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Coronavirus worst crisis since WWII, UN chief says; Italian doctors warn of 'biological bombs'
Philippines
Coronavirus worst crisis since WWII, UN chief says; Italian doctors warn of 'biological bombs'
Coronavirus worst crisis since WWII, UN chief says; Italian doctors warn of 'biological bombs'
Published Apr 1, 2020 04:13 pm
By Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON – The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic continued to worsen Wednesday despite unprecedented lockdowns, as the head of the United Nations sounded the alarm on what he said was humanity's worst crisis since World War II.
ran's Azadi (Freedom) Tower is lit up with flags and messages of hope in solidarity with all the countries affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic (AFP / STR/ MANILA BULLETIN)
The warning came as President Donald Trump told Americans to brace for a “very painful” few weeks after the United States registered its deadliest 24 hours of the crisis.
Around half of the planet's population is under some form of lockdown as governments struggle to halt the spread of a disease that has now infected more than 840,000 people.
Well over 40,000 are known to have died, half of them in Italy and Spain, but the death toll continues to rise with new records being logged daily in the US.
“This is going to be a very painful -- a very, very painful -- two weeks,” Trump said, describing the pandemic as “a plague.”
“I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead.”
America's outbreak has mushroomed rapidly. There are now around 190,000 known cases – a figure that has doubled in just five days.
On Tuesday, a record 865 people died, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University, taking the national toll so far to more than 4,000.
Members of Trump's coronavirus task force said the country should be ready for between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths in the coming months.
“As sobering a number as that is, we should be prepared for it,” Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert.
America's under-pressure health system is being supplemented by field hospitals sprouting up all over New York, including a tented camp in Central Park, a hospital ship and converted convention centres.
But even with the extended capacity, doctors say they are still having to make painful choices.
“If you get a surge of patients coming in, and you only have a limited number of ventilators, you can't necessarily ventilate patients,” Shamit Patel of the Beth Israel hospital said. “And then you have to start picking and choosing.”
Deep recession feared
The extraordinary economic and political upheaval spurred by the virus presents a real danger to the relative peace the world has seen over the last few decades, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday.
The “disease... represents a threat to everybody in the world and... an economic impact that will bring a recession that probably has no parallel in the recent past.”
“The combination of the two facts and the risk that it contributes to enhanced instability, enhanced unrest, and enhanced conflict are things that make us believe that this is the most challenging crisis we have faced since the Second World War,” he said.
In virtual talks Tuesday, finance ministers and central bankers from the world's 20 major economies pledged to address the debt burden of low-income countries and deliver aid to emerging markets.
Last week G20 leaders said they were injecting $5 trillion into the global economy to head off a feared deep recession.
In the European Union, however, battle lines have been drawn over the terms of a rescue plan.
Worst-hit Italy and Spain are leading a push for a shared debt instrument – dubbed “coronabonds.”
But talk of shared debt is a red line for Germany and other northern countries, threatening to divide the bloc.
Deaths shot up again across Europe. While there are hopeful signs that the spread of infections is slowing in hardest-hit Italy and Spain, which both reported more than 800 new deaths Tuesday.
France recorded a one-day record of 499 dead while Britain reported 381 coronavirus deaths, including that of a previously healthy 13-year-old.
That came after a 12-year-old Belgian girl succumbed to an illness that is serious chiefly for older, frailer people with pre-existing health conditions.
‘Biological bombs’
Meanwhile, Italian doctors and unions have warned that a government policy to send patients discharged from hospital but still positive for coronavirus to care homes is like priming “biological bombs”.
With over 28,000 people in hospital including more than 4,000 in intensive care, beds need to be freed up as soon as possible, and those unable to convalesce in isolation at home are being moved to care homes or requisitioned hotels.
The virus has already infiltrated assisted living facilities across the nation, in what is being dubbed the “silent massacre”.
Hundreds of people in care homes are feared to have succumbed to the disease – over 600 in the hard-hit Bergamo region alone – though firm data are impossible to find, with many victims reportedly going untested, experts say.
They have voiced serious concerns over the safety of the 300,000 or so residents in Italy's 7,000 care homes.
“In a war like this, we can't expose ourselves to the danger of a recurrence of new outbreaks that risk turning care homes into ‘biological bombs’ that spread the virus,” Raffaele Antonelli Incalzi, head of Italian geriatric society SIGG, told AFP.
“Widely using care home beds to ease pressure on hospitals... would put the elderly residents at risk, and they are the weakest link in this pandemic,” he said.
‘Who's checking?’
Some 2,000 patients have already been transferred to care homes in Lombardy, the epicentre of the crisis, while the Marche region in central Italy and Sicily in the south have begun following suit, said SIGG.
Figures for the numbers of patients involved nationally had not yet been compiled, it said.
Matteo Villa, research fellow at the Italian Institute for Political Studies (ISPI), told the foreign press association Monday that regional data showed a significant proportion of those discharged from hospital still had the virus.
The government has said strict rules apply to which facilities can be used to ensure no contamination takes place, from physical distancing, to training staff and equipping them with protective gear.
“'Who's going to be checking the rules are enforced?” Marco Agazzi, president of the Bergamo branch of the national union of Italian doctors, told AFP.
ran's Azadi (Freedom) Tower is lit up with flags and messages of hope in solidarity with all the countries affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic (AFP / STR/ MANILA BULLETIN)
The warning came as President Donald Trump told Americans to brace for a “very painful” few weeks after the United States registered its deadliest 24 hours of the crisis.
Around half of the planet's population is under some form of lockdown as governments struggle to halt the spread of a disease that has now infected more than 840,000 people.
Well over 40,000 are known to have died, half of them in Italy and Spain, but the death toll continues to rise with new records being logged daily in the US.
“This is going to be a very painful -- a very, very painful -- two weeks,” Trump said, describing the pandemic as “a plague.”
“I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead.”
America's outbreak has mushroomed rapidly. There are now around 190,000 known cases – a figure that has doubled in just five days.
On Tuesday, a record 865 people died, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University, taking the national toll so far to more than 4,000.
Members of Trump's coronavirus task force said the country should be ready for between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths in the coming months.
“As sobering a number as that is, we should be prepared for it,” Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert.
America's under-pressure health system is being supplemented by field hospitals sprouting up all over New York, including a tented camp in Central Park, a hospital ship and converted convention centres.
But even with the extended capacity, doctors say they are still having to make painful choices.
“If you get a surge of patients coming in, and you only have a limited number of ventilators, you can't necessarily ventilate patients,” Shamit Patel of the Beth Israel hospital said. “And then you have to start picking and choosing.”
Deep recession feared
The extraordinary economic and political upheaval spurred by the virus presents a real danger to the relative peace the world has seen over the last few decades, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday.
The “disease... represents a threat to everybody in the world and... an economic impact that will bring a recession that probably has no parallel in the recent past.”
“The combination of the two facts and the risk that it contributes to enhanced instability, enhanced unrest, and enhanced conflict are things that make us believe that this is the most challenging crisis we have faced since the Second World War,” he said.
In virtual talks Tuesday, finance ministers and central bankers from the world's 20 major economies pledged to address the debt burden of low-income countries and deliver aid to emerging markets.
Last week G20 leaders said they were injecting $5 trillion into the global economy to head off a feared deep recession.
In the European Union, however, battle lines have been drawn over the terms of a rescue plan.
Worst-hit Italy and Spain are leading a push for a shared debt instrument – dubbed “coronabonds.”
But talk of shared debt is a red line for Germany and other northern countries, threatening to divide the bloc.
Deaths shot up again across Europe. While there are hopeful signs that the spread of infections is slowing in hardest-hit Italy and Spain, which both reported more than 800 new deaths Tuesday.
France recorded a one-day record of 499 dead while Britain reported 381 coronavirus deaths, including that of a previously healthy 13-year-old.
That came after a 12-year-old Belgian girl succumbed to an illness that is serious chiefly for older, frailer people with pre-existing health conditions.
‘Biological bombs’
Meanwhile, Italian doctors and unions have warned that a government policy to send patients discharged from hospital but still positive for coronavirus to care homes is like priming “biological bombs”.
With over 28,000 people in hospital including more than 4,000 in intensive care, beds need to be freed up as soon as possible, and those unable to convalesce in isolation at home are being moved to care homes or requisitioned hotels.
The virus has already infiltrated assisted living facilities across the nation, in what is being dubbed the “silent massacre”.
Hundreds of people in care homes are feared to have succumbed to the disease – over 600 in the hard-hit Bergamo region alone – though firm data are impossible to find, with many victims reportedly going untested, experts say.
They have voiced serious concerns over the safety of the 300,000 or so residents in Italy's 7,000 care homes.
“In a war like this, we can't expose ourselves to the danger of a recurrence of new outbreaks that risk turning care homes into ‘biological bombs’ that spread the virus,” Raffaele Antonelli Incalzi, head of Italian geriatric society SIGG, told AFP.
“Widely using care home beds to ease pressure on hospitals... would put the elderly residents at risk, and they are the weakest link in this pandemic,” he said.
‘Who's checking?’
Some 2,000 patients have already been transferred to care homes in Lombardy, the epicentre of the crisis, while the Marche region in central Italy and Sicily in the south have begun following suit, said SIGG.
Figures for the numbers of patients involved nationally had not yet been compiled, it said.
Matteo Villa, research fellow at the Italian Institute for Political Studies (ISPI), told the foreign press association Monday that regional data showed a significant proportion of those discharged from hospital still had the virus.
The government has said strict rules apply to which facilities can be used to ensure no contamination takes place, from physical distancing, to training staff and equipping them with protective gear.
“'Who's going to be checking the rules are enforced?” Marco Agazzi, president of the Bergamo branch of the national union of Italian doctors, told AFP.