COVID-19 cases in U.S. top 240,000 with nearly 6,000 deaths

2020-04-03 Xinhua Editor:Li Yan

The United States tallied over 240,000 COVID-19 cases as the global total surpassed 1 million as of Thursday night local time, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Nearly 6,000 deaths were reported across the country, with over 20 percent occurred in New York City, the data showed.

Twelve individuals on board U.S. cruise ship Coral Princess, including seven guests and five crew members, have tested positive for COVID-19, the company said a statement.

There are 1,898 people including 1,020 passengers and 878 crew members on board the ship, which is en route to Fort Lauderdale, Florida with an estimated arrival date of April 4.

While passengers are asked to self-isolate in their staterooms, the crew will remain in their staterooms when not working. Face masks are being distributed on the ship, the statement said.

Princess Cruises ships have been the scene of the most high-profile coronavirus crises on cruise ships. The Diamond Princess became a hotbed for coronavirus infections in Japan in February, and Grand Princess was plagued by the virus in the U.S. state of California in March.

Sailors on the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier, which has been docked at a Guam port since last week, were allowed to leave the military base and be quarantined in hotel rooms, said Guan Governor Leon Guerrero on Thursday.

Guerrero said the U.S. Pacific Fleet assured that only sailors who tested negative for COVID-19 would be quarantined in hotel rooms for 14 days where they would have no interaction with local community and be strictly monitored.

The Navy would deal with any sailor in quarantine who tests positive individually, Guerrero added.

Carrying roughly 5,000 sailors, the ship left its San Diego homeport in California in mid-January for a regularly-scheduled deployment to the Indo-Pacific. It had 93 cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday.

Captain Brett Crozier, who commands the Roosevelt, was relieved of his command Thursday. Crozier didn't act professionally "when acting professionally was what was needed the most at the time," acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said at a briefing.

"What I will say, he sent it out pretty broadly and in sending it out broadly he did not take care to ensure that it couldn't be leaked and that's part of his responsibility in my opinion," Modly said.

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that the state's request to treat COVID-19 patients at Jacob K. Javits Center, a 2,500-bed facility, has been approved.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Cuomo said that the original plan for Javits was that it be used to take non-COVID patients, but the number of COVID-positive patients has increased so dramatically that it would be beneficial to the state if Javits could accept them.

New York state reported over 92,000 COVID-19 cases as of Thursday night local time, more than the total number in Germany, which topped 84,000.

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