Italian death toll overtakes China's as virus spreads

The death toll in Italy from the coronavirus overtook China's on Thursday, and infections in the United States climbed past 10,000, in a stark illustration of how the crisis has pivoted toward the West.

Italy, with a population of 60 million, recorded at least 3,405 deaths, or roughly 150 more than in China—a country with a population over 20 times larger.

Italy reached the bleak milestone the same day that Wuhan, the Chinese city where the coronavirus first emerged three months ago, recorded no new infections, a sign that the communist country's draconian lockdowns were effective in containing the scourge.

On Thursday, a visiting Chinese Red Cross team criticized Italians' failure to properly quarantine themselves and take the national lockdown seriously.

At the U.N. in New York, meanwhile, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world "is at war with a virus" and warned that "a global recession—perhaps of record dimensions—is a near certainty."

"If we let the virus spread like wildfire – especially in the most vulnerable regions of the world—it would kill millions of people," he said.

The virus appeared to be opening an alarming new front in Africa and also reached at least one European head of state: 62-year-old Prince Albert II of the tiny principality of Monaco. The palace announced that he tested positive but was continuing to work from his office and was being treated by doctors from Princess Grace Hospital, named after his American actress mother.

In the U.S., the damage to the world's largest economy kept piling up, with unemployment claims surging, as Congress rushed to pass a $1 trillion emergency package to shore up industry and help households pull through the crisis. The first of two possible rounds of relief checks will consist of payments of $1,000 per adult and $500 for each child.

The U.S. death toll rose to 160, primarily elderly people. Johns Hopkins University, which has been tallying the virus' spread around the world, said the U.S. had more than 10,700 cases.

Worldwide the death toll crept toward 10,000 as the total number of infections topped 220,000, including nearly 85,000 people who have recovered.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe pleaded with people to keep their distance from one another to avoid spreading the virus, even as the crisis pushed them to seek comfort.

"When you love someone, you should avoid taking them in your arms," he said in Parliament. "It's counterintuitive, and it's painful. The psychological consequences, the way we are living, are very disturbing—but it's what we must do."

Health authorities have cited a variety of reasons for Italy's high toll, key among them its large population of elderly people, who are particularly susceptible to serious complications from the virus, though severe cases have also been seen in younger patients. Italy has the world's second-oldest population, and the vast majority of its dead—87%—were over 70.

Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, a virologist at Germany's Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, said Italy's high death rate could be explained in part by the almost total breakdown of the health system in some areas.

On a visit to hard-hit Milan, Sun Shuopeng, the head of a Chinese Red Cross delegation helping advise Italy, said he was shocked to see so many people walking around, using public transportation and eating out and partying in hotels.

"Right now we need to stop all economic activity and we need to stop the mobility of people," he said. "All people should be staying at home in quarantine."

Alberto Villani, the head of Italian civil protection, defended Italy's healthcare system as he announced the new death toll, and insisted the country's lockdown is a model for other countries.

As long as Italians ''rigorously'' abide by strict measures to stay at home and maintain social distancing, ''Italy will overcome the challenge," he said.

Spain has been the hardest-hit European country after Italy, and in Madrid a four-star hotel began operating as a makeshift hospital for coronavirus patients. The Madrid Hotel Business Association said it has placed 40 hotels with room for 9,000 people at the service of the Madrid region, which has near half of Spain's 17,000 or so cases.

The British government, which was slow to react to the virus, shifted gears and drew up legislation giving itself new powers to detain people and restrict gatherings. The bill is expected to be approved by Parliament next week. In London, home to almost 9 million, authorities urged people to stay off public transportation and considered imposing tougher travel restrictions.

The British supermarket chain Sainsbury's reserved the first hour of shopping for vulnerable customers, one of many such efforts around the world.

Jim Gibson, 72, of London, said he found most of his groceries there in a "relatively trauma-free" experience. But he fretted that he hadn't been able to get the medicine he needed for his wife and himself, and expressed concerns that Britain's government had been too slow in ramping up testing.

"You can't go on ignoring World Health Organization guidelines—if they're wrong, who the hell is right?" he said. "Let's have no shilly-shallying."

In China, Thursday marked the first time since Jan. 20 that Wuhan reported no new locally transmitted cases, a rare glimmer of hope and perhaps a lesson in the strict measures needed to contain the virus.

Wuhan, which has been under a strict lockdown since January, once was the place where thousands lay sick or dying in hurriedly constructed hospitals. But Chinese authorities said all 34 new cases recorded over the previous day had come from abroad.

"Today, we have seen the dawn after so many days of hard effort," said Jiao Yahui, a senior inspector at the National Health Commission.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization warned that the virus is spreading quickly in Africa—an especially alarming development, given the poor state of health care in many of its countries.

"About 10 days ago we had about five countries" with the virus, said WHO's Africa chief, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti. Now 35 of Africa's 54 countries have cases, with the total close to 650. It is an "extremely rapid evolution," she said. The first sub-Saharan Africa case was announced Feb. 28.

European stock markets were up only slightly after losses in Asia despite a massive 750 billion-euro stimulus package announced overnight by the European Central Bank.

Wall Street was calm in early trading by the standards of the past few days, when traders—weighing the increasing likelihood of a recession against the huge economic support pledged by global authorities—have caused wild swings.

With wide swaths of the U.S. economy grinding to a halt, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits surged by 70,000 last week, more than economists expected.

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The U.S. Federal Reserve unveiled measures to support money-market funds and borrowing as investors worldwide rush to build up dollars and cash.

Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler, along with Honda and Toyota, announced on Wednesday that they would close all of their factories in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The shutdown of Detroit's Big Three alone will idle about 150,000 workers.

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