US coronavirus deaths surge past 2,000
Washington: Deaths from the new coronavirus in the United States surged past 2,000 on Saturday, doubling in just three days, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
The number of deaths late Saturday was 2,010, about a quarter of them in New York City, the country's hardest-hit region, Johns Hopkins reported.
Confirmed cases in the United States topped 121,000, according to the tally.
The surge came as President Donald Trump said he was considering a quarantine on the greater New York area to slow the disease's move from the US epicentre.
New York has reported more than 52,000 cases, and 517 of the US deaths were in New York City.
"There's a possibility that sometime today we'll do a quarantine -- short-term, two weeks -- on New York, probably New Jersey, certain parts of Connecticut," Trump said, adding that it was important to protect Florida, a favourite winter destination for people in the northeast.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo objected to the idea, which he said Trump had not discussed with him.
"If you said we're geographically confining people, that would be a lockdown. Then we would be Wuhan, China, and that wouldn't make sense," Cuomo told CNN, referring to the city in central China where the virus outbreak began, which was almost totally isolated by Beijing.
Cuomo said he did not believe such an act would be legal, and added: "Why you would want to just create total pandemonium on top of a pandemic, I have no idea."
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Telangana CM urges Amit Shah to increase sanctioned strength of IPS officers in state
Hyderabad (PTI): Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Wednesday night and urged him to increase the sanctioned strength of IPS officers to the state in view of its growing administrative and security needs.
The two leaders also discussed the recent surrender of several senior Maoist leaders before the Telangana Police and other issues.
"During the meeting, the two leaders discussed the issue of Maoist surrenders and their rehabilitation. The chief minister informed Shah that significant improvements in policing have taken place in Telangana over the past two years," an official release here said.
Highlighting that 591 Maoists have laid down their arms and joined the mainstream of society during this period, the chief minister said the state government was providing them compensation and rehabilitation assistance as per the rules.
He requested the Union home minister to extend financial support from the central government for development works in the backward regions of the state.
Reddy also urged Shah to increase the sanctioned strength of IPS officers to the state from 83 to 105 in line with the state's growing administrative and security needs, the statement said.
The first cadre review after the formation of Telangana was conducted in 2016, while the next review, due in 2021, was delayed and finally carried out in 2025. Even then, only seven additional IPS officers were allocated to the state, the chief minister informed Shah and requested that the third cadre review be conducted in 2026 as per the schedule.
Reddy explained that Telangana, like the rest of the country, is facing several modern challenges, including cybercrime, drug trafficking, white-collar crimes, and other emerging security threats.
He highlighted the reorganisation of the Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Malkajgiri Police Commissionerates, the proposed formation of the Future City Commissionerate and the rapidly growing population in Hyderabad to underline the increasing administrative requirements of the state.
