USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — After the first alarms sounded in early January that an outbreak of a novel coronavirus in China might ignite a global pandemic, the Trump administration squandered nearly two months that could have been used to bolster the federal stockpile of critically needed medical supplies and equipment.

A review of federal purchasing contracts by The Associated Press shows federal agencies largely waited until mid-March to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by front-line health care workers.

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans braced for what the nation’s top doctor warned Sunday would be “the hardest and saddest week” of their lives while Britain assumed the unwelcome mantle of deadliest coronavirus hot spot in Europe after a record 24-hour jump in deaths that surpassed even hard-hit Italy’s.

Britain’s own prime minister, Boris Johnson, was hospitalized, 10 days after testing positive for COVID-19 in what his office described as a “precautionary step.”

NEW YORK, Apr 5 (APP): Members of official tribunals, set up in Assam to decide who was an Indian citizen and who was not, have said they felt pressured to declare Muslims non-citizens as the government seeks to expel illegal migrants, according to a dispatch published in The New York Times Saturday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A planned $1 billion cut in U.S. aid to Afghanistan would come from funds for Afghan security forces, according to three U.S. sources, a step experts said would undercut both Kabul’s ability to fight the Taliban and its leverage to negotiate a peace deal with them.

Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers stand guard at a check point near the Bagram Airbase north of Kabul, Afghanistan April 2, 2020. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

NEW YORK, Apr 5 (NNN-XINHUA) – A donation of 1,000 ventilators arrived in New York City on Saturday from China, said New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo.

“We finally got some good news today,” said the governor on Twitter. “The Chinese government helped facilitate a donation of 1,000 ventilators that will arrive in JFK (Airport) today (yesterday).”

Both on Twitter and at a press briefing on Saturday, Cuomo expressed thanks to Chinese business magnates and Alibaba co-founders, Jack Ma and Joe Tsai, Jack Ma Foundation and The Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation.

NEW YORK, Apr 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States topped 300,000 by 3:40 p.m. local time Saturday (1940 GMT), according to the Centre for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The fresh figure reached 300,915 with 8,162 deaths, according to the CSSE.

The state of New York, which suffered the most in the country, recorded 113,806 cases and 3,565 fatalities. Other states with over 10,000 cases include New Jersey, Michigan, California, Louisiana, Florida, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

WASHINGTON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A new measure of global uncertainty around the coronavirus has surged to a record high, according to a blog post released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Saturday.

"The coronavirus continues to spread. As more countries impose quarantines and social distancing, the fear of contagion and income losses is increasing uncertainty around the world," Hites Ahir and Davide Furceri, officials at the IMF's Research Department, and Nicholas Bloom, a professor of economics at Stanford University, wrote in the blog post.

NEW YORK, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States topped 300,000 by 3:40 p.m. local time Saturday (1940 GMT), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The fresh figure reached 300,915 with 8,162 deaths, according to the CSSE.

A bus driver wearing a face mask steers in the Brooklyn borough of New York, the United States, on April 3, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Another cruise ship with coronavirus victims on board, including two fatalities, docked in Florida on Saturday.

Princess Cruises spokeswoman Negin Kamali said in an email that the Coral Princess ship was docking in Miami. The ship with 1,020 passengers and 878 crew members had been in limbo for days awaiting permission to dock.

As of Thursday, Kamali said seven passengers and five crew members had tested positive for the coronavirus.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. warned of many more coronavirus deaths in the days ahead as the global pandemic muted traditional observances from family grave-cleaning ceremonies in China to Palm Sunday for many Christians.

Italy and Spain, the two hardest-hit European nations, expressed hope that the crisis was peaking in their countries, though Italian officials said the emergency is far from over as infections have plateaued but not started to decline.