What you need to know today about the virus outbreak
In this photograph taken from behind a window, doctors work on a Covid-19 patient in the intensive care unit of San Matteo Hospital, in Pavia, northern Italy, Thursday, March 26, 2020. The San Matteo hospital is where Patient 1, a 38-year-old Unilever worker named Mattia, was kept since he tested positive for Covid-19 on Feb. 21 and opened Italy’s health care crisis. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (Claudio Furlan/LaPresse via AP)
A soldier disinfects a wagon parked at the central train station in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where trains connect cities within the state, as a measure to stop the spread the new coronavirus, Thursday, March 26, 2020. COVID-19 causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A passer-by walks down an aisle with empty shelves where paper towels are normally on display at a grocery store, Thursday, March 26, 2020, in Quincy, Mass. Paper towels and toilet paper have sold briskly as people take measures to cope with the coronavirus. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
A member of the Brooklyn Hospital Center COVID-19 testing team looks out of the tent, Thursday, March 26, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Medical workers wait to guide people arriving to get tested for COVID-19 at private laboratory Biomedica de Referencia, in the Lomas Virreyes neighborhood in Mexico City, Thursday, March 26, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A letter from President Donald Trump to the nation's governors is photographed Thursday, March 26, 2020. Trump says that federal officials are developing guidelines to rate counties by risk of virus spread and that he wants to begin easing nationwide guidelines meant to stem the coronavirus outbreak. In the letter, Trump says the new guidelines are meant to enable state and local leaders to make "decisions about maintaining, increasing, or relaxing social distancing and other measures they have put in place." (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
A cashier, left, works behind a plexiglass shield at a Super H Mart grocery store in Niles, Ill., Thursday, March 26, 2020. Local grocery stores are installing plexiglass shields in the checkout aisle as a coronavirus precaution. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Members of the Arizona National Guard pack and sort food items at a food bank Thursday, March 26, 2020, in Mesa, Ariz. The Guard was at the food bank performing one of their first missions since they were activated by Gov. Doug Ducey to bolster the supply chain for food amid surging demand in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Matt York)
An undertaker wearing a garbage bag atop of a gown as a safety mesure during the coronavirus outbreak works at cemetery in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, March 25, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A view of La Boqueria market closed down in downtown Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, March 26, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
A man walks along an empty street in downtown Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, March 26, 2020 as the lockdown to combat the spread of coronavirus continues. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Health workers react as people applaud from their houses in support of the medical staff that are working on the COVID-19 virus outbreak at the main gate of the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, March 26, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
First responders care for crew members as they arrive by lifeboats from the cruise ship Costa Magica during the coronavirus outbreak at the U.S. Coast Guard Station Miami Beach, Thursday, March 26, 2020, in Miami Beach, Fla. The ship remained off shore. (David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP)
Registered Dietitian, Sheri Weitz, from Westchester, Calif., wears a face mask and gloves, as she donates blood with her husband, Gary "Robin" Wietz, seen in background, center, at the American Red Cross office in Santa Monica, Calif., Thursday, March 26, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
The number of people around the world who have contracted the coronavirus has surged past 500,000, and the United States tops the list, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.
U.S. deaths have now topped 1,200, in another grim update for a global outbreak that has wreaked havoc on economies and established routines of life. Worldwide, the death toll climbed past 23,000, according to Johns Hopkins' running count.
Nearly 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week — almost five times the previous record set in 1982 — amid a widespread shutdown caused by the virus. The surge in weekly applications is a reflection of the damage the outbreak is inflicting on the economy. Layoffs are sure to accelerate as revenue collapses at restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, gyms and airlines.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told leaders of the world’s 20 major industrialized nations during an emergency virtual summit that "we are at war with a virus — and not winning it” despite countries' dramatic measures to seal their borders, shutter businesses and enforce home isolation for well over a quarter of the world's population.
Here are some of AP's top stories Thursday on the world's coronavirus pandemic. Follow APNews.com/VirusOutbreak for updates through the day and APNews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak for stories explaining some of its complexities.
WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY:
—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress will give final approval Friday to the $2.2 trillion economic rescue bill, a vote that would cap Congress’ tumultuous effort to rush the relief to a nation battered by the coronavirus. Stocks marched higher for a third straight day Friday as the bill moved closer to passage.
—At New York City-area hospitals on the front lines of the biggest concentration of coronavirus cases in the U.S., workers are increasingly concerned about the ravages of the illness in their own ranks. Louisiana, home to the world-famous pre-Lenten Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans each spring, was quickly becoming another smoldering hotspot.
—The coronavirus is taking a growing toll on the U.S. military, and commanders and senior officials are bracing for worse. From nuclear missile fields at home to war zones abroad, from flight lines to ships at sea, the Pentagon is striving to shield vital missions even as it faces urgent calls for help on the civilian front.
—China is temporarily barring most foreigners from entering the country as it seeks to curb the number of imported coronavirus cases. In India, some of the country's legions of poor and others thrown out of work by a nationwide stay-at-home order began receiving aid from public and private groups working to ensure people have enough to eat.
—The Trump administration is sticking with its crowd-friendly waiver of entrance fees at national parks during the coronavirus pandemic, as managers at some parks try and fail to keep visitors a safe distance apart and communities appeal for a shutdown at the parks still open. The administration agreed last week to close some parks, including Yellowstone, Grand Teton and the Great Smoky Mountains, after requests from the park managers.
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover.
Here are the symptoms of the virus compared with the common flu.
One of the best ways to prevent spread of the virus is washing your hands with soap and water. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends first washing with warm or cold water and then lathering soap for 20 seconds to get it on the backs of hands, between fingers and under fingernails before rinsing off.
You should wash your phone, too. Here’s how.
Misinformation overload: How to separate fact from fiction and rumor from deliberate efforts to mislead.
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ONE NUMBER:
$2.7 billion: Estimated cost of postponing the Tokyo Olympics, according to the Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei. The Tokyo Olympics need new dates for the opening and closing ceremonies in 2021. Nothing much can get done until those dates are determined by the International Olympic Committee, the Japanese government and Tokyo organizers.
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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak