More than 3,600 deaths in the US have been linked to coronavirus outbreaks in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, an alarming rise in just the past two weeks. Because the federal government has not been releasing a count of its own, the AP has kept its own running tally based on media reports and state health departments. The latest count of at least 3,621 deaths is up from about 450 deaths just 10 days ago. But the true toll among the 1 million mostly frail and elderly people who live in such facilities is likely much higher, experts say, because most state counts don’t include those who died without ever being tested for COVID-19. Outbreaks in just the past few weeks have included one at a nursing home in suburban Richmond, Virginia, that has killed 42 and infected more than 100, another at nursing home in central Indiana that has killed 24 and infected 16, and one at a veteran’s home in Holyoke, Mass., that has killed 38, infected 88 and prompted a federal investigation. This comes weeks after an outbreak at a nursing home in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland that has so far claimed 43 lives. And those are just the outbreaks we know about. Most states provide only total numbers of nursing home deaths and don’t give details of specific outbreaks. Notable among them is the nation’s leader, New York, which accounts for 1,880 nursing home deaths out of about 96,000 total residents but has so far declined to detail specific outbreaks, citing privacy concerns.
Pakistan’s coronavirus cases have reached 5,374 with 334 new infections reported, while seven more people have died due to the disease, taking the death toll in the country to 93, health officials said on Monday. The Ministry of National Health Services reported that 1,095 people had recovered fully, but 44 are still in critical condition. The number of coronavirus cases on Monday reached 5,374 with 334 new patients added during the last 24 hours, it said. Seven more people died during this period, taking the total toll in Pakistan to 93, it added. According to the ministry data, Punjab has 2,594 cases, Sindh 1,411, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 744, Balochistan 230, Gilgit-Baltistan 224, Islamabad 131 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 40 patients. So far, 65,114 tests have been carried out, including 3,233 during the last 24 hours, the data showed. A steady rise in the new cases has been registered despite more than three-week lockdown in the country which is going to end on Tuesday.
New York City, the epicenter of the COVID19 pandemic in the US, now alone has over 100,000 novel coronavirus cases, more than the confirmed cases in China and the UK, according to the official data. According to the data from the New York City government, an increase of at least 5,695 cases on Sunday put New York City’s total number of coronavirus infections at over 104,410 as of April 12 and 27,676 hospitalisations. The city’s death toll is 6,898. New York City now has more coronavirus cases than China and the UK. According to estimates by Johns Hopkins University, there are 85,208 coronavirus cases in the UK, 83,135 in China and 71,686 in Iran. The US has 557,300 cases and over 22,000 people have died so far. Globally the number of COVID19 cases is over 1.8 million and 114,185 people have died from the disease. More than 189,000 cases have been reported in New York state, the hardest-hit state in the US, and the death toll now stands at 9385. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters on Sunday that the past week was a “very, very tough” one in the city’s hospitals. “And we have never, ever underestimated this enemy we’re fighting. Coronavirus is ferocious and has presented us with challenges that we have never ever seen before. And that certainly our nation has not seen anything like in a century.”
Three Indian Americans, who were hospitalised in a critical condition for COVID-19 here, are showing signs of recovery after being transfused with plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients, hospital sources have said. As the vaccine for COVID-19 is not expected for months and new cases are increasing daily, doctors in Texas and around the country are experimenting with a new treatment based on an old technique, but aren’t sure if it to be fully effective. The treatment injects antibody-rich plasma from people who have recovered from the novel coronavirus into people who have severe cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. Antibodies are proteins in blood that fight specific bacteria and viruses. In the absence of a vaccine, doctors and scientists are looking to convalescent plasma because they consider it low risk and because it has been effective during past epidemics. Five patients at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston — part of the Baylor College of Medicine — have been treated with convalescent plasma, said Dr. Ashok Balasubramanyam, vice president of academic integration and associate dean of academic affairs at the Baylor College of Medicine. The school has also been authorised to conduct a clinical trial, expected to start within a couple of weeks. Three Indian American COVID-19 patients — IT professional Rohan Bavadekar, Dr. Lavanga Veluswamy and Sushm Singh, are being treated at St Luke’s Medical Center in Houston, and have found recently recovered donors with same blood groups for plasma transfusion. According to hospital sources, they are showing positive signs of recovery and waiting for more donors for new rounds of plasma transfusion.
