US Navy captain asks for immediate help after people test positive on ship

Captain of US aircraft carrier called for urgent help to halt coronavirus outbreak in his ship after dozens of people tested positive for the virus. The navy ship named Theodore Roosevelt, which is currently docked in Guam is reportedly carrying 4,000 crew.

In a letter addressed to Pentagon, Captain Crozier highlighted that with a large number of sailors living in closed spaces, containing the spread of coronavirus was nearly impossible before warning that the spread was “ongoing and accelerating”, It is not yet clear how many are trapped inside. However, the  letter urged the pentagon to take “ a decisive answer”

Speaking to an international news agency, a US Navy spokesman said the service was "moving quickly to take all necessary measures to ensure the health and safety of the crew of USS Theodore Roosevelt".

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US surpasses China's death toll

More than 40,000 people have been killed in the coronavirus pandemic as the disease barrels across the globe, with the US bracing for its darkest hours after its death toll surpassed China's on Tuesday. In a matter of months, the virus has infected more than 800,000 people in a crisis redrawing political powers, hammering the global economy and transforming the daily existence of some 3.6 billion people who have been asked to stay home under lockdowns. Death toll shot up again across Europe on Tuesday (March 31) as Spain, France and Britain reported their grimmest numbers.

While there are hopeful signs that the spread of infections is slowing in hardest-hit Italy and Spain, more than 800 died overnight in both countries. With hospitals direly overstretched, lockdowns have been extended despite their crushing economic impact on the poorest. In Belgium, a 12-year-old girl infected with the virus passed away in another worrying case of a youth succumbing to the disease. Meanwhile, the US -- which has the highest number of confirmed infections -- reached a bleak milestone as deaths topped 3,400, ticking past China's official tally of 3,309, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.

Image: AP

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