The sixth coronavirus death has been reported in Germany. A 78-year-old died on Thursday afternoon from the consequences of pneumonia in a Heinsberg hospital, as the district in North Rhine-Westphalia particularly affected by the epidemic announced. It was said that it was not yet known where the patient was infected with the virus. It is the fourth death of this kind in NRW.
On Monday, for the first time in North Rhine-Westphalia – and thus in Germany – two people died after illnesses with the new pathogen Sars-CoV-2. The first fatality was an 89-year-old from Essen, the second a 78-year-old from Gangelt in the Heinsberg district. On Wednesday, a 73-year-old died in the Heinsberg hospital. In Baden-Württemberg, a 67-year-old man died of the new virus, in Bavaria an over 80-year-old, as the local authorities announced.
Chancellor speaks of an “extraordinary situation”
According to Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), the current situation caused by the spread of the new corona virus is more extraordinary than the financial crisis of 2008/2009. “We are in a situation that is extraordinary in every respect, and I would say more extraordinary than at the time of the banking crisis,” said Merkel on Thursday after a meeting with the prime ministers of the federal states.
We are dealing here with a health challenge to which science and medicine still have no answer. The task now is to save human lives “as best we can” and to keep the economy going, said Merkel. “Both tasks are demanding and we want to do justice to them.” The Chancellor spoke of a “turning point that demands a lot from us.”
New York takes drastic measures
Perhaps it is already clear why Donald Trump was there so quickly with an entry ban. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio today declared a state of emergency for his city. Even before this drastic measure, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had banned gatherings of 500 or more people across the state “for the foreseeable future.” At the press conference, the governor asks: “Why do you think that the coronavirus should behave differently here than in China, South Korea or Italy?”
New York sees a surge in corona cases
With 8.2 million inhabitants, New York is the largest city in the USA. The city most recently had 95 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 42 of which were reported in the past 24 hours, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said. More than 1,780 people are in voluntary quarantine, another 29 people are in mandatory quarantine, according to de Blasio. The mayor reckons the number of cases in the city could rise to 1,000.
State of emergency declared
Bill de Blasio today declared a state of emergency in the city and said the outbreak of the Coronavirus could “easily be a six month crisis. The last 24 hours have been very, very sobering ”, New York Mayor said at a press conference. “Yesterday morning seems a long time ago. Yesterday we received a lot of information in the course of a day that changed a lot. Last night it seemed like the world was turned upside down in a matter of hours. “
Extraordinary situation
“I don’t think most of us who have long been in public life have seen a situation like this where we get extraordinary new information on an hourly basis that we have to make constant adjustments,” said de Blasio on the Press conference.
The Mayor urged New Yorkers to expect “big changes” from day to day, as a new pattern of “extraordinary information” came in every day, forcing city officials to make difficult new decisions every day.
By Markus Weingran
Photo: Soni’s / shutterstock.com
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