Coronavirus death toll crosses 16,000 in US, infected cases surge past 460,000
Washington: The coronavirus pandemic has claimed over 16,000 lives and infected over 460,000 people in the US, devastating the country's economy and rendering a record 16 million workers jobless in just three weeks.
Of this, the New York metropolitan area, comprising the adjoining New Jersey and Connecticut, alone account for more than 9,000 and 220,000 cases respectively.
Globally, over 1.5 million people have been infected so far by the coronavirus and the fatalities stands at nearly 95,000. The United States accounts for nearly 30 per cent of the all the COVID-19 positive cases and over 17 per cent of all fatalities.
By Thursday, nearly all of America -- 97 per cent of the 220 million population -- are under stay-at-home order. President Donald Trump has notified major disaster declaration for almost all the 50 States.
In New York City, which is considered the financial capital of the world and has one of the best health facilities, more than 800 deaths were reported in one day alone, taking the fatalities to a record 7,067.
New York Governor Andrew Cumo, however, asserted that COVID-19 now appears to have reached its peak in the city, where the number of new patients to hospitals have started coming down.
Strict enforcement of mitigation measures including maintaining social distancing, he said, is having an impact nationwide.
"As such they now are projecting far less death -- around 60,000 -- due to coronavirus than earlier projections of between one and two lakhs," he said.
It looks like we're at the lower end of the curb in terms of death, which is a terrible word... a terrible, dark word that we've experienced like nobody's ever seen before in this country. We have numbers that are terrible, Trump told reporters during his daily White House press conference on coronavirus.
It is, in the sense of deaths, a bad week. In fact, every day there seems to be a record number of deaths compared to the day before. In fact, New York today had again another record of -- I think the city itself had about 820-plus deaths, said Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a lead member of the White House Task Force on Coronavirus.
At the same time as we are seeing the increase in deaths, we are seeing rather dramatic decrease in the need for hospitalizations like I think yesterday was something like 200 new hospitalizations and it's been as high as 1,400 at any given time. So that is going in the right direction, Fauci said.
The deadly disease, which has forced people to stay standstill, has brought the American economy to standstill.
The air flight traffic has dropped by 96 percent and in just three weeks alone 6.6 million Americans have applied for unemployment benefits, a figure which reflects on the dire straight of the US economy.
The latest unemployment figures reflect that the USD 2 trillion relief package has not worked so far. But Trump exuded confidence that the economy is going to bounce back in the coming months.
I think the economy is going to do very well... i think our country, from an economic standpoint, will end up being stronger than ever. We have tremendous stimulus. We have tremendous stimulus plans. We have things in the works that are going to really, I think, fire the country, he asserted.
What's going to happen is we're going to have a big bounce rather than a small balance. But we will be back and I think, honestly, I think our country is going to be back from an economic standpoint, he said in response to a question.
In an interview webcast by the Brookings Institute, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the country needs to have a plan nationally for reopening the economy.
We all want it to happen as quickly as possible, he said.
In an interview to CNBC, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the economy could be ready to reopen by the end of May as soon as the president feels comfortable with the medical issues.
We are going to be opening up weekend opening very, very, very, very soon I hope. Together our people are writing one of the most noble chapters in the proud history of our nation, Trump told reporters at the White House.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
