USA

NEW YORK (AP) — The official death toll from the coronavirus soared in New York City on Tuesday after health authorities began including people who probably had COVID-19, but died without ever being tested.

Officials reported 3,778 “probable” deaths, where doctors were certain enough of the cause of death to list it on the death certificate, and 6,589 confirmed by a lab test. Combined, that would put the total fatalities in the city over 10,000.

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — In deeply conservative eastern Washington state, a prominent state lawmaker kicked out of his Republican Party caucus labels the coronavirus as a foreign bio-weapon, accuses Marxists of using the pandemic to advance totalitarianism and rails against lockdown restrictions imposed by the Democratic governor.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barbershops at some Marine Corps bases are abuzz with demand for high-and-tight haircuts.

Despite social distancing and other Defense Department policies on coronavirus prevention, Marines are still lining up for the trademark cuts, at times standing only a foot or two apart, with few masks in sight.

On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper acknowledged it’s tough to enforce new virus standards with a force of 2.2 million spread out all over the world.

CHICAGO (AP) — Videos and online reports claiming that millions of Americans will have to repay the relief checks they receive from the federal government under the $2.2 trillion coronavirus economic recovery bill are not true.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three potential COVID-19 vaccines are making fast progress in early-stage testing in volunteers in China and the U.S., but it’s still a long road to prove if they’ll really work.

China’s CanSino Biologics has begun the second phase of testing its vaccine candidate, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology said Tuesday.

In the U.S., a shot made by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc. isn’t far behind. The first person to receive that experimental vaccine last month returned to a Seattle clinic Tuesday for a second dose.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Ronald Mitchell worried about his mother’s care at a suburban Richmond nursing home long before she was swept up in one of the nation’s deadliest coronavirus outbreaks.

She’s bedbound and susceptible to seizures. A sore on her foot went unnoticed for so long, he said, that it led to the amputation of her leg. When he called her last month after she tested positive for COVID-19, she sounded disoriented, and he stayed on the line as she pressed a call button and waited an hour and a half for a nurse who never came.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he’s open to some states “reopening” before federal social distancing guidelines expire at the end of month, as he appeared to back off his claim of absolute authority to decide when the time was right to act.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Governors around the U.S. began sketching out plans Tuesday to reopen their economies in a slow and methodical process to prevent the coronavirus from rebounding with tragic consequences, as President Donald Trump appeared to back off his claim of absolute authority to determine when to end social distancing guidelines.

14 April 2020; MEMO: Crude oil prices rose today after US President Donald Trump called on OPEC+ to double its oil production cut.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $32.20 per barrel, a 1.35 per cent increase after closing at $31.74 a barrel yesterday.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $22.62 a barrel, a rise of 0.93 per cent after ending the previous day at $22.41 per barrel.

Washington, Apr 14 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has hinted that there would be consequences for China's alleged misinformation to the international community and the WHO on coronavirus, that originated from its Wuhan city last year, and has claimed 119,666 lives with nearly two million infections globally.

Trump shot back at a reporter on Monday during his White House press conference on coronavirus when repeatedly asked why there are no consequences for China.