‘A lot of death’ ahead in US fight against COVID-19: Live updates
President Donald Trump warned the United States was entering what could be its “toughest” week yet as the number of coronavirus cases in the country surged past 300,000.
“There will be a lot of death, unfortunately,” he told reporters at the White House on Saturday. “This will be probably the toughest week – between this week and next week.”
More than 8,000 people in the US have died from the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, known as COVID-19. The state of New York, where the virus has killed more than 3,500 people, reported another record in its daily toll, announcing 630 additional deaths on Saturday.
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In hard-hit Italy, the death toll rose 15,362 while Spain reported a total of 11,744 deaths.
Spain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates extended restrictions on movements in a bid to contain the virus, while Kuwait and Georgia reported their first deaths from COVID-19.
Globally the death toll surpassed 60,000, according to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, and the number of infections rose above 1.2 million.
Here are the latest updates:
Sunday, April 5
03:15 GMT – MSF urges nations to stop hoarding critical medical supplies
Christos Christou, president of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), is calling on European governments to stop hoarding medical supplies, including personal protective gear, and to allow their export to vulnerable countries in South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
“We need to scale up the manufacturing capacity of all the essential medicines and all medical material. And while we expand the supply, we have to guard against the nationalistic responses we’ve seen so far that hoard the medical supplies and limit the exports,” he tells Al Jazeera.
“The problem we as a medical humanitarian organization face at the moment, and for several weeks now, are that constraints have been increasing on critical items, such as personal protective equipment.We cannot mobilise these supplies from Europe. For medical and humanitarian purposes, these bans need to be withdrawn.”
02:20 GMT – Airbus delivers four million masks from China to Europe
Guillaume Faury, chief executive of Airbus, says the company has brought back four million maks from China to Europe as part of its efforts to support governments in the fight against COVID-19.
The delivery is part of Airbus’ so called air bridge mission between China and Europe.
Thanks a lot and congratulations to the #TeamAirbus back from China, bringing 4 million masks back to Europe mainly for governments and medical services, as part of our efforts to support them in the fight against #COVID19. pic.twitter.com/rAroDms1cy
— Guillaume Faury (@GuillaumeFaury) April 4, 2020
02:10 GMT – New York gets 1,000 ventilators from China
Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, says Chinese billionaires Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai have donated 1,000 ventilators to help in the state’s fight against the coronavirus.
“It’s going to make a significant difference for us,” he says, adding that the US state of Oregon is also volunteering to send 140 more breathing machines.
01:00 GMT – Guatemala bans domestic travel for Easter
Guatemala’s President Alejandro Giammattei is banning internal travel and spending time at the beach before and during Easter to stem the spread of the new coronavirus.
In a national broadcast on Saturday, Giammattei said travel will only be allowed for work reasons and said sales of alcohol to the public would also be prohibited.
00:41 GMT – Businesses close in New York City as toll surges
With no clear indication as to when they can return to business-as-usual, some bars and restaurants in New York City are boarding up their windows and doors, reports Al Jazeera’s Radmilla Suleymanova.
Laundromats, coffee shops, and even doctor’s offices – open last week as essential businesses – have since closed or cut back on hours.
The sidewalks are scantily peppered with people waiting for their take-out orders – a New York habit even the ugliest of pandemics cannot seem to break. A growing number are clad in pale blue surgical masks and cloth coverings.
Those delivering lunches and dinners on bicycles, unloading packages off trucks and hauling boxes into groceries rule the streets. Once relegated to the shadows, they are now centre stage and this city’s lifeline.
00:20 GMT – China reports 30 new cases on mainland
China’s National Health Commission says it recorded 30 new coronavirus cases in the mainland on Saturday.
The figure includes 25 cases imported from abroad and is a rise from the 19 cases reported a day earlier.
00:00 GMT – Trump warns ‘a lot of death’ ahead
Trump is warning the US is facing its “toughest” week in the battle against the new coronavirus amid a rise in the number of infections and deaths.
“There will be a lot of death, unfortunately,” he says.
The US military will soon deploy soldiers and medical personnel to hard-hit states, he says. That includes about 1,000 to New York state.
“We are going to be adding a tremendous amount of military to help supplement the states. Thousands of soldiers, thousands of medical workers, professional nurses, doctors,” he says.
Hello, this is Zaheena Rasheed in Male, Maldives, with Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
You can find all the updates from yesterday, April 4 here.