Coronavirus: New York declares emergency; toll rises to 19 in US

New York on Saturday (March 7) declared a State of Emergency after two more people succumbed to the novel coronavirus in Washington state, increasing the nationwide death toll to 19, officials said.

According to a report in Reuters, the number of confirmed cases in New York rose to 89 even as several infected passengers in the Grand Princess Cruise ship are stranded outside San Francisco.

In New York, 13 people on Saturday were tested positive with the virus, confirmed Governor Andrew Cuomo. He has also issued a declaration of emergency.

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“It allows expedited purchasing and expedited hiring, which is what we need right now,” Cuomo told in a press conference.

The COVID-19 infection, which is suspected to have originated from a fish market in China’s Wuhan city last year, has spread across the world with more than half of all US states reporting cases.

The rapidly spreading virus, which has already left the global sporting calendar in shambles, has also put a break on the daily life in various countries, with concerts, conferences being cancelled, employees being asked to work from home and universities advising students to take classes online.

According to the latest reports, organizers of the Conservative Political Action Conference said that one of their attendees had tested positive for the virus after exposure prior to the event in Maryland last month.

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Clearing the doubts of people, the American Conservative Union said in a statement that the patient had no interactions with President Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence, who were also present at the high-profile annual gathering.

The two deaths reported from Washington’s King County adds to the rising toll in the hardest hit area in the country after the deadly virus spread among residents at a nursing facility in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland, reported Reuters.

In New York, the statewide total of confirmed cases rose to 89 after 13 people on Saturday were tested positive with the virus, confirmed Governor Andrew Cuomo. He has also issued a decleration of emergency.

US President Donald Trump on Friday (March 6) said that he would prefer the Grand Princess’s 2,400 passengers and 1,100 crew remain out at sea, but that he would let others decide where she should dock.

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Out of the 46 US-nationals on the cruise ship, 19 crew members and two passengers were tested positive and taking the number into account, US Vice President Mike Pence said the ocean liner will be taken to an unspecified non-commercial port where everyone on board will be tested again, and that those “who need to be quarantined will be quarantined” and those who need medical care will receive it.

Health officials from the country have also begun tacking another cruise ship which may have shared crew with the Grand Princess or the Diamond Princess, informed Pence.

While addressing a press conference at the White House on Saturday, Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, said, “A total of 2.1 million coronavirus tests will have been shipped to non-public labs by Monday, as the government aims to counter criticism that its response to the disease has been sluggish.”

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“The focus is on getting tests to the highest risk areas in Washington state and California. Multiple manufacturers will soon send millions more tests. What they told us is they believe they could scale up by the end of next week for the capacity for 4 million additional tests that could be shipped, he added.

The coronavirus has spread to more than 90 countries, killing more than 3,400 people and infecting more than 100,000 worldwide.