COVID-19: Record 4,591 Americans die in last 24 hours
Washington: A record number of 4,591 Americans have died in the last 24 hours due to the deadly novel coronavirus in the US, which has the highest number of COVID-19 casualties in the world.
According to the Johns Hopkins University data, by 8 pm on Thursday, as many as 4,591 Americans have died in the last 24 hours, The Wall Street Journal said.
The previous highest was 2,569 on Wednesday. By Thursday, more than 662,000 Americans tested positive with the coronavirus.
The dreaded disease, which originated in Wuhan city in China in December last year, has so far claimed more than 144,000 lives and infected over 2.1 million people.
The virus has infected over 671,000 people and claimed more than 33,000 lives, the highest for any country in the world. New York City and its adjoining areas, including New Jersey and Connecticut have emerged as the epicenter of the virus in the US.
New York alone accounts for 226,000 cases of infections and 16,106 deaths. In New Jersey, as many as 3,518 people have died of the disease and 75,317 have tested positive.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, till April 14, four per cent of the Americans infected with COVID-19 were of Asian origin and nearly one-third (30 per cent) were African Americans.
US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that experts and scientists report that his strategy to slow the spread of the virus has saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
Models predicted between 1.5 million and 2.2 million US deaths. If there was no mitigation, it could have even been higher than that and between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths with mitigation. It is looking like we will come far under even these lowest numbers, he said.
Noting that experts say the curve of the virus has flattened, and the peak in the new cases has passed, Trump said that nationwide, more than 850 counties or nearly 30 per cent of the country have reported no new cases in the last seven days.
Because of our early and aggressive action, we have avoided the tragedy of health care rationing and deadly shortfalls that have befallen in many other nations, nations which wherever possible we are helping, he said.
According to Trump, at least 35 clinical trials are already underway, including antiviral therapies, immune therapies, and blood therapies in the form of convalescent plasma. So far, more than 3.5 million tests have been carried out.
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Air pollution: Car now status symbol, people saving money to buy 4-wheelers, says CJI Surya Kant
New Delhi (PTI): Car has become a status symbol, and people are saving money to buy four-wheelers after stopping using bicycles, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said on Tuesday.
The CJI's observation came while hearing a plea related to air pollution in Delhi-NCR.
After senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi suggested that a solution to the problem of air pollution can be achieved by cutting down on people owning multiple cars, CJI Kant said, “Car has become a status symbol… People are saving money to buy cars and have stopped using cycles.”
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During the arguments, Dwivedi said the automobile industry is too powerful.
The CJI said, “The rich people should also sacrifice. Instead of going for high-end vehicles, they should go for good electric vehicles.”
Observing that the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) is failing in its duty, the Supreme Court rapped the central pollution watchdog for seeking a two-month adjournment on the issue of temporary closure or relocation of toll plazas on Delhi borders to ease traffic congestion.
The top court criticised the CAQM for the lack of “seriousness” in its approach, and said that it appears to be in no hurry in either identifying the causes of the worsening air quality index (AQI) or finding long-term solutions.
The bench of CJI Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed the CAQM to convene a meeting of experts in two weeks and submit a report on the major causes of the worsening pollution levels.
