People wearing hazmat suits walk along a street Tuesday in Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus became widespread last year.
Photo: noel celis/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesHospitals across the U.S. braced for a surge in coronavirus patients Tuesday as the death toll continued to climb, led by New York, while some Asian leaders called for extended lockdowns and European countries with falling infection rates began easing their restrictions.
The Latest on the Coronavirus
- Johns Hopkins: confirmed cases of infection rise to more than 1.38 million; death toll nears 78,000,
- Johns Hopkins: U.S. had more than 378,000 confirmed cases and nearly 12,000 deaths
- Boris Johnson remains in intensive care
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson remained in intensive care, suffering from severe symptoms of the virus.
Confirmed infections in the U.S. were more than double that of any other nation, at more than 378,000, according to data Tuesday from Johns Hopkins University. Deaths from the Covid-19 respiratory disease caused by the virus rose to nearly 12,000 among Americans.
New York state, the center of the crisis in the U.S., reported its highest number of deaths in a single day, with 731 fatalities Monday. “A lot of pain again today for many New Yorkers,” said Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The higher number of deaths comes despite signs the outbreak was slowing in New York, with fewer confirmed cases each day and a lower daily hospitalization rate.
The climbing death toll lags behind the rise in reported new infections due to lengthy illnesses, said Emily Gurley, an associate scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Even as the number of new daily infections declines, the number of deaths in a single day may still increase.
“When we see numbers of new cases, there’s always a time lag in an increase in deaths, and that can come a couple of weeks later,” Dr. Gurley said.
Detroit, already dealing with one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the U.S., is forecast by officials to hit its peak of new cases this week. The outbreak has been particularly fatal for the state’s black residents, who make up 41% of Michigan’s reported deaths but only 14% of the state’s total population, according to state and federal data.
The virus has also shown signs of disproportionately affecting African-American residents elsewhere. In Louisiana, where almost 33% of the population is African-American, about 70% of those who have died from Covid-19 are black, according to the state’s Department of Health.
In Chicago, 52% of those infected are African-American, despite making up 30% of the population, officials said Monday. And about 72% of Covid-19 deaths have been in black Chicagoans.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she would organize an effort to address the disparity. “This is a call to action for all of us,” she said. “No one should think this is OK.”
More infected men than women also seem to be dying from the virus, though an incomplete data set is clouding scientists’ ability to understand why.
Scientists are working to determine whether gene variations make people more susceptible to serious Covid-19 infection, hoping to learn why some patients’ symptoms are mild while others’ are severe.
Amid warnings that this could be a bleak week in the U.S., health officials have worked to increase hospital capacity and to plug shortages in much-needed medical equipment. Governors and mayors, meanwhile, have extended measures to help curb the spread of the virus.
Even as other parts of America and the world redoubled efforts to keep people from leaving their homes, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled late Monday that voting in Wisconsin for the presidential primary and other races would proceed as scheduled on Tuesday. The court, in a 5-4 vote, overturned lower court orders that would have extended by six days the deadline for mailing absentee ballots.
Globally, the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 rose to more than 1.38 million across 184 countries and regions on Tuesday, while deaths topped 78,000, according to Johns Hopkins data.
Wuhan, the Chinese the city where the virus was first detected, prepared to lift its travel ban at midnight on Tuesday, marking the end of more than two months of a complete lockdown covering about 11 million people. China said it had its first day since Jan. 20 with no deaths from Covid-19.
Many nations were still laboring to control the spread of infection.
The U.K. braced for the virus outbreak to reach its crescendo there, as worries continued over Mr. Johnson’s health. A government spokesman said the 55-year-old prime minister was in stable condition and breathing without the help of a ventilator but receiving oxygen.
Unless Mr. Johnson makes a rapid recovery, interim leader Dominic Raab and the rest of the cabinet will have to make the momentous decision of when to lift a government lockdown.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday issued an order for a monthlong state of emergency covering Tokyo, Osaka and five prefectures, to deal with rapidly increasing infections. People were asked to stay at home unless absolutely necessary and all public gatherings will be suspended for about a month.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte approved the extension of a community quarantine across the island of Luzon to April 30. In India, a top local official called for the national government to extend the country’s nationwide lockdown, which is currently due to end April 15.
Meanwhile, Wuhan, the Chinese the city where the virus was first detected, prepared to lift its travel ban at midnight Tuesday, marking the end of more than two months of a complete lockdown covering about 11 million people. China said it had its first day since Jan. 20 with no deaths from Covid-19.
In Europe, some countries that credit strict containment measures with helping to curb the contagion began taking steps to reopen their societies after a month of lockdown.
Pedestrians watch a live broadcast of a news conference by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday.
Photo: Eugene Hoshiko/Associated PressThe Czech Republic began relaxing coronavirus restrictions on Tuesday, citing a daily case count that has flattened over the past two weeks.
Closed shops are allowed to reopen, provided they set up hand-washing stations and let in only a few customers at a time. Tennis and other noncontact sports will be permitted. Next week Czechs will be allowed to leave the country for business or medical travel or to see family members, ending a month-old border closure. Schools will reopen on May 15, provided the coronavirus case count remains manageable.
The relaxed restrictions come with stepped-up testing and the use of mobile phone data to track people who may have been exposed to the virus.
In Denmark, which imposed one of Europe’s earliest and strictest lockdowns, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said her government would allow a “cautious, gradual and controlled reopening” of society starting next week.
Danish kindergartens and primary schools will reopen for children in good health on April 15 and for older students on May 10. The government will speak to private employers about allowing some people to return to workplaces next week while staggering their working hours, the prime minister said. Bars, restaurants and leisure facilities will stay shut and stay-home orders for noncritical public servants will continue until May 10.
Austria will start easing its lockdown next Tuesday, accompanied by a government mandate to wear face masks in all shops and on public transport, Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz said.
Italy, Spain and France, Europe’s worst-hit countries, remain locked down. French health authorities said Monday that 605 patients had died of Covid-19 in the previous 24 hours, the highest daily total yet. Although the daily toll of confirmed new infections and deaths has been slowing this month in Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he would ask parliament to extend the country’s lockdown to April 25.
Iran’s parliament convened on Tuesday for the first time in two months and voted down a bill to quarantine parts of the country, arguing that it would cause further harm to the economy. Some factories closed in the country’s lockdown reopened this week and President Hassan Rouhani said some other businesses will be allowed t do so starting this weekend.
Iran’s daily rate of infections and deaths have flattened over the past two weeks, but Mr. Rouhani’s critics have warned that reopening the country too soon risks a second wave of infections that would overwhelm the health system.
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Write to Jennifer Calfas at Jennifer.Calfas@wsj.com, Chong Koh Ping at chong.kohping@wsj.com and Drew Hinshaw at drew.hinshaw@wsj.com
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2020-04-07 17:31:46Z
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