USA

NEW YORK (AP) — New York state’s death toll from the coronavirus outbreak climbed Sunday above 1,000, less than a month after the first known infection in the state.

Most of those deaths have come in just the past few days.

New York City reported in the evening that its toll had risen to 776. The total number of statewide deaths isn’t expected to be released until Monday, but with at least 250 additional deaths recorded outside the city as of Sunday morning, the state’s total fatalities was at least 1,026.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Older people remain most at risk of dying as the new coronavirus continues its rampage around the globe, but they’re far from the only ones vulnerable. One of many mysteries: Men seem to be faring worse than women.

And as cases skyrocket in the U.S. and Europe, it’s becoming more clear that how healthy you were before the pandemic began plays a key role in how you fare regardless of how old you are.

(AP) --- The billions of tax dollars headed for hospitals and states as part of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus response bill won’t fix the problem facing doctors and nurses: a critical shortage of protective gowns, gloves and masks.

The problem isn’t a lack of money, experts say. It’s that there’s not enough of those supplies available to buy. What’s more, the crisis has revealed a fragmented procurement system now descending into chaos just as demand soars, The Associated Press has found.

NEW YORK (AP) — The coronavirus outbreak could kill 100,000 to 200,000 Americans, the U.S. government’s top infectious-disease expert warned on Sunday as family members described wrenching farewells through hospital windows with dying loved ones.

Faced with that grim projection and the possibility even more could die in the U.S. without measures to keep people away from one another, President Donald Trump extended federal guidelines recommending people stay home for another 30 days until the end of April to prevent the spread of the virus.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bracing the nation for a death toll that could exceed 100,000 people, President Donald Trump on Sunday extended restrictive social distancing guidelines through April, bowing to public-health experts who presented him with even more dire projections for the expanding coronavirus pandemic.

It was a stark shift in tone by the president, who only days ago mused about the country reopening in a few weeks. From the Rose Garden, he said his Easter revival hopes had only been “aspirational.”

United Nations, Mar 29 (PTI) The very idea of "using a disease as a weapon" is viewed with repugnance but the international community must remain vigilant as scientific advances are reducing technical barriers that earlier limited the potential of biological weapons, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 28 (APP): The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has called for support to those suffering from invisible impacts of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, including women and girls whose access to life-saving sexual and reproductive health care may be disrupted.

In a statement, Executive Director of the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, Dr. Natalia Kanem, said the Fund’s work is ramping up even as the novel coronavirus continues to test health care systems around the world.

NEW YORK, Mar 29 (APP): The World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF), a Washington-based advocacy organization, has urged the Afghan government to hold an “impartial” inquiry with assistance from relevant international agencies into the recent terrorist attack on a Sikh Gurudwara in Kabul and hold the perpetrators accountable.

WASHINGTON, March 28. /TASS/: The US government will not preview its further steps regarding subsidiaries of Russian company Rosneft, which earlier announced that it had sold all of its assets in Venezuela, a US Department of State spokesperson told TASS.

WASHINGTON, March 29. /TASS/: Russia and the United States have suspended bilateral inspection missions within the framework of the New START treaty on reduction of strategic nuclear arms, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association Daryl Kimball has told TASS.

"The United States and Russia agreed <...> to suspend on-site inspections under the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty until May 1," Kimball said.