MADRID, Mar 26:
Worldwide infections from the new coronavirus were set to top half a million people on Thursday as both Italy and the United States appeared poised to surpass China, where the pandemic began.
Health care systems in Europe and New York buckled under the weight of caring for seriously ill victims as officials desperately searched for enough ventilators to keep them alive.
Faced with the exponential spread of the pandemic, the US Senate passed a USD 2.2 trillion economic rescue package steering aid to businesses, workers and health care systems. Millions of Americans hoped the measure would give them a lifeline as they lost jobs, income and child care 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 Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, scolded world leaders for wasting precious time in the fight against the virus that has already killed more than 21,000 people, thrown millions out of work and ravaged the world economy. He called it “public enemy No. 1.”
“The time to act was actually more than a month ago or two months ago,” he said. “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, like New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and President Donald Trump.
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” – apparently concerned that the outbreak’s devastating effects on financial markets and employment will harm his reelection chances.
Democrats say Trump is prioritizing the economy over the health and safety of Americans.
“I’d like to say, let’s get back to work next Friday,” said Joe Biden, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. “That’d be wonderful. But it can’t be arbitrary.” (PTI)
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