US Races To Contain COVID-19 As Disease Claims More Lives Than 9/11 Attack

The death toll in the US from COVID-19 has risen past 3,600, crossing China's official count. New York City is reportedly bringing in more medical professionals and ambulances and parked refrigerated morgue trucks on the streets to collect the dead.

News18 reported that 2,996 US citizens died in the September 11 attack in 2001; around 600 lives less than what coronavirus has claimed in the country.

Governor Andrew Cuomo reported teary-eyed that his brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, was amongst those infected with the deadly virus.

"This is ongoing and the duration itself is debilitating and exhausting and depressing," the governor declared on March 31.

New York is being termed as the nation's deadliest hot spot, with about 1,550 deaths statewide, most of them in New York City, which is preparing for the situation to get worse in the coming weeks.

Workers in protective gear were seen putting bodies of victims into refrigerated trailers. Cars and buses passed by as corpses were loaded by a forklift at Brooklyn Hospital Center. People captured some of the scenes by cellphone.

"I've practised emergency medicine for a long time, and I'm seeing things that I never could have imagined in terms of the things this virus can do to all ages, including people who were previously healthy," Dr Eric Wei of the city's hospital agency was quoted as saying while talking about the rapidly filling intensive care units, surgical floors and operating rooms at the Elmhurst Hospital in Queens.

He added that critically ill COVID-19 patients are waiting in the emergency room for beds to become available.

At the Javits Convention Center where a 1,000-bed emergency hospital has been set up, non-coronavirus patients are being attended to help relieve the city's overwhelmed health system.

A Navy hospital ship with 1,000 beds that arrived on March 30 was expected to begin accepting patients in March 31.

The site of the US Open tournament, the indoor tennis centre is being turned into a hospital as well.

A five-day stretch last week was the busiest in the history of the city's emergency services operation. According to the fire commissioner ambulances are responding to double their normal daily total of 3,000 calls to 911.

Authorities in New York endeavour to bring on more volunteer health care professionals and hope to have them on board by April 2. Around 80,000 former nurses, doctors and others are expected to step forward.

Johns Hopkins is compiling the data on deaths and infections around the world, which are being supplied by government health authorities.

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