Coronavirus pandemic: New York struggles against Covid-19, Spain extends emergency
India TodayNew York authorities mobilised to head off a potential public health disaster in the city Wednesday, with its emergence as the nation's biggest coronavirus hot spot a warning flare -- and perhaps a cautionary tale -- for the rest of the country. Dr. Mark Dworkin, an epidemiology professor at University of Illinois-Chicago, said he hadn't followed New York's situation closely enough to say whether he would have done it differently, but he noted that moving quickly is critical -- and sometimes difficult to do at early points, when the public doesn't sense an imminent threat. After New York's first positive test came back on March 1 - in a health care worker who had traveled to Iran and secluded herself upon returning - Mayor Bill de Blasio and Cuomo initially cast the disease as a dangerous threat but one that the city's muscular hospital system could handle. Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House's coronavirus task force, said at a briefing that the number of new cases in New York City has been relatively constant over the last three days.