UN Chief: World Must Work Cooperatively Against Coronavirus

The U.N. Secretary General says the world’s nations must work cooperatively in the fight against COVID-19, “or else we will be defeated by the virus.”  
 
Antonio Guterres said in an interview Friday on the PBS News Hour he is “worried” that if the virus gets a foothold in Africa, millions of people will die.  “Africa is a continent with very little capacity to respond and I am extremely worried.”
 
The U.N. announced late Friday that 86 members of its staff have the coronavirus.  
 
The United States is now regarded as the epicenter of the worldwide coronavirus outbreak, which originated in China.  
 
Early Saturday, the U.S. had 104, 837 confirmed coronavirus cases, compared with 81,947 in China, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Italy, the epicenter of the virus in Europe, had 86,498 confirmed cases.  The global tally of confirmed cases is 601,478.
 
U.S. President Donald Trump is ready to have the National Guard and the Reserves join in the fight against COVID-19, according to a Defense Department statement Saturday.  
 
The people who are called up would be “persons in headquarters units and persons with heightened medical capabilities.”  
 
According to the statement, officials with the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services would talk with state officials before deploying the National Guard Reserve Component Services.Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, left, Vice President Mike Pence, second from right, and Republican lawmakers applaud President Donald Trump during a signing ceremony of a $2.2 trillion stimulus measure, at the White House, in Washington, March 27, 2020.Trump signed a $2.2 trillion stimulus measure Friday to bolster the economy that is reeling in the aftermath of the coronavirus.
 
Also Friday, Trump said he used government powers under the Defense Production Act to compel General Motors to manufacture ventilators to help COVID-19 patients as the United States became the first country in the world to surpass 100,000 coronavirus cases.
 
“GM was wasting time. Today’s action will help ensure the quick production of ventilators that will save American lives,” Trump said in a statement.
 
GM, however, released a statement Friday saying it had been working since last week with Ventec Life System to mass produce critical care ventilators for the coronavirus pandemic.
 
“Since Friday, March 20, Ventec and GM teams across manufacturing, engineering, purchasing, legal and others have been tirelessly and seamlessly working together to create and implement a plan for immediate, scaled production of critical care ventilators,” the statement said. 
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