Trump news: US coronavirus cases pass 11,000 as president promotes vaccine that FDA says isn’t ready
Administration's promised backlog of respirators could take more than a year to reach hospitals
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Donald Trump has boasted of a vaccine to treat the coronavirus as the number of confirmed cases in the US reaches 11,000, saying health officials will "fast-track" treatments. But the Federal Drug Administration said the vaccine was still an estimated "12 months" out as the agency assures that that its product is both "safe and effective".
In New York alone, the number of Covid-19 cases doubled overnight to almost 2,000, prompting mayor Bill de Blasio to call on the president to mobilise the US military.
He told CNN: “I want their medical teams, which are first rate, I want their logistical support, I want their ability to get stuff from factories all over the country where they’re needed most."
As the pandemic spreads, the US markets are taking a significant hit, with the Dow Jones dropping below 20,000 points and unemployment rates escalating.
The president was “too bad” the contagion has spread “because we never had an economy as good as the economy we had ... but we’ll be back”.
Meanwhile, the US State Department has warned against all travel outside the country as the president prodded at reporters at his White House coronavirus briefing and its new social-distancing-friendly seating arrangement, once again prompting critics to demand that health officials deliver those crucial updates.
He said: "We should probably get rid of about, another 75-80 per cent of you .... I'll have just two or three that I like in this room."
The president pointed to one reporter and told them: "You should leave immediately."
Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town
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Trump ban on research using foetal tissue from abortions blocking potential coronavirus treatments
You should bear this story in mind before answering Lou Dobbs's poll on how well the president is handling the crisis.
Coronavirus hospital ship in New York delayed by weeks due to maintenance, Pentagon says
The US Navy's 1,000-bed hospital ship is weeks instead of days away from getting deployed to New York state as its currently undergoing maintenance, a Pentagon spokesperson says.
Well, it was a good idea.
Danielle Zoellner has this one.
US doctors demand immediate release of prisoners and detainees to avert disaster
As physicians and medical workers across the US raise the alarm about the coronavirus’s risk to prison populations, thousands of medics have signed an open letter calling upon the immigration authorities to release individuals and families from detention.
The letter, which has already been signed by more than 3,000 people, is addressed to the director of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In it, the undersigned medics implore the ICE “to release individuals and families from immigration detention while their legal cases are being processed to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and mitigate the harm of an outbreak”.
“Detention facilities,” they point out, “are designed to maximise control of the incarcerated population, not to minimise disease transmission or to efficiently deliver health care.
“We strongly recommend that ICE implement community-based alternatives to detention to alleviate the mass overcrowding in detention facilities. Individuals and families, particularly the most vulnerable - the elderly, pregnant women, people with serious mental illness, and those at higher risk of complications - should be released while their legal cases are being processed to avoid preventable deaths and mitigate the harm from a Covid-19 outbreak.”
Here's the full story from Andrew Naughtie.
US surgeon general says 15-day lockdown won’t be enough as coronavirus cases rise
Here's the latest (dire) warning from Dr Jerome Adams.
“Fifteen days is likely not going to be enough to get us all the way through. But we really need to lean into it now so that we can bend the curve in the next 15 days, and at that point we’ll reassess,” he says.
Minnesota and Vermont classify supermarket staff as emergency workers
One sector of the global economy that really cannot afford to be locked down is the grocery business, as shoppers will continue to need access to food and basic household supplies even while quarantined.
With that in mind, the governors of two US states have moved to reclassify food shop assistances as emergency service personnel, according to Mother Jones, a move that may move others to follow suit.
Also in retail news, Walmart has become the latest big business to reduce its opening hours from 7am to 8.30pm for some 4,700 of its stores across the US and put aside special shopping periods for senior citizens only, giving them a one hour head start every Tuesday until 28 April.
US unemployment claims jump to highest since September 2017
The coronavirus outbreak has Americans seeking jobless benefits at a breakneck pace, with the US Labour Department saying Thursday that 281,000 people applied for assistance last week – a 33 per cent jump from the previous seven days.
The new data shows just how deeply laid off employees of bars, restaurants and other service industry sector entities could hobble the US economy during the outbreak, which federal and state officials say could last several more months. Donald Trump has said the country could be dealing with Covid-19's effects until July or August, although he tweeted this morning: "We are going to WIN, sooner rather than later!"
White House officials and senior lawmakers from both parties are negotiating a massive economic stimulus bill that could be on the House and Senate floor by next week that likely will include provisions allowing payments of up to $2,000 (£1,7200) to some Americans, which would supplement any unemployment benefits they might receive.
Here's more from John T Bennett.
Trump's promised 500m respirators could take 18 months to arrive
The president has said the federal government has ordered 500 million respirator masks to assist with a shortage of medical supplies amid the coronavirus pandemic - but it could take as long as 18 months before they reach patients.
The estimated time frame comes from a grant application for the N95 air-filtering respirator masks reported on Thursday morning.
Here's Chris Riotta with our breaking story.
Graphic shows how far behind US is on testing despite Trump’s claims as US cases passes 10,000 mark
As the number of US cases climbs to 10,259 confirmed cases in the US , according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, a new graphic shows stark differences in testing for coronavirus between the United States and South Korea, which experts say could cost lives.
Despite Donald Trump claiming the United States had made “tremendous control” over the coronavirus, nationwide testing for the illness was far lower than in South Korea during the initial weeks of the outbreak. Health officials from Washington and Seoul both confirmed the first cases of Covid-19 in their countries on 20 January.
However, while South Korea went on to test 274,000 for the virus within a month - a move that experts said ultimately slowed the spread of the virus throughout the country - the US only tested 25,000 people during that same period.
Chris Riotta has it for you.
Tulsi Gabbard finally drops out of Democratic 2020 race
The Hawaii congresswoman and war veteran has struck a divisive note throughout the campaign and never really had a prayer.
At last, she's accepted the inevitable.
Here's her sign off video, in which she endorses Joe Biden.
Iranian foreign minister warns new US sanctions make it 'virtually impossible' to fight coronavirus
Javad Zarif has responded angrily to the latest tightening of sanctions by the State Department against his country as Iran remains one of the nations worst hit by the pandemic, which has killed more than 1,100 Iranians so far as health minister Alireza Raisi warns one person is currently dying every ten minutes.
"My country is among the hardest hit by the coronavirus," he said, according to the state-funded Islamic Republic News Agency. "We are now learning how to better confront it - sadly a huge part of the danger Iranians face is due to restrictions unjustly imposed on them by the United States government.
"The economic siege imposed on us impedes all legitimate trade and deprives us from our own resources - the ones necessary to address the needs of our people including their health and livelihoods.
"Even amid this pandemic the US government has fully refused to lift its unlawful and collective punishment making it virtually impossible for us to even buy medicine and medical equipment."
This is what Mike Pompeo has to say on the subject:
The condemnation of that position has meanwhile been led by Bernie Sanders.
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