump said the United States was entering “a time that’s going to be very horrendous” with “some really bad numbers.”
“This will probably be the toughest week,” he said at the White House.
“There will be a lot of death.”
At the same time, the president stressed the US — where infections have surpassed 300,000 — cannot remain shut down forever.
“Mitigation does work but, again, we’re not going to destroy our country,” he said. “I’ve said it from the beginning — the cure cannot be worse than the problem.”
The pandemic has hammered the global economy, with businesses hit hard as people are forced to stay indoors to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Governments have rolled out massive, unprecedented stimulus programs to ease the pain, but economists have warned that the crisis could worsen poverty levels with millions of jobs lost.
Poor economies, such as Iraq are struggling, with charities and volunteers rallying to provide food to the needy.
“This is more dangerous than Daesh,” said Iraqi volunteer Mustafa Issa, referring to the Islamic State jihadist group that swept through a third of the country in 2014.
Worst-hit Italy cheered after seeing its number of intensive care virus cases drop for the first time — from 4,068 on Friday to 3,994 on Saturday.
Even some of the most cautious Italian health officials seized on the figures as evidence that the tide may be turning in the deadliest disaster the country has faced since World War II.
“This is a very important data point,” said civil protection service chief Angelo Borrelli, adding that it “allows our hospitals to breathe.”
The daily rise in new infections across Italy has also slowed.
It reported 681 new deaths on Saturday, down from a peak of almost 1,000 just over a week ago.
Spain, which is under a near-total lockdown, saw a second successive daily fall in coronavirus-related deaths with 809 fatalities.
The total number of deaths in Spain now stands at 12,418, second only to Italy.
Although the number of new cases also slowed, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced an extension of the country’s lockdown until April 25.
At a field hospital in Madrid set up at a conference center, staff applauded whenever a patient was healthy enough to be discharged.
One of them was 59-year-old builder Eduardo Lopez who gave a “10/10” rating to the staff who cared for him “with tenderness and a great dose of humanity.”
New York state, the US epicenter, saw a record 630 deaths in a single day and Governor Andrew Cuomo warned the worst was yet to come.
The state has recorded 3,565 deaths.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
