Medical personnel wearing personal protective equipment remove bodies from the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center Thursday, April 2, 2020 in the Brooklyn borough of New York. As coronavirus hot spots and death tolls flared around the U.S., the nation's biggest city was the hardest hit of the all, with bodies loaded onto refrigerated morgue trucks by gurney and forklift outside overwhelmed hospitals, in full view of passing motorists. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
The Associated Press
Federal officials waited to order medical supplies until stocks in the U.S. were running critically low as the new coronavirus spread across the country. A review of federal purchasing contracts by The Associated Press shows federal agencies waited until mid-March to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment urgently needed by front-line health care workers.
Queen Elizabeth II appealed to Britons to exercise self-discipline in 'œan increasingly challenging time'ť as the country saw a record 24-hour jump in coronavirus deaths.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 10 days after his COVID-19 diagnosis, was admitted to a London hospital for tests and remains in charge of government. His office says that 'œprecautionary step'ť was taken because he is still suffering symptoms.
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams warned Americans that this week is going to be 'œthe hardest and the saddest" since the coronavirus struck the country. And the government's top infectious disease expert says there is a very good chance the new coronavirus 'œwill assume a seasonal nature,'ť meaning the U.S. could see the 'œbeginning of a resurgence'ť during the next flu season.
Europe's hardest-hit country is finally seeing a sign of hope: Italy's daily death toll was at its lowest in more than two weeks and health officials noted with caution Sunday that the infection curve was finally descending.
Here are some of AP's top stories Sunday on the coronavirus pandemic. Follow APNews.com/VirusOutbreak for updates through the day and APNews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak for stories explaining some of its complexities.
WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY:
- Home testing for the new coronavirus may sound like a good idea, but U.S. regulators say it's still too risky.
- Historic failures in government responses to disasters and emergencies, medical abuse, neglect and exploitation have jaded generations of African Americans into a distrust of public institutions.
- Falling investment in public health in prior years is now being felt acutely as the coronavirus crisis worsens. One study shows that between 2008 and 2017, state and local health departments lost more than 55,000 jobs - a major factor as cities struggle to respond to COVID-19.
- The traditional Palm Sunday procession in Jerusalem was scaled back.
- A tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York City has tested positive for the new coronavirus, in what is believed to be the first known infection in an animal in the U.S. or a tiger anywhere, federal officials and the zoo said.
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as a fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover.
Here are the symptoms of the virus compared with the common flu.
One of the best ways to prevent spread of the virus is washing your hands with soap and water. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends first washing with warm or cold water and then lathering soap for 20 seconds to get it on the backs of hands, between fingers and under fingernails before rinsing off.
You should wash your phone, too. Here's how.
TRACKING THE VIRUS:
Drill down and zoom in at the individual county level, and you can access numbers that will show you the situation where you are, and where loved ones or people you're worried about live.
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ONE NUMBER:
- ONE: Officials in South Sudan say the country has its first case of COVID-19, making it the 51st of Africa's 54 countries where the disease has appeared.
IN OTHER NEWS:
- SIDEWALK SMILES: Workers at New Orleans' Ochsner Medical Center who take the familiar stroll from the parking lot to the main entrance have been greeted with sidewalk sketches from an anonymous artist.
- TRAINS TO THE RESCUE: France is using its speedy trains to shuttle patients to less-strained hospitals and medics to virus zones in need.
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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
FILE - In this Saturday, March 28, 2020 handout photo provided by Number 10 Downing Street, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson chairs the morning Covid-19 Meeting remotely after self isolating after testing positive for the coronavirus, at 10 Downing Street, London. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been admitted to a hospital with the coronavirus. Johnson's office says he is being admitted for tests because he still has symptoms 10 days after testing positive for the virus. (Andrew Parsons/10 Downing Street via AP, File)
The Associated Press
Vanderbilt playground in Brooklyn's Prospect Park is closed on Thursday, April 2, 2020, in New York. On Wenesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered all of New York city's playgrounds shut to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The governor followed calls from public-health experts and many City Council members to shut the playgrounds as families gathered there. But the closures presented a new challenge for families weathering a lockdown that also closed schools. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
The Associated Press
Mounted police on horseback stand on the top of Primrose Hill as they prepare to disperse people, to stop the spread of coronavirus and keep the park open for people observing the British government's guidance of social distancing, only using parks for dog walking, one form of exercise a day, like a run, walk, or cycle alone or with members of the same household, in London Sunday, April 5, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
The Associated Press
A woman sitting on a bench is told to go home by a police officer on a motorbike, to stop the spread of coronavirus and keep the park open for people observing the British government's guidance of social distancing, only using parks for dog walking, one form of exercise a day, like a run, walk, or cycle alone or with members of the same household, on Primrose Hill in London, Sunday, April 5, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
The Associated Press
In this Saturday, April 4, 2020 photo, emergency medical technician Josh Allert poses for a photo in New York. Thousands of workers have been thrust onto the front lines of the coronavirus emergency in New York City. That includes Allert, whose days are a blur and a battle. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
The Associated Press
A cyclist rides along an unusually quiet promenade in Blackpool, northwest England, Sunday, April 5, 2020 as a bout of warm weather has raised fears that the public may not observe the British government guidelines that include two metres social distancing from people that don't live in the same household, to help stop the spread of coronavirus. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
The Associated Press
In this April 1, 2020, photo, Lisa Neuburger stands with her dog Bella by the camper she is living in and the chalk message she made in her former in-laws' driveway in St. Paul Park, Minn. Neuburger is living in the camper after being exposed to the coronavirus as an ICU nurse. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
The Associated Press
A woman prays in front of the closed Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a place where Christians believe Jesus Christ was buried, as a palm hangs on the door, in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, April 5, 2020. The traditional Palm Sunday procession was cancelled due to restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
The Associated Press
A Sri Lankan fire brigade person disinfects his colleagues after they assisted transporting the coffin of a person who died not because of the new virus during a curfew in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 5, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
The Associated Press
A Catholic priest sits on an empty bench due to social distancing guidelines during the coronavirus outbreak inside the Jesus de Medinaceli church on Palm Sunday in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, April 5, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
The Associated Press
A boy in a wetsuit takes advantage of the ban on recreational boats and jumps into one of the normally crowded canals on a warm spring day in the city center of Amsterdam, Netherlands, Sunday, April 5, 2020. The Dutch appeared to heed government directives to stay clear of forests beaches and parks to avoid large crowds and the risk of spreading the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
The Associated Press
A Catholic nun wearing a face mask, to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, walks inside the the empty Holy Family Minor Basilica cathedral after a Palm Sunday mass that was broadcast on television but had no congregation attending, in Nairobi, Kenya Sunday, April 5, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
The Associated Press
A nun wears a mask to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus next to the closed Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a place where Christians believe Jesus Christ was buried as a palm hangs on the door in Jerusalem's old city, Sunday, April 5, 2020. The traditional Palm Sunday procession was canceled due to restrictions imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
The Associated Press
A resident wearing a mask against the coronavirus checks his phone near a sealed off community in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Sunday, April 5, 2020. The quarantine in the city which is the epicenter of China's coronavirus outbreak is to be formally lifted on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
The Associated Press