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Fauci among three members of US virus task force to quarantine: media

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci is among three members of the White House’s coronavirus task force who will self-isolate after potential exposure to the pathogen, US media reported Saturday. On Friday, reports that Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary had tested positive heightened fears about senior administration officials catching the virus. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Stephen Hahn, the commissioner […]

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US reversal prevents UN vote on pandemic truce

  by Philippe RATER Agence France Presse The United States on Friday stunned other members of the UN Security Council by preventing a vote on a resolution for a ceasefire in various conflicts around the world to help troubled nations better fight the coronavirus pandemic, diplomats said. Washington’s reversal came a day after it agreed to the text, negotiators said under cover of anonymity. “The United States cannot support the current draft,” the country’s delegation […]

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US suffers biggest job losses in history amid coronavirus pandemic

by Heather SCOTT Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — With shops and factories closed nationwide due to the coronavirus pandemic, nearly all of the jobs created in the US economy in the last decade were wiped out in a single month. An unprecedented 20.5 million jobs were destroyed in April in the world’s largest economy, the biggest amount ever recorded, the Labor Department said in a report released Friday, the first to capture […]

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US VP Pence spokeswoman tests positive for COVID-19

  by Sebastian Smith Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US vice president’s spokeswoman became the second White House staffer this week to test positive for coronavirus, officials said Friday, even as President Donald Trump continued to go mask-free at a World War II ,commemoration with veterans in their 90s. News that staffer Katie Miller had fallen ill boosted fears that the White House is at risk of becoming a viral hot […]

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US virus death toll climbs by 2,073 in 24 hours: tracker

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States recorded 2,073 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 73,095, according to the latest real-time tally Wednesday reported by Johns Hopkins University. The country — hardest hit by the pandemic in terms of the number of fatalities — has now confirmed a total of 1,227,430 cases, the Baltimore-based school reported. © Agence France-Presse

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Coronavirus worse for US than Pearl Harbor, 9/11: Trump

by Chris Lefkow with AFP bureaus WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump renewed his criticism of China on Wednesday over the global coronavirus pandemic and said it has been worse for the United States than Pearl Harbor and 9/11. As Germany unveiled plans for a return to near-normality — including a May 15 restart of the Bundesliga — the European Union forecast a historic recession on the virus-battered continent. Countries in Asia joined […]

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Positive tests for recovered virus patients are not reinfections: WHO

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Coronavirus patients declared recovered who later test positive for the disease are still expelling dead lung cells rather than getting a new infection, the World Health Organization (WHO) told AFP on Wednesday. South Korean health officials reported more than 100 such cases in April, raising concerns that patients who had recovered could become reinfected. “We are aware that some patients test positive after they clinically recover,” a WHO spokesperson told AFP, […]

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Nearly 1 in 5 US children left hungry since virus crisis: study

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Nearly a fifth of young children in the United States are not getting enough to eat since the coronavirus pandemic erupted, according to research out Wednesday highlighting the broader health impact of the crisis. The Brookings Institution report said a survey found that 17.4 percent of mothers with children aged 12 or under reported that their offspring were not eating enough due to lack of money. “It is clear […]

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US prison COVID-19 infections hit 30,000: university

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US prisons have reported 30,000 cases of coronavirus among inmates and guards, a US university research group reported Wednesday, as a government study said prison guards could be instrumental in the spread of the disease. Data compiled from official sources by the COVID-19 Behind Bars Project of the UCLA law school showed that out of more than two million people incarcerated nationwide, there were 21,007 confirmed coronavirus cases, and 295 […]

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Trump urges US to reopen as daily death toll spikes

    by James Pheby, with Brendan Smialowski in Phoenix, Arizona Agence France Presse US President Donald Trump made his first major foray out of the White House since the coronavirus lockdown began in a push for economic reopening as the daily US death toll from the disease spiked. It came as Britain became the country with the second most deaths in the world at 32,000, putting it above Italy in the grim ranking of […]

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LA virus testing center offers quick results for peace of mind

by Laurent BANGUET Agence France Presse LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — For two weeks now, Dr Matthew Budoff has been overseeing a coronavirus antibody testing site in Los Angeles, offering people a rapid answer to a question on everyone’s mind. “It’s the only medical screening that people generally want to be positive,” says Budoff, a professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The procedure is quick and simple. A prick […]

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Remember the disabled during virus crisis, UN chief says

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called on governments around the world to specifically take into account the billions of people with disabilities in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Even under normal circumstances, persons with disabilities are less likely to access education, healthcare and income opportunities or participate in the community,” Guterres said in a statement released in support of a UN study on people with disabilities. “The […]

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